Hitoshi Ueki

Acting

Hitoshi Ueki

Born — Died

1926-12-25 — 2007-03-27

Place of birth

Aichi, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

64 titles

Hitoshi Ueki (植木 等, Ueki Hitoshi, December 25, 1926 – March 27, 2007) was a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and guitarist. He won six awards for acting. His film credits stretch from 1960 to 1995. Ueki came to fame through the comic jazz-band The Crazy Cats led by Hajime Hana. His major appearances were in the Musekinin Otoko film series, the comedy variety show Shabondama Holiday, the prime-time television series The Hangman, and the ten 2-hour television shows in the Nagoya Yomeiri Monogatari franchise. He appeared in the Akira Kurosawa epic jidaigeki film Ran, and received a nomination for the Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

Known for

Film credits

1980s · 12 titles

Ran poster
8.0

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

Ran

1985

Kaisha monogatari: Memories of You poster
6.0

A hard-working section chief, fast approaching retirement and beset by stress from all directions, joins a jazz band and reignites his youthful passion for the music, giving him a chance to set things right in his life.

Kaisha monogatari: Memories of You

1988

Tattoo poster
5.7

An ardent culture-vulture youth, previously charged for the murder of a woman when he was young, plans to hold hostage a local bank.

Tattoo

1982

The Crazy Family poster
7.1

Shortly after moving to the suburbs, the Kobayashis start to come undone. Convinced a family curse is at the root of their erratic behavior, the man of the house takes it upon himself to course-correct before it takes the last of their sanity.

The Crazy Family

1984

Congratulatory Speech poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Congratulatory Speech

1985

Assassin's Road poster
NR

Toma (Go Kato) is a son of a doctor in Takane, Yoshitomo Monzen. He was ordered by the sick federal lord and travel to Edo. It was said that Tsurunosuke, the man supposed to be the next federal lord, got a heavy disease, and the order aimed to make sure if it is true or not. On his way to Edo, Toma gave a hand to Kiku (Mayumi Okamura) who had a stomachache. However, she seemed to be in big trouble, and there were many warriors on the roads… This is the remade drama of “Wakasamamono” written by a popular novelist Tatsuji Satte. Go Kato as Dr. Waka brandishes a sword to come up against the plot of Karo, related to the inheritance of Takane Han.

Assassin's Road

1982

Guys Who Never Learn poster
9.0

Comedy based on a book by Joji Abe, about a man in prison for the 12th time.

Guys Who Never Learn

1987

Big Joys, Small Sorrows poster
6.8

A lighthouse keeper and his family follow work from town to town, each time making new friends and receiving a visit from his troublesome father.

Big Joys, Small Sorrows

1986

Completely... With That Air! poster
7.0

This film is Beat Takeshi's first starring role.

Completely... With That Air!

1981

愛しのチィパッパ poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

愛しのチィパッパ

1986

I Go to Tokyo poster
6.0

A young man working as a cameraman in Tokyo is visited for three days by his parents from the countryside.

I Go to Tokyo

1985

Whisper of the Spirits poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Whisper of the Spirits

1987

1960s · 37 titles

Crazy Operation: First Move poster
10.0

After being fired from his company, Hitoshi Ueda opens a arbitration company. Experts from various fields gather around him and with their natural vitality, they solve one dispute after another. But as it turns out, their next dispute will be at a global scale.

Crazy Operation: First Move

1963

Las Vegas Free-For-All poster
10.0

The Crazy Cats, a Japanese musical-comedy group, were showcased a series of comic adventures throughout the 1960s. Las Vegas Free-For-All, one of their most popular movies, featured scenes filmed on location in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. Appearing with the seven Cats were the lovely Mie Hama and such Japanese musical artists as The Peanuts, The Johnnys, The Drifters, and Jackie Yoshikawa & the Blue Comets.

Las Vegas Free-For-All

1967

Japan's No. 1 Playboy poster
9.0

The music teacher, who danced the twist at the graduation ceremony of the solemn female school, was fired but decided to try his luck in the cosmetics business, and became the best salesman anyone had ever seen. First film in popular "Number 1" Series.

