- Title: Black Rain
- IMDb: link
Flashback Friday takes us back to 1989 and the story of an American cop stumbling into a gang war in Japan. Sitting in the middle of Michael Douglas‘ run as morally ambiguous protagonists, Black Rain casts Douglas as NYPD detective Nick Conklin under investigation from Internal Affairs who gets roped into a trip to Japan after witnessing the Yakuza gun down members of the Mafia in New York. Assigned with his partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) to escort the killer (Yûsaku Matsuda) back to Japan, only to lose him just after landing, the pair of detectives are forced to stay in the city with a chaperone (Ken Takakura) but no other help from the local police in finding the killer.
Other than taking money to make ends meet, and doing a little illegal street racing on the side, Nick is a relatively good cop who knows how to follow the evidence, uncovering a counterfeit ring in Osaka. The other notable appearance is Kate Capshaw as a night club hostess who, against her better judgement, decides to help Nick.
Director Ridley Scott‘s film holds up pretty well more than 30 years later. Douglas during this period was perfect casting for the lead. Filmed primarily in Japan, the film has a look and feel of the time period and locale which contrasts nicely to the earlier scenes shot in New York. Going back and watching Garcia play the far lighter, almost playful, partner to Douglas is also quite enjoyable given the more serious roles of his later career. Black Rain also marks the final role for Matsuda who died from bladder cancer only weeks after the film’s premiere and to whom the movie is dedicated.
The film had mixed reactions from both audiences and critics, not quite earning enough to break into the top 25 films of the year, but it has found new appreciation over the years becoming something of a cult classic. In Japan, however, the film was an unqualified success. It’s a bit ahead of its time in terms of Douglas’ anti-hero, and both the action and suspense of the story continue to work all these years later based largely on Douglas’ performance and the atmosphere and style of the film created by Scott and cinematographers Howard Atherton (who quit before filming was complete due to the many problems encountered while shooting in Japan) and Jan de Bont (who finished the film). Black Rain has been released multiple times on DVD and Blu-ray and is available on a variety of streaming services.
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