Crazy Adventure

***The Crazy Adventure*** (大冒険, *Kureji no daiboken*) is a 1965 Japanese tokusatsu comedy action film directed by Kengo Furusawa, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It stars Hitoshi Ueki as the lead character of the film. Another movie that was released that same day is Kigeki ekimae daigaku, directed by Kôzô Saeki and starring Hisaya Morishige.

## Overview

Inspired from many spy movies that was popular at the time, it was the first Crazy Movie to be incorporate with Eiji Tsuburaya's special effects work. It makes heavy use of wire fu perform in outdoor venues, and the lead actor, Hitoshi Ueki, performs some of most action scenes without stunts. Another feature is that Eiji Tsuburaya takes care of special effects and miniature models are used for the set. The fall on the construction site incident was actually happened, and Ueki suffered a bruise, but a careful examination revealed that there was no abnormality problem. Even in the final stage of Oshima's placement, he is acting with his body, as if he injured his right leg during his stunt performance.

Producer Sanezumi Fujimoto is said to have referred to Stanley Kramer's 1963 comedy film "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World", which he has saw it in theaters back in 1963. The idea of the counterfeit notes was inspired by the state-of-the-art electronic photocopiers that Fujimoto saw it when he visited the Fujifilm company.

Screenwriter Ryôzô Kasahara is in charge of writing the draft script in the first half, and Yasuo Tanami is in charge of the second half. In the car scene, there are some inconsistent points, like turning around and making a fool of Hajime Hana. Originally, Kasahara was in charge, but since Kaneto Shindo's original draft did not meet Kasahara's intention, the writing did not proceed and his disciple Tanabe suddenly joined. In addition, director Kengo Furusawa and film critic Nobuhiko Nakahara helped corrected the script, but it took time to correct the discrepancy scene between the front and the back, and it was said that the originally planned gag part could hardly be supervised.

Filming began about a month later than it originally had planned the production. For this reason, Kei Tani overlapped with the main performance, and the number of shifts was reduced from the beginning, and female singer Fubuki Koshiji also participated by assigning shots before and after the Osaka recital.

## Plot

The scoop on "Weekly Top" written by journalist Yuito Uematsu, "Whirlwind Of Fake Invoices, Landing In Japan!" The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, which had been conducting a secret investigation so as not to give people anxiety, took this opportunity to do a large-scale public investigation, and police detectives Hanai, Inui, and Ichihashi from the Investigation Division 1 were also assigned the case and go through different jobs as they blend in the city as ordinary workers. However, the most rushed in this scoop was the counterfeiting banknote gang, and it was important that the secrecy of the organization be leaked, so they pointed Uematsu as the killer.

On the other hand, Uematsu didn't know that his article was a big topic and was still excited about this event. Originally this scoop was also experimenting with a natural color copier made in collaboration with my best friend, Inventor Madani, and the ¥10,000 bill used for the material was more colored than the other ¥10,000 in cash. It all started when he realized that he was thin. Furthermore, Etsuko, Tanii's younger sister, who works for the self-proclaimed Uematsu Lovers' Industrial Club, was persistently persecuted by Ishizaki, the president of the company, whom she met through Kumiko, the president of Morigaki Finance.

Uematsu, who knew this, didn't care, so she asked Tanii to make a detector that would allow her to know Etsuko's whereabouts at a glance. However, the magic hand of organizing fake invoices was extended to Etsuko, and one day someone kidnaped Etsuko away. Uematsu and Tanii hurriedly chased after Etsuko's kidnappers, relying on the detector. However, they were followed by three police detectives who were suspicious of their actions, followed by hitmen. In this way, a chasing battle with good and evil began in Tokyo, followed in Nagoya, Inuyama, Gifu, Kobe, and Uematsu was able to keep up with this pinch and a series of great adventures.

After the chase, Uematsu and Tanii finally reached the submarine, which was hidden by the counterfeit bill counterfeiters, but while getting to know Etsuko, they were caught by the agents. These agents are working for the **Nazi Conspiracy Group** (ナチス陰謀団隊, *Nachisu inbō dantai*), a Neo-Nazi organization created by remnants of the Nazi officials who fled after the Second World War and set up in Palalu island close to Japan. Then, when the three who were brought to the undergrounds of the Nazi group and were sentenced to death by Adolf Hitler, who was alive and was planning on for world domination with modernized weapons and vehicles. Their goal was to rebuild the Third Reich and reconquered all the territories they lost during the war. Then suddenly the United Nation Combined Fleet was sent to the island by the contact of the detectives who had attached them, and added artillery. The hasty forgers were detonated with a mischievous Tanii's missile control. The fleet bombarded the island, destroying the Nazi members and their plan of conquering the world. Etsuko received Uematsu's life-threatening love and the two went out on their honeymoon.