Japan's No. 1 Playboy

1963

Yes! Yes! 3 Young Girls poster
NR

Musical comedy starring Watanabe Productions recording stars Nakao, Sono, and Ito as Toho's new "Sannin musume," three young women intended for 1960s audiences what Hibari Misora, Izumi Yukimura, and Chiemi Eri had been in the 50s.

Yes! Yes! 3 Young Girls

1963

Crazy Operation: Drop Dead! Irresponsibility poster
10.0

Seven employees rise up in rebellion against an irresponsible company.

Crazy Operation: Drop Dead! Irresponsibility

1963

Japan's No. 1 Braggart poster
8.0

When hopeful Olympic triple-jump competitor injures both his Achilles tendons, he discovers an old manuscript about self-confidence to join the best company in Japan try to triple-jump his way to the top and marry the company model (Mie Hama) in the bargain. The second installment in the "Japan's No. 1" film series.

Japan's No. 1 Braggart

1964

The Woman Who Touched Legs poster
7.0

Detective Katahachi meets a young and beautiful pickpocket and doesn’t arrest her because she was not in the act. Instead, he listens to the story about her parents who killed himself and died for overwork to feel sorry about her.

The Woman Who Touched Legs

1960

Youth Season Continued poster
7.0

The Second movie based on a popular TV show about Pintemps Cosmetics and their struggles to make new successful products, filled with singing, dancing, and laughter.

Youth Season Continued

1964

The Crazy Adventure poster
7.0

After being mistaken for counterfeiters by the police, an inventor and reporter try to track down the real counterfeiters.

The Crazy Adventure

1965

Irresponsible Rascal of Japan poster
8.5

Sequel to "Irresponsible Age of Japan".

Irresponsible Rascal of Japan

1962

You Can Succeed, Too poster
7.7

A group of friends try to find success in corporate Japan.

You Can Succeed, Too

1964

The Man from Planet Alpha poster
8.0

A film produced by Toho and Watanabe Productions as part of the Crazy Movie project featuring The Crazy Cats comedy group and jazz band members. It is the sixth film in the Crazy Operation series where the lead role was handed over from Eikichi Ueki to Kei Tani. According to the plot, Planet Alpha Secretary severely worried by the effects of the Earth's atomic bomb experiment and sent Mistake 7 and Zero 8, as a watchers to Earth for a nuclear disarmament.

The Man from Planet Alpha

1966

The Boss of Pick-Pocket Bay poster
7.0

Sangoro Oiwake runs out of money. He visits rice shop, eat and drink for free, and owners send him to prison. In prison Sangoro will have a new life

The Boss of Pick-Pocket Bay

1966

Japan's No. 1 Disconnected Man poster
7.0

Maruyama, a day laborer, is living on an abandoned ship at the port of Osaka when he meets an elusive man offering a job.

Japan's No. 1 Disconnected Man

1969

Japan's No. 1 Traitor poster
9.0

The sixth "Japan's No. 1 Man" feature. Followed by "Japan’s No. 1 Disconnected Man".

Japan's No. 1 Traitor

1968

Kureji no Hanayome to Shichinin no Nakama poster
7.0

1962 Japanese movie

Kureji no Hanayome to Shichinin no Nakama

1962

Irresponsible Age of Japan poster
9.0

An irresponsible salaryman works his way to the top of the corporate ladder.

Irresponsible Age of Japan

1962

Let's Meet in Our Dreams poster
8.0

Mie Nakao runs away from home to join her older sister's production company as a new talent. We follow her ups and downs on the way to stardom as she falls in love with two men, a petty thief and a music writer and teacher, and makes her way in the industry alongside The Peanuts and The Crazy Cats.

Let's Meet in Our Dreams

1962

Crazy Cats Go to Hong Kong poster
8.0

Comedy has the proprietors of a tonkatsu (deep-fried pork) restaurant match wits with a Chinese developer.

