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{{Short description|1967 film by Seijun Suzuki}}
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{{Infobox film
| name           = Branded to Kill
| image          = Branedtokillposter.jpg
| alt            = A man with prominent cheeks in sunglasses and a suit aims a gun. Two women stand on a spiral staircase behind him in their underwear also holding guns. Three men appear in an insert in the lower left corner.
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Seijun Suzuki]]
| producer       = Kaneo Iwai
| writer         = Hachiro Guryu{{efn|{{nihongo|Hachiro Guryu|具流八郎||{{literal translation|Group of Eight}}}} is the collective pen name for Seijun Suzuki, [[Takeo Kimura]], [[Atsushi Yamatoya]], Yōzō Tanaka, [[Chūsei Sone]], Yutaka Okada, Seiichirō Yamaguchi and Yasuaki Hangai.<ref>{{cite web
| author = 川勝正幸
| title = ピストルオペラ Review
| publisher = テレビ東京 Cinema Street
| year = 2001
| url = http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/telecine/cinema/pistol_o/review.html
| language = ja
| access-date = 2007-10-24
| quote = 具流八郎（鈴木＋木村威夫＋大和屋竺＋田中陽造＋曽根＋岡田裕＋山口清一郎＋榛谷泰明）
| archive-date = 2023-03-25
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230325121002/https://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/telecine/cinema/pistol_o/review.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref>}}
| starring       = {{plainlist|
*[[Joe Shishido]]
*[[Koji Nanbara]]
*[[Annu Mari]]
*Mariko Ogawa
}}
| music          = Naozumi Yamamoto
| cinematography = Kazue Nagatsuka
| editing        = Mutsuo Tanji
| studio         = [[Nikkatsu]]
| distributor    = Nikkatsu
| released       = {{Film date|1967|06|15}}
| runtime        = 91 minutes
| country        = Japan
| language       = [[Japanese language|Japanese]]
| budget         = {{nowrap|[[Japanese yen|¥]]20 million}}
}}
{{nihongo|'''''Branded to Kill'''''|殺しの烙印|Koroshi no Rakuin|lead=yes}} is a 1967 Japanese [[black comedy]] [[yakuza film]] directed by [[Seijun Suzuki]] and starring [[Joe Shishido]], [[Koji Nanbara]], [[Annu Mari]] and Mariko Ogawa. The story follows contract killer Goro Hanada as he is recruited by a mysterious woman named Misako for a seemingly impossible mission. When the mission fails, he is hunted by the phantom Number One Killer, whose methods threaten his life and sanity.

''Branded to Kill'' was designated by its production company and distributor, [[Nikkatsu]], as a low-budget [[B movie]]. Dissatisfied with the original script, the studio called in Suzuki to rewrite and direct the film shortly prior to the start of production. Suzuki came up with many of his ideas for the project the night before or on the set while [[Filmmaking|filming]], and welcomed ideas from his colleagues; the screenplay is credited to Hachiro Guryu, a writing collective that consisted of Suzuki and seven other writers, including his frequent collaborators [[Takeo Kimura]] and [[Atsushi Yamatoya]]. Suzuki gave the film a [[Satire|satirical]], anarchic and visually eclectic bent, which the studio had previously warned him away from. The brief turnaround Suzuki was given to make ''Branded to Kill'' meant that post-production on the film was completed only a day before its pre-scheduled release on June 15, 1967.

The initial critical and commercial failure of ''Branded to Kill'' prompted Nikkatsu to ostensibly fire Suzuki for making "movies that make no sense and no money".<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD"/> In response, Suzuki successfully sued Nikkatsu, and garnered support from student groups, like-minded filmmakers and the general public, causing a major controversy throughout the Japanese film industry. Suzuki was [[blacklist]]ed and did not make another feature film for a decade, but became a [[countercultural]] icon.<ref name="Sato"/>

By the 1980s, ''Branded to Kill'' had gained a strong international [[cult following]]; film critics and enthusiasts now regard it as an [[Absurdism|absurdist]] [[masterpiece]].<ref name="Volcano"/> It has been cited as an influence by filmmakers such as [[Jim Jarmusch]], [[John Woo]], [[Park Chan-wook]], [[Quentin Tarantino]] and [[Nicolas Winding Refn]], and composer [[John Zorn]].<ref name="Zorn">{{cite web
| last = John
| first = Zorn
| title = Branded to Kill
| publisher = Criterion
| date = February 1999
| url = http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/47-branded-to-kill
| access-date = 2015-11-04
| archive-date = 2023-08-03
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230803230527/https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/47-branded-to-kill
| url-status = live
}}</ref> ''Branded to Kill'' inspired a loose 1973 ''[[List of Nikkatsu Roman Porno films|Roman Porno]]'' [[remake]] directed by Yamatoya, ''{{Interlanguage link multi|愛欲の罠|ja|3=愛欲の罠|lt=Trapped in Lust}}'', and a loose 2001 sequel, ''[[Pistol Opera]]'', directed by Suzuki for Nikkatsu. The company has also hosted two major [[retrospective]]s spotlighting his career.

==Plot==
Goro Hanada, the Japanese underworld's third-ranked hitman, and his wife, Mami, fly into [[Tokyo]] and are met by Kasuga, a former hitman-turned-taxi driver. Hanada agrees to help Kasuga return to the underworld, and the three go to a club owned by [[yakuza]] boss Michihiko Yabuhara. The two men are hired to escort a client from Sagami Beach to [[Nagano, Nagano|Nagano]]. After the meeting, Yabuhara seduces Mami.

Driving their client towards his destination, Hanada spots an ambush and dispatches several gunmen. Panicking, Kasuga attacks one of the ambushers, Koh, the fourth-ranked hitman, resulting in both of their deaths. Hanada leaves the client to secure Koh's car but hears three gunshots. Rushing back, he finds the client safe, while three additional ambushers have been shot through their foreheads. At another ambush, Hanada kills more gunmen and sets Sakura, the second-ranked hitman, on fire; the client shoots Sakura dead. On his way home, Hanada's car breaks down. Misako, a mysterious woman with a [[Death drive|deathwish]], gives him a ride. At home, Hanada has rough sex with Mami, fuelled by his [[Sexual fetishism|fetish]] for smelling boiling rice.

[[Image:Annu Mari and Jo Shishido in Branded to Kill.jpg|300px|thumb|left|alt=A shirtless man shouts at a woman. Dozens of butterflies are pinned to the wall behind them and drapped from the ceiling in front.|Hanada (right) demanding Misako buy him some rice. He uses the smell of boiling rice to achieve [[sexual arousal]].<ref name="Rayns"/> Her apartment is decorated with dead butterflies which have been interpreted as symbolizing obsessive love.<ref name="Teo">{{cite web
| last = Teo
| first = Stephen
| title = Seijun Suzuki: Authority in Minority
| publisher = Sense of Cinema
|date=July 2000
| url = http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/festivals/00/8/miff/suzuki.html
| access-date = 2007-04-16
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070403024525/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/festivals/00/8/miff/suzuki.html |archive-date = April 3, 2007}}</ref>]]

Yabuhara hires Hanada to kill a customs officer, an [[ocularist]] and a jeweller. Hanada snipes the first from behind a billboard's animatronic cigarette lighter, shoots the second through a pipe drain when he leans over a sink, and blasts his way into the third's office, escaping on an advertising balloon. Misako then offers him a near-impossible contract to kill a foreigner. During the job, a [[butterfly]] lands on the barrel of his rifle, causing him to miss the target and kill a bystander. Misako tells Hanada that he will lose his rank and be killed. Preparing to leave Japan, he is shot by Mami, who sets fire to their apartment and flees. Hanada escapes, his belt buckle having stopped the bullet.

Reunited, Hanada and Misako alternate between failed attempts by him to seduce her and then to kill each other; she succumbs to his advances when he promises to kill her. Afterwards, Hanada realizes he loves Misako and is unable to kill her. Confused, he wanders the streets and passes out. The next day, he finds Mami at Yabuhara's club. She tries to seduce him, then fakes hysteria and tells him Yabuhara paid her to kill him and that the three men he had killed had stolen from Yabuhara's diamond smuggling operation, and the foreigner was an investigator sent by the supplier. Unmoved, Hanada kills her, gets drunk and waits for Yabuhara to return. Yabuhara arrives already dead with a bullet through his forehead.

