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Take Aim at the Police Van is action-packed, fast-moving Japanese Noir. Perhaps though, it's a little too fast moving. And unfortunately employs some rather erratic editing.

The story itself has all the makings of a good noir-ish detective murder mystery. Daijirô Tamon (Michitarô Mizushima) is a prison guard who has convicts murdered during a prison transfer. Tamon decides to hunt down those responsible. He quickly stumbles upon an "agency" that supplies young women as "showgirls" and "masseuses". There is no need to read between the lines or even get metaphorical as the fact they are being used as call-girls is blatantly evident. However, Tamon begins to have feelings for the agency's madam, Yûko (Misako Watanabe).

Directed by Seijun Suzuki, Take Aim at the Police Van builds up a good mystery and adds in a number of chases and shooting sequences. Yet the speed of the story and the choppiness of the editing truly shows that this was simply another movie quickly being fed through the Nikkatsu Studios machine. As swiftly Tamon decides to solve the case, the source of all the woe is discovered (also, such identity is not a shock), and the credits roll.

Take Aim at the Police Van is faster than service at a ramen house. But also quite tasty.

A 1960 police actioner from writer/director Seijin Suzuki (Branded to Kill/Tokyo Drifter) about a disgraced prison guard, Michitaro Mizushima, who loses some of his charges during a shootout during a nighttime transfer. Taking the law into his own hands but also at some point in the story cops are brought in, Mizushima tracks down the players behind the act siding up to the moll of one of the crooks in the hopes of getting back some dignity he suffered from the escape. As per Noir Alley's host Eddie Muller, the film was a revelation to Japanese audiences, especially the younger sect, which embraced the film embarrassing the honchos at the film studio but now 64 years after the fact the film is fine but ultimately safe when a lot of the gunfights which may've lit a fire under the viewing public butts now feel like so much uncontrolled chaos but the throughline of the plot is solid enough though.

This film begins with a bus carrying two convicts to prison being ambushed by a man with a rifle which results in both of the prisoners being killed. Outraged about this incident, the authorities quickly suspend the prison guard responsible for the prisoner transport by the name of "Daijiro Tamon" (Michitaro Mizushima). So, with nothing but time on his hands, Daijiro goes about investigating the ambush and what clues he finds eventually leads him to a company known as the Hamaju Agency which is being temporarily run by a young woman by the name of "Yuko Hamajima" (Misako Watanabe). What he doesn't realize, however, is that the closer his investigation gets to the culprit behind the murders, the more dangerous it becomes for him. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a decent film due in large part to the mystery involved along with some good suspense here and there as well. Admittedly, there are some parts of the plot that are a bit unrealistic, but even so, I enjoyed this movie for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Film 3/5 in the Nikkatsu Noir boxset I'm working through, and I'd rank this behind Rusty Knife (film 2/5), but ahead of I Am Waiting (film 1/5).

I'll give it this: Take Aim at the Police Van has a great title and a great opening- both work well to get you hooked early to the simple premise (prison guard is partially blamed for deaths that weren't his fault, so he goes looking for the real killers himself) that soon balloons out and gets very complicated.

While some of the complexity and mystery is intentional, given the main character doesn't really know what's going on much of the time, I think it may have left the audience in the dark just a little too much. You could say that about a lot of classic noir, though- I think it's The Maltese Falcon where the writer even admitted he didn't really understand 100% of the plot.

(EDIT: legend actually goes that it was The Big Sleep where the screenwriters were confused by what they were writing. Do remember Maltese Falcon also having a confusing plot, for what it's worth)

But in any event, it stays entertaining because of the fast (if almost a little too quick) pace, the stylish direction, and some exciting sequences. Plus the mystery is a pretty decent one.

It all makes for an overall solid watch.

An exceptionally well-shot if bitterly average and utterly bewildering mystery, Take Aim at the Police Van marks the very early days for Seijun Suzuki, far less abstract than what I've heard about his more well-known works. He's shooting to a formula but delivering where it matters, be it the woman killed by an arrow to the boob or the faceless gunman who lovingly strokes his rifle's stock before sticking his bubblegum atop its scope. It's a film I wish was slightly more cohesive (and less jazzy) than it is but Police Van benefits from the endless swagger of its lead and fun filmmaking flourishes to stop it from being a frustrating or bad time. A testament to how artists pumping out quickie exploitation movies can often work in truths about their times that prestige filmmakers can't.