Kureji Mekishiko dai sakusen

**Kureji Mekishiko dai sakusen** (クレージーメキシコ大作戦, *Mexican Free-for-All*) is a 1968 Japanese musical adventure comedy film directed by Takashi Tsuboshima and starring The Crazy Cats. The movie became another masterpiece that was filmed in both the United States and Mexico, which was the same year of the 1968 Summer Olympics, and has a screening time of 162 minutes, which is the longest running among Toho Crazy Movies. Following 1967 film "Kureji ogon sakusen", it was released as a single piece, but the box office revenue was ¥450 million (about ¥230 million down compared to "Las Vegas Free-for-All"), and the distribution revenue was ¥225 million. The budget at the box office (also down about ¥115 million yen) and the number of audiences mobilized ¥1.7 million (also a decrease of about 1.2 million) dropped sharply, and the major line in the Toho Crazy Movie was up to this work.

## Plot

A stone statue was stolen from the venue of the Mexico exhibition held in Japan, which is a clue to the location of the hidden treasure. The authorities claimed it was a group of thieves who steal the statue and sell it to other gangs outside of Japan. It was Hanaoka Gang (led by Heizo Hanaoka) who stole it soon after returning from Musho, but on the way to escape, the stone statue was handed over to Susumu Sakamori, a heavy drinker and salary man. Sakai, a savvy student, had Emi Murayama, a student in the art major, make a fake and sold it to the Hanaoka Gang for five million yens.

The Hanaoka Gang was ordered by Lou Costello, the boss of an American Mafia to get a stone statue. Hanaoka (along with his right-hand man Matsumura) flew to the United States with his secretary, Mitsuko Akimoto, waiting for a fake stone statue, but Tachihara (an international student), who intends to marry Mitsuko, followed her. Meanwhile, Susumu was taken to the United States by mistake by Ken Nikkei, who came to Japan to have a gangster boss suffer from malignant cancer and have a well-known doctor, Dr. Nakamura, to perform an operation. In addition, Saburo Suzuki, a bank clerk involved in the murder case, was chased by police detective Tsukada and fled to the United States, the destination of his honeymoon.

Yukiko Aikawa, the bride and Suzuki's fiance, followed after that. Around that time, Susumu had a successful cancer operation and was thanked by the boss, but the stone statue was found to be a fake by Hanaoka who was presented it to his subordinates, and he was chased and fled to Mexico. Tadaharu and Suzuki were there, and because they were the same Japanese, they decided to act together. One day, when she heard from her beautiful Mexican daughter Maria that the secret of the stone statue seems to be a hidden treasure in the pyramid, the three searched for The Great Pyramid of Cholula and finally searched for the lost treasure. Along the way they encountered a group of bandits and Costello's henchman who were also coming after the treasures. After that, the three arrived in Acapulco and reunited with Emi, Mitsuko, and Yukiko at a local restaurant. However, the gangs (both Hanoaka and Costello) was aiming for them.

The crew got a large amount of jewels that Susumu and his friends had, but they struggled there. The Mexican police rushed to the call and arrested the two gangs, and Susumu and his friends were the great benefactors who saved the Mexican treasure.

## Staff

### Main story

* Director: Takashi Tsuboshima
* Producers: Shin Watanabe, Mikihiko Ômori
* Screenwriter: Yasuo Tanami
* Cinematographer: Masaharu Utsumi
* Music Composers: Hiroaki Hagiwara, Hiroshi Miyagawa
* Production Designer: Kazuo Takenaka
* Production Management: Takeharu Shimada (executive in charge of production)
* Second Unit Director or Assistant Director: Masao Asano (chief assistant director), Kyohei Imamura (third assistant director), Ippei Imamura (second assistant director)
* Sound Department: Kanae Masuo (sound recordist), Hisashi Shimonaga (sound effects editor)
* Camera and Electrical Department: Shinji Kojima (lighting assistant), Shoshichi Kojima (lighting technician)
* Film Editor: Ume Takeda
* Synthesis: Kazunobu Sanbe
* Production Assistant: Takeharu Shimada
* Costume Designer: Etsuko Yagyu
* Script Supervisor: Teruyo Nogami
* Development: Tokyo Laboratory

### Mexico National Theater Show

* Planning & Writers: Yo Kono, Takashi Tamura
* Director: Tsugunobu Kotani
* Choreographer: Hidetaku Koido