Hanada returns to Misako's apartment, where a projected film shows her bound and tortured, and directs him to a [[Breakwater (structure)|breakwater]], where he will be killed the following day. Hanada submits to the demand, but kills the assassins instead. The former client arrives, revealing himself to be the legendary Number One Killer. He intends to kill Hanada but, in thanks for his work, allows him a truce. As Hanada holes up in Misako's apartment, Number One taunts him with threatening phone calls and forbids him to leave the apartment. Eventually, Number One moves in with the now-exhausted Hanada under the pretext that he is deciding how to kill him. They set times to eat, sleep and, later, to link arms everywhere they go. Number One suggests they eat out one day, but disappears during the meal.

At the apartment, Hanada finds a note and another film from Number One, stating he will be waiting at a [[gym]]nasium with Misako. Hanada arrives at the gym, but Number One does not show. As Hanada prepares to leave, a tape recording explains that Number One exhausts his targets before killing them. Tying a headband across his forehead, Hanada climbs into a boxing ring. Number One appears and shoots him. The headband stops the bullet and Hanada returns fire; Number One manages to shoot him several times before dying. As Hanada triumphantly declares himself the new Number One, Misako enters the gym. Hanada instinctively shoots her dead, again declares himself Number One, then falls out of the ring.<ref name="Yakuza Book">{{cite book|last=Schilling |first=Mark |title=The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films |url=http://www.stonebridge.com/YAKUZA/yakuza.html |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |date=September 2003 |isbn=1-880656-76-0 |pages=98–104 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017060352/http://stonebridge.com/YAKUZA/yakuza.html |archive-date=October 17, 2007 }}</ref>

==Cast==
* [[Joe Shishido]] as Goro Hanada, the Number Three Killer: a hitman with a [[Sexual fetishism|fetish]] for the smell of boiling rice. He is gainfully employed by the yakuza until a butterfly lands on the barrel of his rifle during a "Devil's job". He misses his target and is marked for death—then descends into a world of alcohol and paranoia. Shishido has been called the face of Suzuki's films, owing in part to their frequent collaborations, this being among the most prominent. After middling success in Nikkatsu [[melodrama]]s he underwent [[Cheek augmentation|plastic surgery]], enlarging his cheeks several sizes. He returned to tremendous success as a [[Villain|heavy]] and, soon thereafter, a star.<ref name="Shishido">{{cite web
| last = Sharp
| first = Jasper
| author2 = Nutz, Stefan
| title = Interview: Jo Shishido and Toshio Masuda
| publisher = Midnight Eye
| date = August 2005
| url = http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/shishido_masuda.shtml
| access-date = 2007-04-15
| archive-date = 2007-03-12
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070312131342/http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/shishido_masuda.shtml
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
* [[Koji Nanbara]] as the Number One Killer: the legendary hitman whose existence remains a subject of debate. Incognito, he employs the yakuza to provide bodyguards. Later, he reappears with the intention of killing Hanada, first trapping him in an apartment, then moving in with him, before their final showdown in a public gymnasium.
* [[Isao Tamagawa]] as Michihiko Yabuhara: the yakuza boss that hires Hanada and seduces his wife. Upon the discovery that his diamond smuggling operation has been burgled, he employs Hanada to execute the guilty parties then adds him to the list when he flubs the job. His final appearance is with a bullet hole in his head.
* [[Annu Mari]] as Misako Nakajo: the [[femme fatale]] with a penchant for dead butterflies and birds. She picks Hanada up in her open top convertible when his car breaks down in the rain. Under Yabuhara's direction she enlists him to kill a foreigner. She attempts to kill Hanada but falls in love with him, which instigates her capture and use as bait by Number One. Mari has said she was experiencing suicidal urges at the time she first read the script and the character captivated her. "I loved her name, but it was her first line 'My dream is to die' that had a profound impact on me. It was like lightning."<ref name="Ryuganji"/>
* Mariko Ogawa as Mami Hanada: Hanada's wife who has a predilection towards walking around the house nude. Shortly after meeting Yabuhara she enters an affair with him. When her husband's career sours she attempts [[mariticide]] and flees—to be confronted later at Yabuhara's club. This was Mariko Ogawa's only film appearance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0175470.htm|title=小川万理子|trans-title=Mariko Ogawa|access-date=13 January 2013|publisher=JMDB|archive-date=7 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407100842/http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0175470.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Hiroshi Minami (actor)|Hiroshi Minami]] as Gihei Kasuga: formerly a ranked hitman who lost his nerve and took to drinking. After introducing Hanada to Yabuhara he joins the former in a dangerous chauffeur mission. His nerves get the better of him and he experiences a short-lived [[mental breakdown]].

==Production==
[[Nikkatsu]] conceived ''Branded to Kill'' as a low-budget hitman film, a subgenre of the studio's yakuza-oriented movies.<ref name="Chris D">{{cite book|last=D. |first=Chris |author-link=Chris D. |title=Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2005 |isbn=1-84511-086-2 |chapter-url=http://www.ibtauris.com/display.asp?K=9781845110864&sf_01=CAUTHOR&sf_02=CTITLE&st_04=+9781845110864&sf_03=KEYWORD&sf_04=identifier&m=1&dc=1 |page=142 |chapter=Seijun Suzuki }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Their standard [[B movie]] [[shooting schedule]] was applied, one week for [[pre-production]], 25 days to [[Filmmaking|shoot]] and three days for [[post-production]]. The budget was set at approximately {{nowrap|20 million}} [[Japanese yen|yen]].<ref name="Tokyo Drifter DVD">{{cite video
| people = Suzuki, Seijun (Interviewee)
| year = 1999
| title = Tokyo Drifter interview
| url = http://www.criterion.com/films/577
| medium = DVD
| publisher = The Criterion Collection
| access-date = 2009-06-14
| archive-date = 2009-06-11
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090611001744/http://www.criterion.com/films/577
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Shortly before filming began, with the release date already set, the script was deemed "inappropriate" by the head office and contract [[Film director|director]] [[Seijun Suzuki]] was brought in to do a rewrite. Studio head Kyūsaku Hori told Suzuki he had had to read it twice before he understood it. Suzuki suggested they drop the script but was ordered to proceed.<ref name="Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu">{{cite web
| last = Ueno
| first = Kohshi
| title = Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu
| publisher = Cinefiles
| url = http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cine_doc_detail.pl/cine_img/?15717%3F15717%3F1
| page = 8
| work = The Films of Seijun Suzuki
| access-date = 2007-04-02
| archive-date = 2023-11-20
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231120161512/https://research-it.berkeley.edu/news/retiring-museum-informatics-and-interactive-university-projects
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The rewrite was done with his frequent collaborator [[Takeo Kimura]] and six [[assistant director]]s, including [[Atsushi Yamatoya]] (who also played Killer Number Four). The eight men had worked under the joint [[pen name]] Hachiro Guryu ("Group of Eight") since the mid-1960s.<ref name="Biografie">
{{cite book
| last = Hasumi
| first = Shigehiko
| title = De woestijn onder de kersenbloesem—The Desert under the Cherry Blossoms
| publisher = Uitgeverij Uniepers Abcoude
|date=January 1991
| isbn = 90-6825-090-6
| pages = 7–25
| chapter = Een wereld zonder seizoenen—A World Without Seasons
}}</ref> Nikkatsu was building [[leading man]] Joe Shishido into a star and assigned him to the film. They specified that the script was to be written with this aim. The film also marks Shishido's first nude scene. Suzuki originally wanted [[Kiwako Taichi]], a new talent from the famous theatre troupe [[Bungakuza]], for the [[Leading lady|female lead]] but she took a part in another film.<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD">{{cite video
| people = Suzuki, Seijun (Interviewee)
| year = 1999
| title = Branded to Kill interview
| url = http://www.criterion.com/films/576
| medium = DVD
| publisher = [[The Criterion Collection]]
| access-date = 2009-06-14
| archive-date = 2023-08-03
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230803230527/https://www.criterion.com/films/576
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Instead, Suzuki selected [[Annu Mari]], another new actress who had been working in Nikkatsu's music halls.<ref name="Ryuganji">{{cite web
| last = Brown
| first = Don
| title = Suzuki Seijun: Still Killing
| publisher = Ryuganji.net
| url = http://ryuganji.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/suzuki-seijun-still-killing.html
| date = October 23, 2006
| work = Japan Film News
| access-date = 2014-11-09
| archive-date = 2014-11-09
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141109144913/http://ryuganji.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/suzuki-seijun-still-killing.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> In casting the role of Hanada's wife, Suzuki selected Mariko Ogawa from outside of the studio as none of the contract actresses would do nude scenes.<ref name="Yakuza Book"/>

