{ "id": "epy4jdzpa3", "slug": "intimidation-1960-film", "title": "Intimidation (ある脅迫) (1960 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.film-noir-and-neo-noir-films", "label": "Film noir and neo-noir films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.film-noir-and-neo-noir-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.film-noir-and-neo-noir-films.yr-1940-1975", "label": "Released 1940 to 1975", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.film-noir-and-neo-noir-films.yr-1940-1975" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Intimidation (ある脅迫, Aru kyōhaku) is a 1960 Nikkatsu black-and-white noir directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, adapted from Kyō Takigawa's Naoki Prize story, in which a blackmailed bank executive played by Nobuo Kaneko robs his own bank while Kō Nishimura's meek clerk watches.", "snippet": "Intimidation (ある脅迫, Aru kyōhaku) is a 1960 Nikkatsu black-and-white noir directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, adapted from Kyō Takigawa's Naoki Prize story, in which a blackmailed bank executive played by Nobuo Kaneko robs his own bank while Kō Nishimura's meek clerk watches.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.film-noir-and-neo-noir-films.yr-1940-1975", "markdown": "# Intimidation (ある脅迫) (1960 film)\n\n**Intimidation** (ある脅迫, *Aru kyōhaku*) is a 1960 Japanese black-and-white crime suspense film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara (蔵原惟繕) and produced and distributed by Nikkatsu[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html). Adapted from a [Naoki Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/naoki-prize)-winning work by Kyō Takigawa (多岐川恭), it follows a blackmailed bank executive who plans to rob his own bank on the night his meek childhood friend is on duty, and the reversals that follow when the two men's fortunes begin to turn[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/intimidation/).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | ある脅迫 (*Aru kyōhaku*)[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) |\n| Director / studio | Koreyoshi Kurahara; produced and distributed by Nikkatsu[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) |\n| Release | 20 March 1960[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) |\n| Format | Black and white, CinemaScope, 6 reels, 1,791 m; 66 minutes per Nikkatsu, 65 minutes per several international listings[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/intimidation/) |\n| Source | Naoki Prize-winning story by Kyō Takigawa[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) |\n| Screenplay | Credited to Osamu Kawase (川瀬治), a pen name of Masaharu Segawa (瀬川昌治)[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) • [3](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/021162) |\n| Leads | Nobuo Kaneko as Takita Kyōsuke; Kō Nishimura as Nakaike Matakichi[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) |\n| Music / cinematography | Masaru Satō; Yoshihiro Yamazaki[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/intimidation_1960) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nTakita Kyōsuke, deputy manager of the Naoetsu branch of a Hokuriku bank, is promoted to head of the business department at the head office. Sharp and free of scandal, he is well regarded inside and outside the company, and his marriage to the bank president's daughter has also hastened his rise[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html). At his lavish farewell party at a traditional restaurant, one man sits apart from the festivities: Nakaike, a clerk in the general affairs section who shared a desk with Takita in middle school. Takita's wife had originally been Nakaike's sweetheart; after Takita took her from him, his golden path through life opened[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html).\n\nOn the way home from the party a sharp-eyed man blocks Takita and says \"you could manage 3 million yen, couldn't you?\". To support a woman he had picked up on a business trip to Tokyo, Takita had forged seals and made unauthorized loans, and the yakuza Kumaki, who holds this secret, has been blackmailing him. Kumaki hands Takita a handgun: the money is due by 6 a.m. the next morning, or he will report everything to the police and the company. Cornered, Takita forms a plan: he has used Nakaike all along, and will use him to the very last. He drags Nakaike, who is on night duty that day, out to a bar[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html).\n\nDisguised, Takita robs his own bank on the night Nakaike keeps watch[3](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/021162). The heist appears to go as planned, but when Nakaike betrays a hint of recognition, the plot turns, and turns again[5](https://heartofnoir.com/film/intimidation-1960/). The two men's positions, one a winner on the promotion track and the other a clerk who has never advanced, reverse over the course of the story[3](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/021162) • [6](https://www.ne.jp/asahi/gensou/kan/eigahyou70/arukyouhaku.html).