## Staff

* Producers: Sanezumi Fujimoto, Shin Watanabe
* Director: Kengo Furusawa
* Screenwriters: Ryôzô Kasahara, Yasuo Tanami
* Special Effects Director: Eiji Tsuburaya
* Chief Assistant Special Effects Director: Teruyoshi Nakano
* Special Effects Miniatures: Sokei Tomioka
* Special Effects Editor: Sadamasa Arikawa
* Special Effects Art Director: Akira Watanabe
* Special Effects Lighting: Kyuichirô Kishida
* Special Effects Opticals: Hiroshi Mukoyama
* Chief Assistant Director: Takashi Nagano (credited as Ken Sano)
* Production Designer: Shinobu Muraki
* Film Editor: Yoshitami Kuroiwa
* Cinematographer: Tadashi Iimura, Fukuzô Koizumi
* Music Composers: Kenjiro Hirose, Hiroaki Hagiwara
* Sound Effects Editor: Hisashi Shimonaga

## Cast

* Hajime Hana as Detective Hanai, himself (2 roles)
* Hitoshi Ueki as Yuito Uematsu, himself (2 roles)
* Kei Tani as Keisuke Tanii, himself (2 roles)
* Hiroshi Inuzuka as Detective Inui, himself (2 roles)
* Êtarô Ishibashi as Detective Ichihashi, himself (2 roles)
* Senri Sakurai as Editor-in-chief Kakurai, himself (2 roles)
* Shin Yasuda as Detective Ishizaki, himself (2 roles)
* Reiko Dan as Etsuko Tanii
* Fubuki Koshiji as Kumiko Morigaki
* The Peanuts as Singers at the Sahara Club
* Tetsu Nakamura as Asian Regional Captain of the Nazi Conspiracy Group
* Takamaru Sasaki as Chief of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
* Fuyuki Murakami as General Manager of the Yasuoka Research Headquarters
* Minoru Takada as Minister of Finances
* Eijiro Yanagi as Governor of the Bank of Japan
* Tôru Yuri as Nagoya Police Officer
* Akira Hitomi as Police officer in patrol car
* Nadao Kirino as Nazi Conspiracy member
* Gen Shimizu as Suntory President
* Hisaya Ito as Japanese fleet officer
* Ryūji Kita as Minister of International Trade and Industry
* Somesho Matsumoto as Commander of the Japanese fleet
* Shin Otomo as Submarine captain
* Masanari Nihei as Man in black
* Yasuo Araki, Yutaka Oka, Minoru Ito as Nazi Conspiracy members
* Wataru Ōmae as Command room police officer
* Andrew Hughes as Adolf Hitler (credited as Andre Hughes)
* Keiko Sawai as Woman in the car
* Akiko Ichinoki as Pink Six
* Ken Echigo as Nazi Conspiracy driver, Club Sahara bartender (2 roles)
* Ryūsuke Saijō as Matsui
* Shoichi Hirose as Bearded policeman

※ Cameo performers

* Yôko Tsukasa as Woman walking
* Akio Kusama as Minister , Staff of the Japanese fleet
* Shigeo Katô as Police officer at the Nagoya Police Department
* Bin Furuya as Weekly top reporter , guest at Club Sahara , boy at Hotel Meriken
* Hisaya Morishige as Prime Minister (uncredited)
* Shin Watanabe, Misa Watanabe as Matchmakers at the party
* Masao Komatsu as Bike stunt performer
* Haruo Nakajima as Detective / Japanese Fleet Staff
* Daisuke Inoue as Toilet boy
* Hans Horneff as Adjutant
* Harold Conway as UN Fleet commander (as Harold S. Conway)

## Insert songs

**I Regret It** (遺憾に存じます, *Ikan ni zonjimasu*)

* Lyrics: Yukio Aoshima / Arrangement & Composer: Hiroaki Hagiwara / Performer: Hitoshi Ueki