Suzuki did not use [[storyboard]]s and disliked pre-planning. He preferred to come up with ideas either the night before or on the set as he felt that the only person who should know what is going to happen is the director. He also felt that it was sudden inspiration that made the picture.<ref name="Tokyo Drifter DVD"/> An example is the addition of the Number Three Killer's rice-sniffing habit. Suzuki explained that he wanted to present a quintessentially "[[Japanese people|Japanese]]" killer, "If he were Italian, he'd get turned on by macaroni, right?"<ref name="Richie">{{cite book|last=Richie |first=Donald |author-link=Donald Richie |title=A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos |publisher=[[Kodansha|Kodansha International]] |year=2005 |isbn=4-7700-2995-0 |url=http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/html/en/9784770029959.html |pages=180–181 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121034830/http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/html/en/9784770029959.html |archive-date=November 21, 2008 }}</ref> Suzuki has commended Shishido on his similar drive to make the action scenes as physical and interesting as possible.<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD"/> In directing his actors, Suzuki let them play their roles as they saw fit and only intervened when they went "off track".<ref name="Yakuza Book"/> For nude scenes the actors wore ''[[maebari]]'', or adhesive strips, over their genitals in accordance with [[censorship]] practices.<ref name="Ryuganji"/> The film was edited in one day, a task made easy by Suzuki's method of shooting only the necessary footage. He had picked up the habit during his years working as an assistant director for [[Shochiku]] when [[film stock]] remained sparse after [[World War II|the war]].<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD"/> [[Post-production]] was completed on June 14, 1967, the day before the film was released.<ref>{{cite web|script-title=ja:殺しの烙印 (ころしのらくいん |publisher=[[Nikkatsu]] |url=http://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/detail.html?mid=20996 |language=ja |access-date=2007-07-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927074910/http://www.nikkatsu.com/movie/detail.html?mid=20996 |archive-date=September 27, 2011 }}</ref>

==Themes and style==
Like many of its yakuza film contemporaries, ''Branded to Kill'' shows the influence of the [[James Bond film series|James Bond films]] and [[film noir]],<ref name="Hughes">{{cite book|last=Hughes |first=Howard |title=Crime Wave: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Crime Movies |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2006 |isbn=1-84511-219-9 |chapter-url=http://www.ibtauris.com/ibtauris/display.asp?K=9781845112196 |pages=xvii |chapter=Criminal Record: An Introduction to Crime Movies |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928130649/http://www.ibtauris.com/ibtauris/display.asp?K=9781845112196 |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="Le Samurai">{{cite web
| last = Trifonova
| first = Temenuga
| title = Cinematic Cool: Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï
| publisher = Senses of Cinema
|date=March 2006
| url = http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2006/cteq/samourai/
| access-date = 2007-04-11
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070128213524/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/06/39/samourai.html| archive-date = January 28, 2007}}</ref> though the film's conventional genre basis was combined with [[satire]], [[kabuki]] stylistics and a [[Pop art in Japan|pop art]] aesthetic.<ref name="Sharp">{{cite web
| last = Sharp
| first = Jasper
| title = Review: Branded to Kill
| publisher = Midnight Eye
| date = March 2001
| url = http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/brandtok.shtml
| access-date = 2007-04-11
| archive-date = 2007-04-03
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070403104154/http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/brandtok.shtml
| url-status = live
}}</ref> It was further set apart from its peers, and Seijun Suzuki's previous films, through its [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] sensibilities, unusual atonal score and what artist and academic [[Philip Brophy]] called a "heightened otherness".<ref name="Brophy">{{cite web
 |last         = Brophy
 |first        = Philip
 |author-link   = Philip Brophy
 |title        = Catalogue notes for screenings
 |work         = A Lust For Violence: Seijun Suzuki
 |publisher    = Philip Brophy
 |year         = 2000
 |url          = http://www.philipbrophy.com/projects/suz/technical.html
 |access-date   = 2007-09-03
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927040357/http://www.philipbrophy.com/projects/suz/technical.html
 |archive-date = 2007-09-27
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref> The result has been alternately ascribed as a work of [[surrealism]],<ref name="New York Times"/> [[absurdism]],<ref name="Edinburgh"/> the [[avant garde]]<ref name="Brophy"/> and included in the [[Japanese New Wave]] movement,<ref name="Desser">{{cite book
| last = Desser
| first = David
| title = Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema
| publisher = [[Indiana University Press]]
| date = May 1988
| isbn = 0-253-31961-7
| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/erosplusmassacre00davi/page/11
| page = [https://archive.org/details/erosplusmassacre00davi/page/11 11]
| chapter = Introduction
}}</ref> though not through any stated intention of its director. Suzuki employed a wide variety of techniques and claimed his singular focus was to make the film as entertaining as possible.<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD"/>

Genre conventions are satirized and mocked throughout the film.<ref name="Rayns">{{cite book
| last = Rayns
| first = Tony
| author-link = Tony Rayns
| title = Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun
| publisher = Institute of Contemporary Arts
| year = 1994
| isbn = 0-905263-44-8
| page = 42
| chapter = 1967: Branded to Kill
}}</ref> In American noirs, heroes, or [[anti-hero]]es, typically strive to be the best in their field. Here the process was formalized into a rankings system obsessed over by its players.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite web
| last = Taylor
| first = Rumsey
| title = Branded to Kill
| publisher = notcoming.com
| date = July 2004
| url = http://www.notcoming.com/reviews/brandedtokill/
| access-date = 2007-10-01
| archive-date = 2012-10-22
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121022150216/http://notcoming.com/reviews/brandedtokill/
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The [[femme fatale]]—a noir staple—Misako, does not simply entice the protagonist and bring the threat of death but obsesses him and is obsessed with all things death herself. She tries to kill him, wants to kill herself and surrounds herself with dead things.<ref name="Sharp"/><ref name="Savant"/> Hanada's libido is as present as that of the protagonists of similar films of the period, such as [[James Bond]], though perversely exaggerated. Reviewer Rumsey Taylor likened Hanada's boiled rice sniffing fetish to Bond's "[[shaken, not stirred]]" martini order.<ref name="Taylor"/> The film also deviates from the opening killer-for-hire scenario to touch on such varied subgenres as [[Psychosexual development|psychosexual]] romance, American Gothic thriller and ''[[The Odd Couple (film)|Odd Couple]]'' [[slapstick]].<ref name="Brophy"/><ref name="DVD Times 2"/>

[[Image:Branded to Kill screenshot.jpg|300px|thumb|right|alt=Joe Shishido in close-up. Simple renderings of a bird overlay the left side of the frame with a large butterfly on the right.|After discovering he cannot bring himself to kill Misako, a dazed Hanada wanders the streets. Animated [[starling]]s, rain and butterflies mask the screen, accompanied by corresponding [[sound effect]]s.]]

The film industry is a subject of satire as well. For example, Japanese [[censorship]] often involved masking prohibited sections of the screen. Here Suzuki preemptively masked his own compositions but animated them and incorporated them into the film's design.<ref name="Rayns"/> In the story, after Hanada finds he is unable to kill Misako he wanders the streets in a state of confusion. The screen is obscured by animated images with accompanying sounds associated to her. The effects contributed to the eclectic visual and sound design while signifying his obsessive love. Author Stephen Teo proposed that the antagonistic relationship between Hanada and Number One may have been analogous of Suzuki's relationship with studio president Kyūsaku Hori. He compared Hanada's antagonizers to those who had been pressuring Suzuki to rein in his style over the previous two years. Teo cited Number One's sleeping with his eyes open and urinating where he sits, which the character explains as techniques one must master to become a "top professional."<ref name="Teo"/>

The film was shot in black and white Nikkatsuscope (synonymous with [[CinemaScope]] at a 2.35:1 [[Aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]]). Due to the wide frame, moving a character forward did not produce the dynamic effect Suzuki desired. Instead, he relied on spotlighting and [[chiaroscuro]] imagery to create excitement and suspense. Conventional framing and [[film grammar]] were disregarded in favour of spontaneous inspiration. In editing, Suzuki frequently abandoned continuity, favouring abstract jumps in time and space as he found it made the film more interesting.<ref name="Branded to Kill DVD"/> Critic David Chute suggested that Suzuki's stylistics had intensified—in seeming congruence with the studio's demands that he conform:

{{Blockquote|You can see the director reusing specific effects and pointedly cranking them up a notch. In ''[[Our Blood Will Not Forgive|Our Blood Will Not Allow It]]'', the two battling brothers had a heart-to-heart in a car that was enveloped, just for the hell of it, in gorgeous blue [[moiré pattern]]s of drenching rain. This "lost at sea" effect is revived in ''Branded to Kill'' but there's no sound at all in this version of the scene, except for the gangsters' hushed voices, echoless, plotting some fresh betrayal in a movie-movie isolation chamber.<ref name="Branded to Thrill">
{{cite book| last = Chute
| first = David
| title = Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun
| publisher = Institute of Contemporary Arts
| year = 1994
| isbn = 0-905263-44-8
| pages = 11–17
| chapter = Branded to Thrill
}}</ref>}}