Crazy Cats Go to Hong Kong

1963

Mexican Free-for-All poster
10.0

The eleventh film in the comedy series starring Japan's leading comedy group, the Crazy Cats. Susumu Sakamori and his friends travel to Mexico to find a stone statue that contains the location of the secret treasure "Olmeca".

Mexican Free-for-All

1968

Irresponsible Life in Edo Japan poster
7.0

A comedy directed by Kajiro Yamamoto, based on an original idea by Koji Toita, co-written by Yasuo Tanami, who worked on "Hibari Chiemi Izumi Sannin Yoba" and Kajiro Yamamoto, who worked on "The Story of a Genius Swindler: Tanuki no Hanamichi." Photographed by Seiichi Endo of "Things That Live at the End of the Earth."

Irresponsible Life in Edo Japan

1964

Japan's No. 1 Best Man poster
8.0

The fifth installment of ten in Nippon Ichi film series.

Japan's No. 1 Best Man

1967

Breakthrough Course of Women in Trouble poster
NR

1962 Japanese movie

Breakthrough Course of Women in Trouble

1962

Japan's No. 1 Sesame Paste Man poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Japan's No. 1 Sesame Paste Man

1965

Devices Stronger Than  Women poster
NR

An ad campaign for a TV show called the “Male Training Contest” stirs chaos at a major electronics company. On opening night, PR manager Sugishita is forced to join the contest, where husbands fail miserably at household chores. Frustrated, the men later gather to complain about their domineering wives, only to be confronted by a carefree stranger who teaches them absurd tricks to “stand up to women.”

Devices Stronger Than Women

1963

Me and Me poster
8.0

Toho comedy shot in Tohoscope featuring performances from the Peanuts and the Crazy Cats. Original released alongside another Toho comedy, King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Me and Me

1962

Youth Season poster
10.0

1962 Japanese movie

Youth Season

1962

The Sandal Keeper poster
8.0

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Hitoshi Ueki) starts out as Nobunaga's "Sandal Keeper" but climbs the ranks to eventually become a trusted general.

The Sandal Keeper

1964

Crazy Big Explosion poster
7.0

Chaos ensues when a secret agent gathers a group of criminals (The Crazy Cats) to steal gold from a bank.

Crazy Big Explosion

1969

Industrial Spy Free-for-All poster
9.0

Saburo Sarutobi, a former member of the Zengakuren, and Maruo Inumaruo, a former member of the police force, have joined two rival companies, Toyotomi Denki and Tokugawa Musen, respectively, and have been at each other's throats at every turn. They are engaged in a nightly industrial espionage war in an attempt to somehow get under each other's noses, but eventually they both find themselves targeted by an international industrial espionage ring...

Industrial Spy Free-for-All

1967

Crazy Big Discovery poster
8.0

When the yakuza murder a bar hostess who, through a computer error, had amassed a huge fortune , the Crazy Cats make a robot duplicate of her.

Crazy Big Discovery

1969

The Craziest Operation poster
10.0

The Crazy Cats try to steal 1,000,000,000 yen in laundered Yakuza money.

The Craziest Operation

1966

Sudara Festival: I Understand, but I can't Stop poster
NR

1962 Japanese movie based on the Crazy Cats smash hit single, "Sudara Festival", sung by Hitoshi Ueki.

Sudara Festival: I Understand, but I can't Stop

1962

The Salaryman's Carefree Life: What a Relaxed Job This Is! poster
NR

The salaryman is the object of admiration in the world. Because there is no more carefree job than this, this cheerful song comedy is set to the hit melody of the Hajime Hana and the Crazy Cats.

The Salaryman's Carefree Life: What a Relaxed Job This Is!

1962

The Troubles of Wimpy Women Soldiers poster
NR

1961 Japanese movie

The Troubles of Wimpy Women Soldiers

1961

Ika naru hoshi no moto ni poster
7.0

1962 Japanese movie

Ika naru hoshi no moto ni

1962

Monsieur Zivaco poster
8.0

International thief Zivaco, who can assume any identity, eludes the authorities and battles rival thief WCWC for a rare gold samurai sword.

Monsieur Zivaco

1967

Series credits