Known for Directing
Hiromichi Horikawa (28 November 1916 – 5 September 2012) was a Japanese director and assistant director. Akira Kurosawa’s assistant on numerous films including Ikiru (1952) and Seven Samurai (1954), Horikawa never achieved his mentor’s fame. Kurosawa himself scripted his directorial debut, Tomorrow I’ll Be a Fire-Tree (1955), about an adolescent and the first three women in his life. A concern with youthful experience was also visible in Horikawa’s second and third films, Summer in Eclipse (1956), a taiyōzoku (“sun tribe”) film based on a Shintarō Ishihara novel, and Last Days of the Samurai (1957), a reworking of the Chūshingura story that focused particularly on the youngest of the participating ronin and his fiancée. Another retelling of a classical Japanese story was the Chikamatsu adaptation The Oil-Hell Murder (1957), after which Horikawa returned to contemporary subject matter with The Naked General (1958), a portrait of mentally handicapped collage artist Kiyoshi Yamashita. During the sixties, Horikawa made several thrillers, the socially conscious aspects of which suggest the continuing influence of Kurosawa while also evoking Masaki Kobayashi, whose regular actor Tatsuya Nakadai appeared in The Blue Beast (1960), Pressure of Guilt (1963), and The Last Judgement (1965). Later, Horikawa’s drama Good-bye Moscow (1968) used the relationship between a Japanese jazz pianist, an American soldier on leave from Vietnam, and a group of young Russian dissidents as a metaphor for Japan’s situation in the Cold War era. The Militarists (1970) was a critical biopic of General Tōjō, which dramatized the military coup of February 26, 1936, while Sun Above, Death Below (1968) was a conventional if snappily edited thriller about a doomed hitman.
Born
December 28, 1916
Died
September 5, 2012 (age 95)
Birthplace
Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Filmography
37 films


Asian Blue: Ukishima-maru Incident
1995 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
Asian Blue focuses on Koreans brought to Japan to work in forced-labor brigades during World War II


War and Flowers
1989 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
Japanese Drama film about the female experience during the war years.


Mutchan
1985 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Have Wings on Your Heart
Have Wings on Your Heart
1978 · 1h 55m
country: Japan
Tragedy about a terminally ill girl.


The Alaska Story
1977 · 2h 21m
country: Japan
A Japanese sailor finds a colony of Eskimos in the Arctic and decides to stay with them. He comes off at a certain moment to look for his luck in the gold rush in Alaska. But he does not forget them.


Without Complaint
1975 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
Based on the novel of the same name by Seichô Matsumoto.


The King
1973 · 1h 41m
country: Japan
Sakata Sankichi, an amateur shogi player living in the slums of Osaka, is so obsessed with the board game that he spends all of his family's money to keep playing in the hope of defeating star player Sekine.


School Festival Night: A Sweet Experience
1970 · 1h 22m
country: Japan
A teenage drama film about Makiko Hayashi, a top student who is aiming to get into University of Tokyo, together with a group of other students. She befriends one of the school's misfits, Yoshiyuki Mizuno, which starts to change her life. The film follows the way Makiko Hayashi's life changes throughout the time, from a model student with high ambitions, to someone who is uncertain enough about her future, that she feels the only way out is to start anew.


The Militarists
1970 · 2h 14m
country: Japan
The second film in Toho's series on the military history of the Showa era, Hiromichi Horikawa's war drama offers a look at the career of controversial politician Hideki Tojo and the strained relationships between Japan's government, military, and the media.


Sun Above, Death Below
1968 · 1h 26m
country: Japan
Suspense drama about an assassin charged with breaking up a gold smuggling ring, and the contract subsequently purchased against him and his employer.


Good-bye Moscow
1968 · 1h 37m
country: Japan
Ex-jazz pianist turned promoter finds he is successful, but empty. When an entrepreneur sends him to Moscow with a jazz combo, he falls in with the dissident youth of the city, and again finds life empty.


You Can If You Try
1965 · 1h 47m
country: Japan


The Last Judgment
1965 · 1h 36m
country: Japan
Driven by greed and a desire for his cousin's wife, Jiro orchestrates a complex frame-up to have his cousin arrested for murder.


Fumiko's Five Benefactors
1964 · 28m
country: France
A greedy Japanese barmaid serves her aged escort too many noodles.


The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers
1964 · 1h 48m
country: France
Five swindle stories, taking place in five international cities: Tokyo, Japan ("Fumiko's Five Benefactors" by Hiromichi Horikawa); Amsterdam, The Netherlands ("A River of Diamonds" by Roman Polanski); Naples, Italy ("The Road Map" by Ugo Gregoretti); Paris, France ("The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower" by Claude Chabrol); and Marrakesh, Morocco ("The Confidence Man" by Jean-Luc Godard). Godard's segment was not included in the original French cinema release, and Polanski's segment was not included on the 2016 home disc release.


Brand of Evil
1964 · 2h 13m
country: Japan
A Jonan Station detective, Kikuchi, is framed for smuggling drugs and sent to prison. When he is paroled, he joins a private detective agency, where he is asked to investigate Mitsue Takazawa, the wife of a local trading firm president. While secretly conducting his own research, he finds out that Takazawa's husband is the one, responsible for Kikuchi's imprisonment, who also have set sights on Setsuko, a woman Kikuchi becomes romantically involved with.
The Prodigal Son
The Prodigal Son
1964 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
A Japanese adaption of the story of the Prodigal Son.


Pressure of Guilt
1963 · 1h 53m
country: Japan
A seasoned prosecutor uncovers the perfect crime committed by a young lawyer.


Musume to watashi
1962 · 2h 3m
country: Japan


A Cat and Dried Bonito Flakes: The Story of a Swindler
1961 · 1h 46m
country: Japan
Based on the story "Tokyo Station" by Tsunehiko Sagawa.


Eternity of Love
1961 · 2h 20m
country: Japan
A Hiromichi Horikawa movie


The Blue Beast
1960 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
The ruthless and ambitious Yasuhiko uses his charm to manipulate and exploit those around him to climb the corporate social ladder. His cold-blooded ascent eventually leads to moral decay as his past actions begin to catch up with him.


The Lost Alibi
1960 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
Suspense drama about a married salaryman whose affair with one of his co-workers is compromised when, returning from a clandestine meeting with his lover, he runs into a neighbor who is later accused of murder. Questioned by police about the neighbor, and blackmailed by his lover's neighbor, the salaryman's lies lead him on a path to destruction.


The Path Under the Platanes
1959 · 1h 11m
country: Japan
Romantic drama about three beautiful sisters, based on the acclaimed play.


The Naked General
1958 · 1h 33m
country: Japan
A film about the life of Kiyoshi Yamashita, a Japanese painter with disabilities.


The Oil-Hell Murder
1957 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
A privileged son betrays his family for the favors of a geisha in 18th century Osaka.


Last Days of the Samurai
1957 · 53m
country: Japan
Seppuku Day 17 Ako ronins, including Kuranosuke Oishi, who were entrusted to the Hosokawa family, and the events of the two days before are depicted as a tragic romance between one of the ronins, Jurozaemon Isogai, and Omino. An adaptation of Seika Mayama play "Genroku Chusingura, the Last Day of Oishi", which tells about the torments of life and death of samurai living in feudal times.


Summer in Eclipse
1956 · 1h 27m
country: Japan
Drama of a disillusioned youth, with writer-actor Ishihara starring as the young man at odds with his bickering parents and scheming brother, while finding little happiness when he begins a liaison with an older woman.


Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree
1955 · 1h 49m
country: Japan