==Reception==
{{Further|Seijun Suzuki#Suzuki v. Nikkatsu|l1=Suzuki v. Nikkatsu}}

''Branded to Kill'' was released to Japanese theatres on June 15, 1967,<ref name="JMDb">{{cite web
| script-title = ja:殺しの烙印
| publisher = Japanese Movie Database
| url = http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1967/cq001780.htm
| language = ja
| access-date = 2007-04-02
| archive-date = 2007-04-21
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070421005514/http://jmdb.ne.jp/1967/cq001780.htm
| url-status = live
}}</ref> on a [[Double feature|double bill]] with [[Shōgorō Nishimura]]'s ''Burning Nature''. The films were financially unsuccessful and the former fared likewise among critics. ''[[Kinema Junpo]]'' magazine reported that the films "resulted in less than {{nowrap|2,000}} viewers at [[Asakusa]] and [[Shinjuku, Tokyo|Shinjuku]] and about 500 at [[Yūrakuchō|Yurakucho]] on the second day."<ref name="Miyao">{{cite book
| last = Miyao
| first = Daisuke
| author-link = Daisuke Miyao
| title = Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts
| publisher = [[Taylor and Francis|Taylor & Francis]]
| chapter-url = http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&isbn=9780415328487
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130203112007/http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&isbn=9780415328487
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = 2013-02-03
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-0-415-32848-7
| pages = 193–204
| chapter = Dark Visions of Japanese Film Noir
}}</ref> Both Shishido and Yamatoya later recounted having seen ''Branded to Kill'' in practically empty theatres, the latter on its opening night.<ref name="Miyao"/><ref>Schilling, Mark (September 2003). Ibid, pp. 128–130.</ref> Iijima Kōichi, a critic for the film journal ''Eiga Geijutsu'', wrote that "the woman buys a mink coat and thinks only about having sex. The man wants to kill and feels nostalgic about the smell of boiling rice. We cannot help being confused. We do not go to theaters to be puzzled."<ref name="Miyao"/> [[Nikkatsu]] had been criticized for catering to rebellious youth audiences, a specialty of Suzuki,<ref name="Richie"/> whose films had grown increasingly anarchic through the 1960s. This had earned him a large following but it had also drawn the ire of studio head Kyūsaku Hori.<ref name="Sato">{{cite book
| last = Sato
| first = Tadao
| author-link = Tadao Sato
| others = Translated by Gregory Barrett
| title = Currents in Japanese Cinema
| publisher = Kodansha International
| year = 1982
| isbn = 0-87011-507-3
| page = 221
| chapter = Developments in the 1960s
}} (Available [http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cine_doc_detail.pl/cine_img/?15717?15717?1 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120161512/https://research-it.berkeley.edu/news/retiring-museum-informatics-and-interactive-university-projects |date=2023-11-20 }}, p. 4.)</ref><ref name="Tattooed Life">{{cite book
| last = Rayns
| first = Tony
| title = Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun
| publisher = Institute of Contemporary Arts
| year = 1994
| isbn = 0-905263-44-8
| page = 38
| chapter = 1965: One Generation of Tattoos
}}</ref> On April 25, 1968, Suzuki received a telephone call from a company secretary informing him that he would not be receiving his salary that month. Two of Suzuki's friends met with Hori the next day and were told, "Suzuki's films were incomprehensible, that they did not make any money and that Suzuki might as well give up his career as a director as he would not be making films for any other companies."<ref name="Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu"/>

{{quote box|quote="Suzuki makes incomprehensible films.<br />Suzuki does not follow the company's orders.<br />Suzuki's films are unprofitable and it costs {{nowrap|60 million}} yen to make one.<br />Suzuki can no longer make films anywhere. He should quit.<br />Suzuki should open a noodle shop or something instead."|source=Kyūsaku Hori, [[Nikkatsu]] president<ref name="Miyao"/>}}

A student [[film society]] run by Kazuko Kawakita, the Cineclub Study Group,<ref name="movement film"/> was planning to include ''Branded to Kill'' in a retrospective honouring Suzuki's works but Hori refused them and withdrew all of his films from circulation. With support from the Cineclub, similar student groups, fellow filmmakers and the general public—which included the [[Picketing (protest)|picketing]] of the company's Hibiya offices and the formation of the Seijun Suzuki Joint Struggle Committee<ref name="Richie"/><ref name="movement film"/>—Suzuki sued Nikkatsu for wrongful dismissal. During the three-and-a-half-year trial the circumstances under which the film was made and Suzuki was fired came to light. He had been made into a [[scapegoat]] for the company's dire financial straits and was meant to serve as an example on the outset of an attempted company-wide restructuring. A [[Settlement (law)|settlement]] was reached on December 24, 1971, in the amount of one million yen, a fraction of his original claim, as well as a public apology from Hori. In a separate agreement ''Branded to Kill'' and his previous film, ''[[Fighting Elegy]]'', were donated to the [[National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo|Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art]]'s Film Centre.<ref name="Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu"/> The events turned Suzuki into a legend and shook the film world.<ref name="Sato"/><ref name="Suzuki Battles Nikkatsu"/> ''Branded to Kill'', along with other of his films, played to "packed audiences who wildly applauded"<ref name="Films of Suzuki">{{cite web
| last = Willemen
| first = Paul
| title = The Films of Seijun Suzuki
| publisher = Cinefiles
| url = http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cine_doc_detail.pl/cine_img/?15717%3F15717%3F1
| page = 1
| access-date = 2007-04-02
| archive-date = 2023-11-20
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231120161512/https://research-it.berkeley.edu/news/retiring-museum-informatics-and-interactive-university-projects
| url-status = live
}}</ref> at all-night revivals in and around Tokyo.<ref name="Sato"/> However, Suzuki was [[blacklist]]ed by the major studios and did not make another feature film until ''[[A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness]]'' (1977) ten years after ''Branded to Kill''. In the meantime, he subsisted on commercial and television work and writing books of essays.<ref name="Taylor"/><ref name="Bio">{{cite book
| last=Rayns
| first=Tony
| title=Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun
| publisher = Institute of Contemporary Arts
| year = 1994
| isbn = 0-905263-44-8
| page = 46
| chapter = Biography
}}</ref>

