

High and Low
Stark, intense drama almost beyond belief!
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
TMDB
8.4/10
1,227 votes
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Not rated yet
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- Status
- Released
- Budget
- $250K
- Box office
- —
- Language
- Japanese
- chauffeur
- police
- ransom
- manager
- kidnapping
- blackmail
- heroin
- film noir
- black and white
- shoe
- criminal investigation
- japanese noir
Top billed cast

















Behind the camera
Director
Music
Produced in
Japan
Where to watch
Availability for United States. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
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Release dates
United StatesUS
- TheatricalNR26 Nov 1963
United KingdomGB
- Theatrical121 Apr 1967
- Digital / OTT1227 Jan 2025
AustraliaAU
- Theatrical (limited)MRe-Release24 Oct 2024
ArgentinaAR
- Theatrical13(Clasicos del Cine Japones)20 Nov 2000
- Theatrical13(De Kurosawa a Kitano: 50 años de Cine Japonés)8 Sept 2002
CzechiaCZ
- PremiereEiga-Sai Film Festival24 Feb 2018
DenmarkDK
- Theatrical27 Oct 1969
FinlandFI
- TheatricalK-1627 Mar 1981
FranceFR
- Theatrical9 Jun 1976
- Theatrical(re-release)21 Jul 2004
- Theatrical(re-release) (restored version)9 Mar 2016
GermanyDE
- Theatrical(Berlin International Film Festival)1 Feb 1993
ItalyIT
- PremiereVenice Film Festival27 Aug 1963
- Theatrical27 Jan 1967
JapanJP
- Theatrical1 Mar 1963
- Theatrical(Nihon Meisaku Eigasai)27 Feb 2016
MexicoMX
- Theatrical12 Jun 1968
Frequently asked questions
High and Low was released on 1 March 1963.
Audience reviews
3- C7/10
CinemaSerf
9/4/2023
I didn't take to this initially. The scenario reminded me a little of an episode of "Columbo" - a rather sterile, studio-set environment that came across as quite limiting. Once it gets going, though, it's one of the best crime thrillers I've seen in ages. It all centres around the kidnapping of a small boy for whom the anger-prone, shoe millionaire "Gondo" (a strong contribution from Toshirô Mifune) is supposed to p…
- Z8/10
Zak_Jaggs
12/19/2024
A well worked, high stake crime thriller. The stakes are deeply personal to our main characters and puts them in an impossible situation. The performances and direction are very solid, the story is engaging and ultimately, it's a simple yet enjoyable film. Kurosawa comments on modern corporate greed and poverty in post-war Japan, and he does it very well.
- B7/10
Brent Marchant
8/27/2025
I’m always amazed at how a single film can be fundamentally characterized in multiple ways, but that’s understandable when the picture combines an array of diverse elements, each of which has a validity all its own that can subsequently lead to different overarching interpretations. Such is the case with this 1963 film classic from famed Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, which provides the cinematic inspiration behind …
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