**Henchokorin Hentekorin Daughter** (ヘンチョコリンなヘンテコリンな娘, *Henchokorin'na hentekorin'na musume*)

* Lyrics and Composer: Henry Drennan / Performer: Kei Tani

**On Your Chest** (あなたの胸に, *Anata no mune ni*)

* Lyrics: Kazumi Yasui / Composer: Hiroshi Miyagawa / Performer: The Peanuts

**Debate** (討匪行, *Tōhikō*)

* Lyrics: Takeo Yaginuma / Composer: Yoshie Fujiwara / Performer: Hajime Hana

**Inuyama Ondo** (犬山音頭, *Inuyama ondo*)

* Lyrics: Ujo Noguchi / Composer: Kiyomi Fujii / Performer: Hitoshi Ueki

**Death Poem Song** (辞世の歌, *Jisei no uta*)

* Lyrics & Composer: Yukio Aoshima / Performer: Hitoshi Ueki

**Great Adventure March** (大冒険マーチ, *Dai bōken māchi*)

* Lyrics: Yukio Aoshima / Arrangement & Composer: Hiroaki Hagiwara / Performer: Crazy Cats
* Performed at the party of Uematsu and Etsuko's wedding. Shin Watanabe and Misa played the role of matchmakers.

## Others

* In the printed materials and trailers for this work, it is described as "Crazy Cats 10th Anniversary Movie", but in the opening title, the "Crazy Cats" part is titled "Crazy Cats".
* The subsequent opening title scene is an aerial view of Tokyo in 1965, including the Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Port, Ginza, Tokyo Station, Yoyogi National Gymnasium, and Tokyo International Airport. This "aerial photography" was an annual event of the Toho Furusawa films at the time, and was also used on "Nippon ichi no goma suri otoko" released the same year and "Zoku wakai kisetsu", which was released the year before.
* Masao Komatsu appears as a stuntman in a scene where Hitoshi Ueki falls off a moving motorcycle during the chase scene.
* Most of the location scenes set like Kobe, which was filmed in Yokohama. It is well known for its Yamashita Park and the Yokohama Marine Tower, and it was filmed in a place that can be easily identified as Yokohama.
* The "Meriken Hotel" (メリケンホテル, *Meriken hoteru*) that appears in the Kobe scene is the former building of the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka. Even during the film, you can see that the characters are reflected in the entrance of the hotel. The garden wedding venue of the last scene is also the courtyard of the hotel, and it appeared in the last scene in "Wakai kisetsu" that Furusawa once directed the film.
* In the location set in Nagoya, the scenery around Nagoya Station at that time appeared, and the location is also held at the castle tower of Inuyama Castle, a yamajiro-stye Japanese castle located in the city of Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture. Nagoya's native dialects, such as Ueki himself, are also available. However, the scene of the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen Nagoya Station platform was taken at the Tokyo Station platform, and the Marunouchi Station building can be seen through the window of the vehicle.
* In his film, Furusawa uses things that were common in the customs of the time, such as steam locomotives (taken on the Kanto Railway Joso Line) and farm horses, to create pictures that are conscious of Western drama.
* The scene where the U-boat emerges and the scene where the joint US-Japan combined fleet shoots naval gunfire was diverted from the fighting footage from "Submarine I-57 Will Not Surrender" in monochrome image. In addition, images such as "Retreat From Kiska" are also diverted fragmentarily to the monitor screen of the conspiracy group, and in the base blast scene, the image of "Siege of Fort Bismarck" is diverted.
* At the government meeting of the prologue, the governor of the Bank of Japan said about counterfeit bills, "The mint cannot make two bills with the same number." This is wrong, and the Ministry of National Printing Bureau is correct about the counterfeiting activities.
* It is the work with the shortest title among the 30 Toho's Crazy Movies in all.
* Tomytec, Japan's major toy company, released a miniature car that was used in the film as a "Toho Famous Car Seat" project with a description of the movie.

## Video software

On April 21, 2001, a DVD containing the film was released by Toho Video (product number: TDV2600D). This DVD was re-released four years later on September 30, 2005 after changing the design of the disc label and case (product number: TDV15294D), but both versions had video defects, so it was a defective disc. They responded to the purchaser of the product by replacing it with a modified disc free of charge.

In 2012, K.K. DeAgostini Japan released "Toho Tokusatsu Movie DVD Collection No. 65" (final issue).

On January 28, 2014, Kodansha released "Toho Showa's Bakusho Comedy DVD Magazine Vol.22".