''Branded to Kill'' first reached international audiences in the 1980s, featuring in various [[film festival]]s and retrospectives dedicated wholly or partially to Suzuki,<ref name="Edinburgh">{{cite web
| last = Rayns
| first = Tony
| title = Branded to Kill
| publisher = Cinefiles
| url = http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cine_doc_detail.pl/cine_img/?15666%3F15666%3F1
| access-date = 2007-04-03
| archive-date = 2023-11-20
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231120161619/https://research-it.berkeley.edu/news/retiring-museum-informatics-and-interactive-university-projects
| url-status = live
}}</ref><ref name="Bio"/><ref name="No borders">{{cite book|last=Schilling |first=Mark |title=No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema |publisher=FAB Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-903254-43-1 |url=http://www.fabpress.com/vsearch.php?CO=FAB080 |page=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011075659/http://www.fabpress.com/vsearch.php?CO=FAB080 |archive-date=October 11, 2008 }}</ref> which was followed by home video releases in the late 1990s.<ref>{{cite book 
 |last=Hampton 
 |first=Howard 
 |title=Born in Flames 
 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] 
 |year=2007 
 |url=https://archive.org/details/borninflamesterm00hamp/page/94 
 |isbn=978-0-674-02317-8 
 |page=[https://archive.org/details/borninflamesterm00hamp/page/94 94] 
 }} (Available [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_8_37/ai_54454977 online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720214617/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_8_37/ai_54454977 |date=2006-07-20 }}.)</ref> It garnered a reputation as one of his most unconventional, revered Nikkatsu films and an international [[Cult film|cult classic]].<ref name="Rosenbaum">{{cite web
| last = Rosenbaum
| first = Jonathan
| author-link = Jonathan Rosenbaum
| title = Branded to Kill Capsule
| publisher = [[Chicago Reader]]
| url = http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/1357_BRANDED_TO_KILL
| access-date = 2007-04-03
| archive-date = 2007-09-29
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929095928/http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/1357_BRANDED_TO_KILL
| url-status = dead
}}</ref><ref name="Cult">{{cite web
 |last=Schilling 
 |first=Mark 
 |title=Lord, bless this cinematic mess 
 |publisher=The Japan Times 
 |date=June 2001 
 |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20010620a2.html 
 |access-date=2007-10-06 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208044738/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20010620a2.html 
 |archive-date=2007-12-08 
}}</ref> It has been declared a [[masterpiece]] by the likes of film critic Chuck Stephens,<ref name="Stephens">{{cite web
| last = Stephens
| first = Chuck
| title = The Smell of Hard-boiled Rice: PFA screens a few (too few) of Seijun Suzuki's hard-to-catch B-movie powder kegs
| publisher = Cinefiles
| url = http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cine_doc_detail.pl/cine_img/?15717%3F15717%3F1
| access-date = 2007-10-04
| archive-date = 2023-11-20
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231120161512/https://research-it.berkeley.edu/news/retiring-museum-informatics-and-interactive-university-projects
| url-status = live
}}</ref> writer and musician [[Chris D.]],<ref name="Chris D"/> composer [[John Zorn]]<ref name="Zorn"/> and film director [[Quentin Tarantino]].<ref name="Tarantino">{{cite web
| last = Machiyama
| first = Tomohiro
| title = Tarantino Interview
| publisher = Japattack
|date=October 2004
| page = 2
| url = http://japattack.com/main/node/79
| access-date = 2007-04-13
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209142517/http://japattack.com/main/node/79
| archive-date=2012-02-09}}</ref> Writer and critic [[Tony Rayns]] noted, "Suzuki mocks everything from the clichés of yakuza fiction to the conventions of Japanese censorship in this extraordinary thriller, which rivals [[Orson Welles]]' ''[[The Lady from Shanghai|Lady from Shanghai]]'' in its harsh eroticism, not to mention its visual fireworks."<ref name="Rayns"/> Modified comparisons to the films of a "gonzo [[Samuel Fuller|Sam Fuller]]",<ref name="Branded to Thrill"/> or [[Jean-Luc Godard]], assuming one "factor[s] out Godard's politics and self-consciousness",<ref name="Edinburgh"/><ref name="Branded to Thrill"/> are not uncommon.<ref name="New York Times">{{cite web
| last = Blaise
| first = Judd
| title = Branded to Kill
| url = https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/139678/Branded-to-Kill/overview
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080522154721/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/139678/Branded-to-Kill/overview
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = 2008-05-22
| department = Movies & TV Dept.
| work = [[The New York Times]]
| date = 2008
| access-date = 2007-04-11
}}</ref> In a 1992 ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine article, film director [[Jim Jarmusch]] affectionately recommended it as, "Probably the strangest and most perverse 'hit man' story in cinema."<ref name="Rolling Stone">{{cite web
| last = Hertzberg
| first = Ludvig
| title = Innocent Influences, Guilty Pleasures
| publisher = The Jim Jarmusch Resource Page
| url = http://jimjarmusch.tripod.com/recommended.html
| access-date = 2007-04-13
| archive-date = 2007-12-15
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071215040447/http://jimjarmusch.tripod.com/recommended.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Jasper Sharp of the Midnight Eye wrote, "It is a bloody marvellous looking film and arguably the pinnacle of the director's strikingly eclectic style."<ref name="Sharp"/>

However, the workings of the plot remain elusive to most. Sharp digressed, "To be honest it isn't the most accessible of films and for those unfamiliar with Suzuki's unorthodox and seemingly disjointed style it will probably take a couple of viewings before the bare bones of the plot begin to emerge."<ref name="Sharp"/> As Zorn has put it, "plot and narrative devices take a back seat to mood, music, and the sensuality of visual images."<ref name="Zorn"/> Japanese film historian [[Donald Richie]] thus encapsulated the film, "An inventive and ultimately anarchic take on gangster thrillers. The script flounders midway and Suzuki tries on the bizarre for its own sake."<ref name="Richie review">Richie, Donald (2005). Ibid, p. 267.</ref> David Chute conceded that in labeling the film incomprehensible, "If you consider the movie soberly, it's hard to deny the bosses had a point."<ref name="Branded to Thrill"/> On a conciliatory note, Rayns commented "Maybe the break with Nikkatsu was inevitable; it's hard to see how Suzuki could have gone further in the genre than this."<ref name="Rayns"/>

After another unrelated 10-year hiatus, Suzuki and Nikkatsu reunited for the ''Style to Kill'' retrospective, held in April, 2001, at Theatre Shinjuku in Tokyo. It featured 28 films by Suzuki, including ''Branded to Kill''.<ref name="Volcano">{{cite web
 |last=Schilling 
 |first=Mark 
 |author-link=Mark Schilling
 |title=Journey to the center of the human volcano 
 |publisher=[[The Japan Times]] 
 |date=April 2001 
 |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20010418a3.html 
 |access-date=2007-10-05 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208044733/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20010418a3.html 
 |archive-date=2007-12-08 
}}</ref><ref name="Style lineup">{{cite web
| title = Line-up
| publisher = Seijun Suzuki Retrospective: Style to Kill
| year = 2001
| url = http://www.so-net.ne.jp/seijun/styletokill/lineup/index.html
| language = ja
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010311152720/http://www.so-net.ne.jp/seijun/styletokill/lineup/index.html
| archive-date = 2001-03-11
| access-date = 2007-10-05
}}</ref> Suzuki appeared at the gala opening with star [[Annu Mari]].<ref name="Lounge">{{cite web
| last = Casey
| first = Chris
| title = Mari Annu
| publisher = Nikkatsu Action Lounge
| year = 2001
| url = http://shishido0.tripod.com/mari.html
| access-date = 2007-10-05
| archive-date = 2007-11-26
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071126100627/http://shishido0.tripod.com/mari.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Joe Shishido appeared for a talk session at an all-night, four-film screening.<ref name="Volcano"/> An accompanying ''Branded to Kill'' visual directory was published.<ref name="Style to Kill">{{cite book
| title = Style to kill : 殺しの烙印visual directory
| publisher = プチグラパブリッシング
| year = 2001
| language = ja
| isbn = 4-939102-21-1
}}</ref> The following year, the Tanomi Company produced a limited edition 1/6 scale "Joe the Ace"<ref name="Ace">"Joe the Ace" (エースのジョー ''Eisu no Jō'') is a popular [[nickname]] under which Shishido is known in Japan.<br />Schilling, Mark (September 2003). Ibid, pp. 128–130.</ref> [[action figure]] based on Shishido's character in the film, complete with a miniature [[rice cooker]].<ref name="Tanomi">{{cite web|script-title=ja:『エースのジョー』1/6アクションフィギュア |publisher=Tanomi |url=http://www.tanomi.com/shop/admin/html/items00467.html |language=ja |access-date=2007-10-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070919164945/http://www.tanomi.com/shop/admin/html/items00467.html |archive-date=September 19, 2007 }}</ref> In 2006, Nikkatsu celebrated the 50th anniversary of Suzuki's directorial debut by hosting the Seijun Suzuki 48 Film Challenge retrospective at the 19th [[Tokyo International Film Festival]]. It showcased all of his films. He and Mari were again in attendance.<ref name="Ryuganji"/><ref name="TIFF">{{cite web
| title = Seijyun Suzuki Retrospective
| publisher = [[Tokyo International Film Festival]]
| url = http://www.tiff-jp.net/en/lineup/supporting_project/seijyun_retrospective.html
| access-date = 2007-09-30
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070701015756/http://www.tiff-jp.net/en/lineup/supporting_project/seijyun_retrospective.html
| archive-date = 2007-07-01
}}</ref><ref name="Challenge linup">{{cite web|script-title=ja:鈴木清順 48本勝負 |publisher=Cinemavera Shinbuya |url=http://www.cinemavera.com/bc.html?mode=view&no=13 |year=2006 |language=ja |access-date=2007-10-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008230456/http://www.cinemavera.com/bc.html?mode=view&no=13 |archive-date=October 8, 2007 }}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Legacy==
As one of Seijun Suzuki's most influential films, ''Branded to Kill'' has been acknowledged as a source of inspiration by such internationally renowned directors as [[Hong Kong]]'s [[John Woo]], South Korea's [[Park Chan-wook]] and America's [[Jim Jarmusch]] and [[Quentin Tarantino]].<ref name="Princess Raccoon">{{cite web
 |last=Kermode 
 |first=Mark 
 |author-link=Mark Kermode 
 |title=Well, I told you she was different ... 
 |publisher=[[Guardian Unlimited]] 
 |date=July 2006 
 |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1810604,00.html 
 |access-date=2007-04-13 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201165947/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0%2C%2C1810604%2C00.html 
 |archive-date=2007-12-01 
}}</ref> Jarmusch listed it as his favourite hitman film, alongside ''[[Le Samouraï]]'' (also 1967),<ref name="Jarmusch">{{cite web
| last = Andrew
| first = Geoff
| title = Jim Jarmusch interviewed by Geoff Andrew (III)
| publisher = Guardian Unlimited
| date = November 1999
| url = http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,,110605,00.html
| access-date = 2007-04-03
| archive-date = 2006-12-12
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061212192051/http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,,110605,00.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> and thanked Suzuki in the screen credits of his own hitman film ''[[Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai]]'' (1999). Most notably, Jarmusch mirrored a scene in which the protagonist kills a target by shooting up from a basement through a sink drain. He went so far as to screen the film for Suzuki when the two met in Tokyo.<ref name="Miami">{{cite web
| last = Wilonsky
| first = Robert
| title = The Way of Jim Jarmusch
| publisher = [[Miami New Times]]
| date = March 2000
| url = http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2000-03-23/film/the-way-of-jim-jarmusch/
| access-date = 2007-04-03
| archive-date = 2007-09-29
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929104057/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2000-03-23/film/the-way-of-jim-jarmusch/
| url-status = dead
}}</ref><ref name="Ghost Dog">{{cite web
| title = Indie reservation
| publisher = Guardian Unlimited
| date = March 2001
| url = http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/interview/0,,153910,00.html
| access-date = 2007-04-13
| archive-date = 2023-11-20
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231120161626/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/mar/31/culture.features
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Critics have noted ''Branded to Kill's'' influence on the films of [[Wong Kar-wai]], such as his hitman film ''[[Fallen Angels (1995 film)|Fallen Angels]]'' (1995),<ref name="Deep Seijun">{{cite web
| last = Kurei
| first = Hibiki
| title = Deep Seijun
| publisher = Real Tokyo
| url = http://www.realtokyo.co.jp/english/4weeks/0024-kurei.htm
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041027132207/http://www.realtokyo.co.jp/english/4weeks/0024-kurei.htm
| archive-date=2004-10-27
| access-date = 2007-04-03
}}</ref> as well as [[Johnnie To]]'s ''[[Fulltime Killer]]'' (2001).<ref name="Fulltime Killer">{{cite web
| last = Grady
| first = Pam
| title = Fulltime Killer DVD Review
| publisher = Reel.com
| url = http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=135383&PID=10100888&Tab=reviews&CID=18
| access-date = 2007-04-03
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041211040345/http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=135383&PID=10100888&Tab=reviews&CID=18| archive-date = December 11, 2004}}</ref> However, ''Branded to Kill'' was most influential in its native Japan. The film's premise, in which hitmen try to kill each other in competition for the Number One rank, is spoofed in films such as [[Takeshi Kitano]]'s ''[[Getting Any?]]'' (1995) and [[Sabu (director)|Sabu]]'s ''[[Postman Blues]]'' (1997), which features a character named Hitman Joe.<ref name="Postman Blues">{{cite web
| last = Klinger
| first = Gabe
| title = Tiger Tanaka – Interview with Japanese cult director Hiroyuki "Sabu" Tanaka
| publisher = Senses of Cinema
|date=October 2000
| url = http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/10/sabu.html
| access-date = 2007-08-12
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070807015907/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/10/sabu.html| archive-date = August 7, 2007}}</ref> ''Branded to Kill'' played a role in the development of the long-running ''[[Lupin III]]'' franchise.<ref name="Lupin III">{{cite web|author=Keith |title=Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro |publisher=Teleport City |date=September 2006 |url=http://www.teleport-city.com/movies/dvdjournal/2006/09/lupin-3rd-castle-of-cagliostro.html |access-date=2007-08-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926221425/http://www.teleport-city.com/movies/dvdjournal/2006/09/lupin-3rd-castle-of-cagliostro.html |archive-date=September 26, 2007 }}</ref> It also had a profound impact, through Suzuki's firing and the resulting student uprising, in the beginnings of the movement film, usually [[underground film|underground]] or [[anti-establishment]] films which focused on issues of import to audiences, as opposed to production line genre pictures.<ref name="movement film">{{cite web
| title = Underground Cinema and the Art Theatre Guild
| last = Hirasawa
| first = Go
| publisher = Midnight Eye
| date = August 2005
| url = http://www.midnighteye.com/features/underground_atg.shtml
| access-date = 2007-08-23
| archive-date = 2012-05-06
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120506215948/http://www.midnighteye.com/features/underground_atg.shtml
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

