Look out for this hilariously overblown, big-budget Japanese film from the 70s, in which a trendy young high-school science teacher somehow makes a nuclear bomb in his Tokyo studio apartment, in order to hold the world to ransom. The bubble-gum blowing anti-hero is played by then pop-star Julie (a guy despite the girl's name) who looks more like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever than any school-teachers I remember. The film, (co-written by "Taxi-Driver" writer Paul Schrader's brother) plays on the public's fear of nuclear weapons, but whether or not you're scared depends on how far you're willing to suspend your disbelief. After some early attempts at political commentary, it turns into a full-blown action film, with endless jaw-dropping stunts. Julie single-handedly hijacks a power station to steal plutonium for the bomb, and the cop in hot pursuit throughout the movie (a brilliant Bunta Sugawara)is as tenacious and indestructible as a Terminator as he dodges explosions and jumps from helicopters. Although overlong at 2 and a half hours, this film is constantly mad, unpredictable and unintentionally amusing. Animal lovers beware- Julie does some rather nasty things to his cat in the name of science.
Review of The Man Who Stole the Sun