\n\n## Cast and crew\n\nNobuo Kaneko plays the arrogant, career-climbing Takita, and Kō Nishimura plays the servile Nakaike, a role unusual for an actor more often cast in eccentric parts[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html) • [6](https://www.ne.jp/asahi/gensou/kan/eigahyou70/arukyouhaku.html). The two leads were both born in 1923[7](https://www.shin-bungeiza.com/work/aru-kyouhaku). The supporting cast includes Mari Shiraki as Nakaike's sister Umeha, Kōjirō Kusanagi as Kumaki, Jun Hamamura as the caretaker Nozaki, Yōko Kosono as Takita's wife Kumiko, and Kōshin Kawakami as branch manager Okuyama[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html). Ryoji Motegi produced; Masaru Satō composed the score, Yoshihiro Yamazaki was the cinematographer, Kazuhiko Chiba the art director, and [Akira Suzuki](https://www.edgepedia.org/akira-suzuki) the editor[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/intimidation_1960) • [1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html).\n\nThe screenplay credit, Osamu Kawase, is a pen name of Masaharu Segawa, who later worked as a comedy director[3](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/021162).\n\n## Production\n\nKoreyoshi Kurahara was born in 1927 in Kuching, Borneo, studied film at Nihon University's art faculty, became an assistant director at Shochiku's Kyoto studio, and moved to Nikkatsu when film production resumed in 1954[8](https://www.fashion-press.net/profiles/5909/). *Intimidation* was one of two features he directed in 1960, alongside *Crazed Fruit* (狂熱の季節)[8](https://www.fashion-press.net/profiles/5909/).\n\nThe film was shot in black and white in [CinemaScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinemascope) on six reels totaling 1,791 meters[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html). Location work took place in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, including Naoetsu Station[1](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html).\n\n## Reception and availability\n\nThe film was shown at the [New York Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-film-festival) in a 35 mm print, where programmers described it as a sleek noir of murder, blackmail, and bitterly ironic twists, and a psychological study of revenge that comments on the ethical shortcuts of corporate life[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/intimidation/). It streams on the Criterion Channel in the United States[9](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/intimidation), where it holds a 7.2 user rating[9](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/intimidation), and Rotten Tomatoes records an 80% audience score from fewer than 50 ratings[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/intimidation_1960). Japanese viewers on Filmarks rate it 3.7 out of 5 across more than 300 reviews[10](https://filmarks.com/movies/3211).\n\nA Japanese reviewer notes that the film's structure, in which the winner and loser of the two men's rivalry swap places, is simple, but that the resolution conceals a device that deceives the audience and then a final twist that turns on that device, with the moral that crime does not pay clearly visible beneath the story[6](https://www.ne.jp/asahi/gensou/kan/eigahyou70/arukyouhaku.html). WOWOW's synopsis calls it a low-budget small-scale work under 70 minutes in which the master-servant relationship between the two leads reverses repeatedly, keeping the drama suspenseful to the end[3](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/021162).\n\n## References\n\n1. [ある脅迫 | 映画 | 日活 (Nikkatsu official page)](https://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/20429.html)\n2. [Intimidation, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/intimidation/)\n3. [ある脅迫 | 映画 | WOWOWオンライン](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/021162)\n4. [Intimidation (1960) | Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/intimidation_1960)\n5. [Intimidation, 1960 – Heart Of Noir](https://heartofnoir.com/film/intimidation-1960/)\n6. [ある脅迫 – 映画評 (ne.jp)](https://www.ne.jp/asahi/gensou/kan/eigahyou70/arukyouhaku.html)\n7. [ある脅迫 - 作品解説 - 新文芸坐](https://www.shin-bungeiza.com/work/aru-kyouhaku)\n8. [蔵原惟繕のプロフィール・経歴・監督作品 - ファッションプレス](https://www.fashion-press.net/profiles/5909/)\n9. [Intimidation streaming: where to watch movie online? – JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/intimidation)\n10. [ある脅迫 - Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/3211)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Film noir and neo-noir films › Released 1940 to 1975*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/intimidation-1960-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/intimidation-1960-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Intimidation (ある脅迫) (1960 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/intimidation-1960-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Intimidation (ある脅迫) (1960 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/intimidation-1960-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/intimidation-1960-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/intimidation-1960-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Intimidation (ある脅迫) (1960 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/intimidation-1960-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Intimidation is a 1960 Nikkatsu black-and-white noir directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, adapted from Kyō Takigawa's Naoki Prize story, in which a blackmailed bank executive played by Nobuo Kaneko robs his own bank while Kō Nishimura's meek clerk watches." }