Branded to Kill
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Branded to Kill (殺しの烙印; Koroshi no Rakuin) is a 1967 film by Japanese director Suzuki Seijun starring Shishido Jo, Ogawa Mariko, Mari Annu and Nambara Koji.
Branded to Kill was the last film Suzuki made for Nikkatsu Studios. He had clashed with the studio's bosses before, and his contract with the studio was terminated this time around for deviating immensely from the original screenplay. He would not make another movie for over ten years.
Plot Summary
Hanada Goro (Shishido) is the no. 3 ranked assassin in the Japanese underworld. After the deaths of the no. 2 and no. 4 ranked assassins, Hanada takes a job offered by the morbid and mysterious Misako (Mari). When the job goes bad, he finds himself being hunted by the even more mysterious no. 1 (Nambara); after no. 1 kidnaps Misako, Hanada resolves to dispose of him, taking the no. 1 spot for himself.
The assassination of the underboss Sonny Valerio through a sink drain in Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai is an homage to the assassination of a crooked optometrist in Branded to Kill.