===Associated films===
Prior to the release of ''Branded to Kill'', Suzuki and the other members of Hachiro Guryu began developing a [[stand-alone sequel]] to the film, tentatively titled {{nihongo|''Branded to Kill Continued''|続・殺しの烙印|''Zoku koroshi no rakuin''}}. The story would have concerned Noda (set to have been played by Shishido), an unranked member of the assassin's guild Hanada belongs to, being tasked by a woman named Ruiko with killing her husband, a formerly-ranked killer who has since disgraced the organization. Noda would have soon discovered that he and Ruiko's husband share similar killing methods, as both would leave their victims with eerie grins upon their deaths. According to Yamatoya, ''Branded to Kill Continued'' would have "crank[ed] up" the surrealist qualities of the original film, and given meaning to the ''Branded'' of the film's title (with the grins on Noda's victims acting as his "brand"); the film's climax would have taken place on an abandoned island and depicted a shootout against a computer. A full script for ''Branded to Kill Continued'' was never written due to the original film's initial failure.<ref name="Carroll">{{cite book|last=Carroll|first=William|title=Suzuki Seijun and Postwar Japanese Cinema |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=July 2022 |isbn=9780231204378 |page=250}}</ref>

In 1973, Nikkatsu released ''{{Interlanguage link multi|愛欲の罠|ja|3=愛欲の罠|lt=Trapped in Lust}}'', which has been described as a "''[[List of Nikkatsu Roman Porno films|Roman Porno]]'' [[Remake|reimagining]]" of ''Branded to Kill'', as both tell the story of a contract killer forced to lie low after botching an assignment. Directed by Yamatoya from a script by fellow Hachiro Guryu member Yōzō Tanaka, the film was produced independently of Nikkatsu (in contrast to other ''Roman Porno'' films) by [[Genjiro Arato]], who also played the lead role of Hoshi and would later produce the three films comprising Suzuki's Taishō Roman Trilogy, ''[[Zigeunerweisen (film)|Zigeunerweisen]]'' (1980), ''[[Kagero-za]]'' (1981) and ''[[Yumeji]]'' (1991).<ref name="arrow-22">{{Cite AV media notes
| title       = Trapped in Lust, Hachirō Guryū and the Case of the Missing Auteur
| year        = 2014
| page        = 22
| author      = Sharp, Jason
| type        = booklet
| publisher   = Arrow Films
| id          = FCD942
}}</ref> Sharp has described ''Trapped in Lust'' as "a brilliant testament to the fact that, rather than mere cheap exploitation, the [[adult film]] genre was regarded as liberating, daring and anti-authoritarian, and that interesting and intelligent things could be realised with it". He also notes its reflection of the ''gumi'' system of the Japanese film industry (whereby a single director frequently works with the same pool of collaborators), as the film was made by Suzuki's recurring colleagues and thus bears elements of Suzuki's style despite his lack of involvement.<ref name="arrow-23">{{Cite AV media notes
| title       = Trapped in Lust, Hachirō Guryū and the Case of the Missing Auteur
| year        = 2014
| page        = 23
| author      = Sharp, Jason
| type        = booklet
| publisher   = Arrow Films
| id          = FCD942
}}</ref>