## Cast

* Hitoshi Ueki as Susumu Sakamori
* Hajime Hana as Chuji Shimizu
* Kei Tani as Suzuki Saburo
* Hiroshi Inuzuka as Detective Tsukada
* Senri Sakurai as Ken Nikkei
* Ētarō Ishibashi as Ishiyama
* Shin Yasuda as International student Tachihara
* Mie Hama as Emi Murayama
* Mari Sono as Yukiko Aikawa
* Anna Martin as Maria
* Makoto Fujita as Dr. Nakamura
* Mayumi Ozora as Mitsuko Akimoto (as Mayumi Ôhzora)
* Masumi Harukawa as Yukari
* Haruko Togo as Yamato's landlady
* Kumeko Urabe as Ume Suzuki
* Tamami Urayama as Reiko Obayashi
* Hisao Toake as Managing Director Obayashi
* Takuya Fujioka as Izawa
* Kenzô Tabu as Heizo Hanaoka
* Tadao Nakamaru as Matsumura
* Harold Conway as Ben Casey
* Ted Gunther as Lou Costello
* Michelle Woofer as Al
* Hideyo Amamoto as Bandit Chief
* Shoichi Hirose as Bandit A
* Nadao Kirino as Bandit B
* Naoya Kusakawa as Costello's henchman A
* Osman Yusuf as Costello's henchman B (as Osuman Josef)
* Akira Hitomi as Conservation Center Police Officer
* Yoshiko Toyoura as University hospital nurse
* Toki Shiozawa as Hostess
* Cha Katō as Part-time student (security guard) (as cameo appearance)
* Chôsuke Ikariya as Police officer on night patrol (as cameo appearance)
* Chû Arai as Policeman A (as cameo appearance)
* Kōji Nakamoto as Policeman B (as cameo appearance)
* Boo Takagi as Policeman C (as cameo appearance)
* The Peanuts as Themselves (musical sequence)
* Mie Nakao as Herself (musical sequence)
* Kenji Sawada as Maria's lover (non-credit only)

## Insert song

**Life Is Only 25,000 Days** (人生たかが二万五千日, *Jinsei takaga ni man go sen-nichi*)

* Performer: Hitoshi Ueki
* Lyrics: Yasuo Tanami
* Composer: Hiroaki Hagiwara

**Unjarage** (ウンジャラゲ, *Unjarage*)

* Performer: Hitoshi Ueki
* Lyrics: Toshio Fujita
* Composer: Hiroshi Miyagawa

**Your Captivity** (あなたのとりこ, *Anata no toriko*)

* Performer: Mari Sono
* Lyrics: Rei Nakanishi
* Composer: Masaaki Hirao

**VIVA! CRAZY-Cielito Lindo** (VIVA! CRAZY - シエリト・リンド, *Biba! Kureijī - shierito rindo*)

* Performer: Hajime Hana & The Crazy Cats, The Peanuts, Mie Nakao
* Lyrics: Yo Kono
* Composer: Mexican folk song (Quirino Mendoza y Cortés)

**Highway Gingira March** (ハイウェイギンギラマーチ, *Haiu~eigingiramāchi*)

* Performer: Hitoshi Ueki, Hajime Hana, Kei Tani
* Lyrics: Yasuo Tanami
* Composer: Hiroshi Miyagawa

**Gingira March** (ギンギラマーチ, *Gingira māchi*)

* Performer: Hitoshi Ueki, Hajime Hana And The Crazy Cats
* Lyrics: Yasuo Tanami
* Composer: Hiroshi Miyagawa

## References

* Similar to "Las Vegas Free-for-All" produced and released in the previous year, a long-term overseas locations are being carried out and scheduled for their next project. However, while in during their trip of filming, the team moved from San Francisco, Taxco, Mexico City, Acapulco. As for the order of shooting the scenes is the reverse from Mexico City, Taxco, Acapulco, San Francisco, and the location period is about 2 weeks and Las Vegas Free-for-All only took longer. In addition, the airline that cooperated in the shooting changed from Pan Am Airlines from Las Vegas Free-for-All to Japan Airlines, and the Douglas DC-8 aircraft and the travel bag of "Crane Mark" are projected, as well as "JALPAK Co., Ltd.." The product name also appears in the dialogue.
* Unusual for a series of Toho Crazy Movies and "Strategy Series", the homicide scene, a scene in which fireworks (set up as dynamite) are attached to a chicken to ignite and disrupt the bandits camp, depiction of a group played by Ueki, Hana, and Tani betraying other members, and prior to "Nippon ichi no uragiri-otokon" released in the fall of the same year, which was significantly renewed by replacing the main staff, scenes and depictions that can be taken as new innovations are scattered everywhere.
* There is a scene in the film where seven Crazy Cats are all wearing local Mexican costumes such as poncho and sombrero, Kei Tani was mistaken for a local civilian because he wears a beard during the confrontation scene, and there is an anecdote that remains.
* At the San Francisco location, the three characters went to Hippie Street, where they actually hired about 50 to 60 real hippies as extras during shooting. However, probably because the staff and all the casts felt ill because the atmosphere was so bad that the production was cut off earlier than it had been planned it.
* After the production of this work, director Takashi Tsuboshima temporarily left the production of the Crazy Movie by his own will. Tsuboshima will return to directing Crazy Cats related works. He directed "Kiki kaikai ore wa dareda?!" starring Kei Tani, which was released in September 1969, Kureji no Nagurikomi Shimizu Minato after that (with the departure of Toho from director Kengo Furusawa) and as the main director of a Crazy Move, he worked until the end of the series.
* As mentioned above, the screening time of this work is 162 minutes, which is the longest time limit in the history of Toho Crazy Movie, and it is the only work with a "Intermission" title card in the middle of all 30 works.