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'{{short description|1955 film}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = Wolf | native_name = {{Film name| kanji = 狼}} | image = | caption = | director = [[Kaneto Shindo]] | producer = Toshio Itoya<br>Tengo Yamada<br>Setsuo Noto | writer = Kaneto Shindo | starring = [[Nobuko Otowa]]<br>[[Jun Hamamura]]<br>[[Ichirō Sugai]]<br>[[Sanae Takasugi]]<br>[[Taiji Tonoyama]] | music = [[Akira Ifukube]] | cinematography = Takeo Itō | editing = Zenju Imaizumi | distributor = | released = {{Film date|1955|7|3|df=yes}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=24323 |title=Entry for ''Wolf'' at the Kinema Junpo site |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |language=Japanese |access-date=30 December 2020 |quote=}}</ref> | runtime = 127 minutes | country = Japan | language = Japanese }} {{nihongo|'''''Wolf'''''|狼|Okami}} is a 1955 Japanese [[Crime film|crime]] [[drama film]] written and directed by [[Kaneto Shindo]].<ref name="citwf">{{cite web|url=http://www.citwf.com/film254627.htm |title=Wolf |accessdate=2 June 2012 |work=Complete Index to World Film | date=2 June 2012}}</ref> ==Plot== After an [[opening sequence]] showing a group of people hijacking a post office truck, a [[Montage (filmmaking)|montage]] of press coverage and police investigations, and the arrest of Akiko, one of the gang members, the film switches to a [[Flashback (narrative)|flashback narration]] covering the preceding events: A group of 5 insurance salesmen and -women are facing dismissal for not accomplishing the company's sales plan, with all of them already living under precarious social conditions. War widows Akika and Fujibayashi have to raise their children on their own, Yoshikawa and Mikawa, one a hapless screenwriter, one a former car factory worker who lost his job after an accident, can hardly feed their families, and Harashima, a bank clerk fired for his [[Trade union|union]] activities, lives in an unhappy marriage with a wife who refuses to divorce him without severance. Out of desperation, they decide to rob a post office money transport on its daily route. The coup is successful, but later the members of the group, titled "wolves" in the press, are caught one after another. The last to be arrested is Akiko, who needed the money for an operation on her disfigured son, and is already being expected by the police at the hospital where her son is treated. ==Production== Shindo had based his screenplay for ''Wolf'' on an actual event, the robbing of a truck by a group of five insurance agents, including two women, who had no previous criminal records and acted out of sheer poverty. The film was produced by Shindo's and actor [[Taiji Tonoyama]]'s own production company [[Kindai Eiga Kyōkai]] after [[Nikkatsu]] studios backed out of the project shortly before shooting began. Itō Takerō of the independent company Dokuritsu Eiga helped in funding the production. ''Wolf'' was shown in only a few independent cinemas and was a failure with the audience.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.filmtv.it/post/31148/kaneto-shindo-sul-making-of-di-wolf-okami-1955/#rfr:film-77186 |title=Kaneto Shindo on ''Wolf'' at filmtv.it website |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |language=Italian |access-date=30 December 2020 |quote=}}</ref> Tonoyama, who appeared in many of Shindo's films, said that this was his favourite role of all of the director's films.<ref>{{100sainoryugi}}</ref> ==Cast== * [[Nobuko Otowa]] as Akiko Yano * [[Jun Hamamura]] as Harashima * [[Ichirō Sugai]] as Fusajirō Yoshikawa * [[Sanae Takasugi]] as Tomie Fujibayashi * [[Taiji Tonoyama]] as Yoshiyuki Mikawa * [[Bokuzen Hidari]] * [[Tanie Kitabayashi]] * Masao Mishima * [[Tomoko Naraoka]] * [[Eitarō Ozawa]] * Sumie Sasaki * [[Masami Shimojō]] * Tsutomu Shimomoto * Kinzō Shin as Hideo Yamamoto * [[Kin Sugai]] * Yoshiko Tsubouchi * [[Eijirō Tōno]] * [[Jūkichi Uno]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * {{IMDb title|0048443|Wolf}} * {{jcdb title|5629|title=Wolf}} {{Kaneto Shindo}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf}} [[Category:1955 films]] [[Category:Japanese films]] [[Category:Japanese-language films]] [[Category:Japanese drama films]] [[Category:Japanese crime drama films]] [[Category:1955 drama films]] [[Category:Films directed by Kaneto Shindo]] [[Category:Films scored by Akira Ifukube]]'