The Cinematheque

In the movie that made him a star, Ishihara Yujiro, the Japanese Elvis, plays Shoichi, a rowdy young hoodlum out to make it as a drummer in the Ginza jazz world. Kitahara Mie (Ishihara’s future wife) is Miyako, his new manager, as sassy and smart as she is gorgeous. Romantic sparks fly, but Shoichi’s first priority is to beat arrogant, gang-connected Charley (Oida Toshio), Ginza’s best drummer. The film was Japan’s third-biggest box-office success of 1957, made the Nikkatsu studio solvent, and solidified director Inoue Umetsugu’s reputation as a maker of hit musicals. For its young audience, who clapped and cheered as Ishihara sang ​“I’m a drummer, a no-good drummer,” the movie was an event and a generational marker. Today it still packs musical excitement—and presents Japan’s premier screen idol at his most charismatic.