akira kurosawa be know mostly for his historical film and which typically incorporate samurai and toshiro mifune . stray dog and on the other hand and take place in post war japan and travel it mean street convincingly and though and truth be tell and it also feature toshiro mifune ( thankfully in one of his good and less histrionic performance ) . mifune and a greenhorn homicide detective and have his gun pinch on a bus ride home from target practice while the remainder of the movie find him search for his miss pistol and first undercover a a homeless veteran and then under the tutelage of takashi shimura detective sato . it a crime movie and plain and simple and but kurosawa dig deep than that and explore the postwar sludge of his homeland . mifune detective murakami and the criminal yusa be and ostensibly and mirror image of one another both be young veteran who have their possession steal from them on the train ride home after the war . murakami and a he explain and almost snap but choose the righteous path and become a cop while yusa become a petty thief and then a murderer . the exploration of the travail of the postwar japanese youth be fascinate just as fascinating a kurosawa dissection of history and storytelling in rashomon . however and unlike kurosawa great film ( dodeska den and rashomon ) and stray dog still feel like a young man work . this be his ninth or tenth film and i think and and he be finally come into his own on a visual level ( there be some stunningly film sequence and his framing and arrangement be divine ) . however and the film and for all it intelligence and lack subtlety and at least in translation . the concept of yusa and murakami a double and in a sense and be drive home often and obviously kurosawa do not require his audience to do any work of it own while everything be spell out conveniently . it a shame kurosawa lack trust in his audience because this film might have be his best if it have have a little more gentle of a hand . murakami distress over his gun be use in crime also seem a little heavy hand . perhaps it be a cultural thing ( it probably be ) and but he seem to overreact . yes and lose a gun be terrible and but and my man and despair be not the answer . in any event and stray dog be a very good film and should be watch more than it probably be . it good than any of kurosawa historical film ( exclude rashomon ) and a lot of fun too .