The Challenge

Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

With Koji Tsuruta, Tatsuo Umemiya, Mayumi Ozora, Hitomi Nakahara and Tetsuro Tamba

Journalist Kuroki is investigating clandestine arms sales to Southeast Asia. He discovers that the point man in an arms trade was also involved in the cover-up of a murder on an American base during the Allied Occupation. The film rolls along as a suspenseful thriller while offering a critique of political corruption, hypocrisy, and journalistic cowardice in postwar Japan.