Thirty-four years after the original release of ''Branded to Kill'', Suzuki directed ''[[Pistol Opera]]'' (2001), a loose sequel co-produced by [[Shochiku]] and filmed at Nikkatsu.<ref name="Aint">{{cite web
| title = A new Seijun Suzuki film in the works! PISTOL OPERA OF DEATH!!!
| last = Knowles
| first = Harry
| author-link = Harry Knowles
| publisher = [[Ain't It Cool News]]
| date = March 2001
| url = http://www.aintitcool.com/?q=node/8505
| access-date = 2007-10-05
| archive-date = 2007-12-07
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071207195149/http://www.aintitcool.com/?q=node%2F8505
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The character Goro Hanada returns as a mentor figure to the new Number Three, played by [[Makiko Esumi]]. However, Joe Shishido was replaced by [[Mikijiro Hira]] in the role of Hanada. Suzuki has said that the original intention was for Shishido to play the character again but that the film's producer, Satoru Ogura, wanted Hira for the role.<ref name="Midnight Eye">{{cite web
| title = Review: Pistol Opera
| last = Mes
| first = Tom
| publisher = Midnight Eye
| date = October 2001
| url = http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/pistoper.shtml
| access-date = 2007-03-18
| archive-date = 2007-02-05
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070205225606/http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/pistoper.shtml
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Reviews were of a favourable nature on par with its predecessor. [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] supposed, "Can I call a film a masterpiece without being sure that I understand it? I think so&nbsp;..."<ref name="Rosenbaum on sequel">{{cite web
| title = Review: Pistol Opera
| last = Rosenbaum
| first = Jonathan
| publisher = Chicago Reader
| date = August 2003
| url = http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/2003/0803/030822.html
| access-date = 2007-04-16
| archive-date = 2007-09-29
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929104706/http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/2003/0803/030822.html
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> Although some, such as [[Elvis Mitchell]] for [[The Village Voice]], felt its zeal fell slightly short of the original.<ref name="Mitchell on sequel">{{cite web|title=Assassination Tangos |last=Mitchell |first=Elvis |author-link=Elvis Mitchell |publisher=[[The Village Voice]] |date=June 2003 |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0324,atkinson,44707,20.html |access-date=2007-04-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107053143/http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0324%2Catkinson%2C44707%2C20.html |archive-date=November 7, 2007 }}</ref>

==Home video==
''Branded to Kill'' was initially made available in Japan by Nikkatsu in [[VHS]] format, first on February 10, 1987,<ref name="amazon jp1">{{cite web
| title = 殺しの烙印 <nowiki>[1987 VHS]</nowiki>
| publisher = [[amazon.com|amazon.co.jp]]
| url = https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00005FCAW
| language = ja
| access-date = 2007-06-05
| archive-date = 2007-09-29
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929165716/http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00005FCAW
| url-status = live
}}</ref> then a second version on June 10, 1994.<ref name="amazon jp2">{{cite web
| title = 殺しの烙印 <nowiki>[1994 VHS]</nowiki>
| publisher = amazon.co.jp
| url = https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00005FC7X
| language = ja
| access-date = 2007-06-05
| archive-date = 2007-09-29
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929121642/http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00005FC7X
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Both versions were censored for nudity with a black bar obscuring half of the frame during the relevant scenes. The first uncensored release since the film's theatrical debut was an October 26, 2001, [[DVD-video|DVD]] from Nikkatsu. It included an interview with [[Seijun Suzuki]], two with [[Joe Shishido]], an [[Annu Mari]] photo gallery and the original [[Trailer (promotion)|film trailers]] for it and several other Suzuki films. The release was one of three linked to the ''Style to Kill'' theatrical [[retrospective]].<ref name="amazon jp3">{{cite web
| title = 殺しの烙印 <nowiki>[DVD]</nowiki>
| date = 26 October 2001
| publisher = amazon.co.jp
| url = https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00005Q7NK
| language = ja
| access-date = 2009-06-22
| archive-date = 2007-09-29
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929123614/http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00005Q7NK
| url-status = live
}}</ref><ref name="Style DVD">The three films in the ''Style to Kill'' DVD series released on October 26, 2001, are ''Branded to Kill'', ''[[Tokyo Drifter]]'' and ''[[Youth of the Beast]]''.<br />{{cite web
| title = Style to Kill
| publisher = [[Nikkatsu]]
| url = http://www.nikkatsu.com/dig/DVDLINEUPS/dvd_line_style.html
| language = ja
| access-date = 2009-06-22
| archive-date = 2009-08-14
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090814125610/http://www.nikkatsu.com/dig/DVDLINEUPS/dvd_line_style.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Suzuki's directorial debut, the film was included in the first of two six-film DVD box sets which was released October 1, 2006. All six titles included [[audio commentary]] tracks featuring Suzuki with various collaborators, those being Annu Mari and [[assistant director]] Masami Kuzū for ''Branded to Kill''.<ref>{{cite web|title=鈴木清順監督自選ＤＶＤ−ＢＯＸ壱 (DVD) |publisher=Nikkatsu |url=http://www.nikkatsu.com/package/detail.html?pid=1203 |language=ja |access-date=2009-06-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212140143/http://www.nikkatsu.com/package/detail.html?pid=1203 |archive-date=February 12, 2008 }}</ref>

The first North American copy surfaced in the early 1990s at [[Kim's Video and Music|Kim's Video]] in New York in a video series titled ''Dark of the Sun'' devoted to obscure [[Asian cinema]], assembled by John Zorn,<ref name="Film Comment">{{cite web
| last = Chute
| first = David
| title = Branded to Thrill
| publisher = Cinefiles
| url = http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cine_doc_detail.pl/cine_img/?15726%3F15726%3F0
| page = 3
| access-date = 2007-04-06
| quote = Two of Suzuki's films, ''Branded to Kill'' and ''[[Youth of the Beast|Wild Youth]]'' (aka ''Youth of the Beast'') are available in a video series devoted to Japanese cinematic exotica, 'Dark of the Sun,' assembled by musician John Zorn for Kim's Video in New York
| archive-date = 2023-11-20
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231120161627/https://research-it.berkeley.edu/news/retiring-museum-informatics-and-interactive-university-projects
| url-status = live
}}</ref> albeit without English [[Subtitle (captioning)|subtitles]].<ref name="Guts">{{cite web
| last = Price
| first = Ed
| title = Guts of a Virgin
| publisher = WNUR-FM Jazz Web
|date=August 1993
| url = http://www.wnur.org/Jazz/performance/zornfest/zorn-and-film.html#ShojoNoHarawata
| work = John Zorn and film
| access-date = 2007-04-06
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070725063919/http://www.wnur.org/Jazz/performance/zornfest/zorn-and-film.html
| archive-date=2007-07-25}}</ref> [[The Criterion Collection]] released the film in the United States and Canada on [[laserdisc]] in 1998,<ref name="DVD Laser">{{cite web
| last = Pratt
| first = Doug
| title = Branded to Kill
| publisher = DVDLaser.com
|date=June 1998
| url = http://www.dvdlaser.com/search/detail.cfm?ID=23573
| access-date = 2007-04-05
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927194944/http://www.dvdlaser.com/search/detail.cfm?ID=23573 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-27}}</ref> followed by a DVD on February 23, 1999, both containing a 15-minute interview with Suzuki, poster gallery of Shishido films and liner notes by Zorn.<ref name="Savant">{{cite web
| last = Erickson
| first = Glenn
| author-link = Glenn Erickson
| title = Branded to Kill
| publisher = [[DVD Talk]]
| date = July 2002
| url = http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=4179&___rd=1
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130122054538/http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=4179&___rd=1
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = January 22, 2013
| access-date = 2007-04-05
}}</ref> Home Vision Cinema release a VHS version on June 16, 2000.<ref name="amazon com">{{cite book
| title = Branded To Kill
| isbn = 0780020502
}}</ref> Both companies conjunctively released ''Tokyo Drifter'' in all three formats in addition to a VHS collection packaging the two films together.<ref name="Archive">{{cite web
| title = The Seijun Suzuki Prepack
| publisher = Internet Archive
|date=April 2002
| url = http://homevision.com/film.php?id=SUZ010
 | access-date = 2007-04-05
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020401060150/http://homevision.com/film.php?id=SUZ010 |archive-date = 2002-04-01}}</ref> In the United Kingdom, Second Sight Films released a DVD on February 25, 2002, and a VHS on March 11, 2002.<ref name="DVD Times">{{cite web
| last = Foster
| first = Dave
| title = Branded to Kill
| publisher = DVD Times
| date = February 2002
| url = http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=3604
| access-date = 2007-04-05
| archive-date = 2005-04-27
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050427071512/http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=3604
| url-status = live
}}</ref><ref name="amazon uk">{{cite web
| title = Branded To Kill
| publisher = amazon.co.uk
| url = https://www.amazon.co.uk/Branded-Kill-Jo-Shishido/dp/B00005UQVK
| access-date = 2007-06-05
| archive-date = 2007-07-05
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070705010042/http://www.amazon.co.uk/Branded-Kill-Jo-Shishido/dp/B00005UQVK
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Yume Pictures released a new DVD on February 26, 2007, as a part of their Suzuki collection, featuring a 36-minute interview with the director, trailers and liner notes by Tony Rayns.<ref name="DVD Times 2">{{cite web
| last = Gilvear
| first = Kevin
| title = Branded to Kill
| publisher = DVD Times
| date = April 2007
| url = http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64730
| access-date = 2007-05-16
| archive-date = 2007-05-01
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070501034330/http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64730
| url-status = live
}}</ref> [[Madman Entertainment]]'s [[Eastern Eye]] label released the film on DVD in Australia and New Zealand on May 2, 2007. It also contained the original trailer, a photo gallery and liner notes.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Branded To Kill
| publisher = [[Madman Entertainment]]
| url = http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalogue.do?method=view&releaseId=8036
| access-date = 2009-06-26
| archive-date = 2008-08-12
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080812014255/http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalogue.do?method=view&releaseId=8036
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

