His fan base grew rapidly, but did not extend to studio president Kyusaku Hori. Beginning with "Tattooed Life", the studio issued Suzuki his first warning for "going too far". He responded with "Carmen from Kawachi" after which he was ordered to "play it straight" and had his budget slashed for his next film. The result was "Tokyo Drifter", an "ostensibly routine potboiler" made into a "jaw-dropping, eye-popping fantasia". Further reduced to filming in black-and-white Suzuki made his 40th film in his 12 years with the company, "Branded to Kill" (1967), considered an avant-garde masterpiece by critics, for which Hori promptly fired him.