Masaki Kobayashi
The film was planned and written by the Yonki-no-kai, a group of four of Japan's most notable directors: Kon Ichikawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Keisuke Kinoshita, and Akira Kurosawa in 1969. Financial losses of a previous film in 1970 meant that funds were not available for filming Dora-heita.