Criterion released ''Branded to Kill'' on [[Blu-ray Disc|Blu-ray]] on December 13, 2011; this release includes a 1997 interview with Suzuki and interviews conducted specifically for the Blu-ray featuring Suzuki, Kuzū and Shishido.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/release/branded-to-kill-criterion-collection-blu-ray-e272365 |work=[[AllRovi]] |title=Branded to Kill [Criterion Collection][Blu-Ray] |access-date=December 23, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113112026/http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/release/branded-to-kill-criterion-collection-blu-ray-e272365 |archive-date=January 13, 2012 }}</ref> [[Arrow Video]] released the film in the UK in a Blu-ray/DVD set on August 18, 2014; it includes an interview with Suzuki, an interview with Shishido conducted by writer Koshi Ueno, and ''Trapped in Lust''.<ref name="arrow">{{cite web
| title = Branded to Kill [DVD & Blu-ray] [1967]
| publisher = amazon.co.uk
| url = https://www.amazon.co.uk/Branded-Kill-DVD-Blu-ray-Shishido/dp/B00KHQD6WG
| access-date = 2021-06-21
| archive-date = 2023-08-04
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230804203359/https://www.amazon.co.uk/Branded-Kill-DVD-Blu-ray-Shishido/dp/B00KHQD6WG
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{Infobox album
| name       = Branded to Kill
| type       = soundtrack
| artist     = Naozumi Yamamoto
| cover      =
| caption    = 
| alt        = 
| released   = February 23, 2007
| recorded   =
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Soundtrack]], [[jazz]]
| length     =
| label      = Think
| producer   =
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title =
| next_year  =
}}
Forty years after the film's original release, on February 23, 2007, the Japanese record label Think issued the soundtrack on Compact Disc through its ''Cine Jazz'' series, which focused on 1960s Nikkatsu [[action film]]s. The music was culled from Naozumi Yamamoto's score. Atsushi Yamatoya wrote the lyrics for the "Killing Blues" themes. Listings 27 through 29 are bonus [[karaoke]] tracks.<ref name="Jazz Tokyo">{{cite web|script-title=ja:「和製ジャズ・ビートニク映画音楽傑作撰（日活編）」発売 |publisher=Jazz Tokyo |date=March 2007 |url=http://www.jazztokyo.com/hotline/archive-local07.html#loc070310e |language=ja |access-date=2009-06-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418144442/http://www.jazztokyo.com/hotline/archive-local07.html |archive-date=April 18, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="CD Journal">{{cite web
| script-title = ja:「殺しの烙印」オリジナル・サウンドトラック
| publisher = CD Journal
| url = http://www.cdjournal.com/main/cd/disc.php?dno=4106121275
| language = ja
| access-date = 2007-04-06
| archive-date = 2007-09-30
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930203338/http://www.cdjournal.com/main/cd/disc.php?dno=4106121275
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

===Track listing===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! No. !! Translation !! Japanese title !! Romanization
|-
| 1.
| "Killing Blues (theme song)"
| {{lang|ja|殺しのブルース （主題歌）}}
| ''Koroshi no burūsu (shudaika)''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 2.
| "Scotch and Hardboiled Rice pt1"
| {{lang|ja|スコッチとハードボイルド米pt1}}
| ''Sukocchi to hādoboirudo kome pāto wan''
|-
| 3.
| "Scotch and Hardboiled Rice pt2"
| {{lang|ja|スコッチとハードボイルド米pt2}}
| ''Sukocchi to hādoboirudo kome pāto tsū''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 4.
| "A Corpse in the Backseat"
| {{lang|ja|死体バックシート}}
| ''Shitai bakkushīto''
|-
| 5.
| "The Hanada Bop"
| {{lang|ja|ハナダ・バップ}}
| ''Hanada bappu''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 6.
| "Flame On pt1"
| {{lang|ja|フレーム・オンpt1}}
| ''Fureimu on pāto wan''
|-
| 7.
| "Flame On pt2"
| {{lang|ja|フレーム・オンpt2}}
| ''Fureimu on pāto tsū''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 8.
| "Manhater pt1"
| {{lang|ja|男嫌いpt1}}
| ''Otokogirai pāto wan''
|-
| 9.
| "Manhater pt2"
| {{lang|ja|男嫌いpt2}}
| ''Otokogirai pāto tsū''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 10.
| "Washing the Rice"
| {{lang|ja|米を研げ}}
| ''Kome o toge''
|-
| 11.
| "The Devil's Job"
| {{lang|ja|悪魔の仕事}}
| ''Akuma no shigoto''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 12.
| "Beastly Lovers"
| {{lang|ja|野獣同士 （けだものどうし）}}
| ''Kedamono dōshi''
|-
| 13.
| "The Butterfly's Stinger pt1"
| {{lang|ja|蝶の毒針pt1}}
| ''Chō no dokushin pāto wan''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 14.
| "The Butterfly's Stinger pt2"
| {{lang|ja|蝶の毒針pt2}}
| ''Chō no dokushin pāto tsū''
|-
| 15.
| "Hanada's Barb pt1"
| {{lang|ja|ハナダの針pt1}}
| ''Hanada no hari pāto wan''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 16.
| "Hanada's Barb pt2"
| {{lang|ja|ハナダの針pt2}}
| ''Hanada no hari pāto tsū''
|-
| 17.
| "The Goodbye Look"
| {{lang|ja|サヨナラの外観}}
| ''Sayonara no gaikan''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 18.
| "Napoleon Brandy"
| {{lang|ja|ナポレオンのブランデー}}
| ''Naporeon no burandē''
|-
| 19.
| "Killing Blues (humming vers.)"
| {{lang|ja|殺しのブルース （humming vers.）}}
| ''Koroshi no burūsu (hamingu bājon)''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 20.
| "Breakwater Shootout"
| {{lang|ja|防波堤の撃合い}}
| ''Bōhatei no uchiai''
|-
| 21.
| "Killer's Bossa Nova"
| {{lang|ja|殺し屋のボサノバ}}
| ''Koroshiya no bosa noba''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 22.
| "Something's Up"
| {{lang|ja|何かが起る}}
| ''Nanika ga koru''
|-
| 23.
| "Beasts Are as Beasts"
| {{lang|ja|獣は獣のように}}
| ''Kedamono wa kedamono no yō ni''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 24.
| "Number One's Cry"
| {{lang|ja|ナンバーワンの叫び}}
| ''Nanbā Wan no sakebi''
|-
| 25.
| "The Tape Recorder Has the Track of Destiny"
| {{lang|ja|テープレコーダーは運命の轍}}
| ''Teipu rekōdā wa unmei no wadachi''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 26.
| "Killing Blues (ending theme)"<br />(Atsushi Yamatoya)
| {{lang|ja|殺しのブルース （エンディングテーマ）<br />（大和屋竺）}}
| ''Koroshi no burūsu (endingu tēma)''<br />''(Yamatoya Atsushi)''
|-
| 27.
| "Title (karaoke vers.)"
| {{lang|ja|タイトル （カラオケ vers.）}}
| ''Taitoru (karaoke bājon)''
|- style=background:#efefef;
| 28.
| "Ending (karaoke vers.)"
| {{lang|ja|エンディング （カラオケ vers.）}}
| ''Endingu (karaoke bājon)''
|-
| 29.
| "Title (dialogue-free vers.)"
| {{lang|ja|タイトル （セリフなし vers.）}}
| ''Taitoru (serifu nashi bājon)''
|}

== References ==

===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0061882}}
* {{Rotten-tomatoes|branded_to_kill}}
* {{jmdb title|1967|cq001780}}
*[https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2096-branded-to-kill-reductio-ad-absurdum ''Branded to Kill: Reductio Ad Absurdum''] an essay by [[Tony Rayns]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]

{{Seijun Suzuki}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branded To Kill}}
[[Category:1967 films]]
[[Category:1960s Japanese-language films]]
[[Category:Japanese black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1960s crime thriller films]]
[[Category:Japanese crime films]]
[[Category:Japanese neo-noir films]]
[[Category:Films about contract killing]]
[[Category:Films directed by Seijun Suzuki]]
[[Category:Girls with guns films]]
[[Category:Nikkatsu films]]
[[Category:Yakuza films]]
[[Category:1960s Japanese films]]