A Colt Is My Passport Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

A Colt Is My Passport Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Justin Dekker July 1, 2026

From Director Takashi Nomura ('Branded to Kill') his 1967 film 'A Colt Is My Passport (Koruto wa ore no pasupooto)' arrives on Blu-ray disc courtesy of New Wave Video. The film stars tough guy actor Jô Shishido ('Massacre Gun') in the lead role, supported by Jerry Fujio ('Whirlwind Kid'), and Chitose Kobayashi ('Akai shuriken'). Given a lovely 1080p presentation and an efficient Japanese stereo track with English subtitles, the release is outfitted with an interesting variety of on-disc supplemental features including a feature commentary. A spot-gloss enhanced slipcover and a 16- page booklet are also included. This edition is limited to 1500 units. The disc is listed as being Region B, but is Region A compatible.

Shûji Kamimura (Jô Shishido) is an efficient and effective hitman. With his partner Shun Shiozaki (Jerry Fujio), they've just completed a difficult assignment. But when their employer betrays them, they face the difficult task of extracting themselves from the area of the most recent contract with few resources and fewer options. With the unexpected aid of the lovely and downtrodden Mina (Chitose Kobayashi), a marginalized woman with a fading dream of a better life, Kamimura sets a plan in motion to get them across the border and balance the scales.

The film opens with a trio of measured gunshots that quickly give way to a whistled melody and steady percussion backed by an acoustic guitar. It wouldn't be remiss to draw a line from this track directly to Ennio Morricone's theme from A Fistful of Dollars, as it certainly sounds as if it's cut from the same sonic cloth, and it may prompt viewers to wonder if they've somehow received the wrong disc in the film's case. But once we exit the title sequence and observe a then-modern car pulling out of a driveway in a contemporary cityscape, it quickly becomes clear that while there will be gunslingers, they won't be astride horses or roaming though endless expanses of desolation. Within moments, one of the well-dressed men tailing that car is in a somewhat generic but well-appointed office space receiving a job offer. A man named Shimazu must die. And it must happen within the next two days.

Effortlessly cool, A Colt is my Passport quickly grounds the viewer in it's strange yet familiar world and its singularly most important character. We immediately understand Kamimura's profession. The tight timeline for a critical job is a tacit endorsement of his high degree of skill. This is further supported by how rapidly and efficiently he completes his work. But this "coolness" doesn't simply have stylistic connotations, it applies to Jô Shishido's character as well. Where there should be a beating heart and a lust for life, there is simply ice. As he briefly speaks to the property manager of the vacant mansion from which he took his lethal shots, he states, "I'd like to live in a place like that one day.". But given what we know of him up to this point and the little more that is revealed and/or confirmed over the course of the film, I'd posit that the line could have been rewritten as "I'd like to live one day.", and been even more accurate. The job finished, his weapon and his spent shell casings are taken to a scrapyard where they are summarily thrown into a dilapidated car and burned and crushed into a cube before our eyes. Save for the deaths of two men, the tangible outcome of his work, it's like he was never there. A man of few words and almost no attachments, Kamimura is a ghost.

The film consistently deals heavily in symbolism, references, and allusions. Later, as Mina and Kamimura drive in a truck to find him another way out of town and danger, they converse to pass the time and to satisfy Mina's obvious curiosity and interest in the hitman. As the truck enters a long, dark tunnel, their conversation turns to their youths, a bleak time for both. As she speaks, Mina's face is primarily shown reflected in the windscreen; it's disembodied, seemingly floating, and ethereal as she tells of being shunned as a child for being impoverished and living on a boat. Those memories clearly haunt her to this day and push her to want a better life even if she's afraid to take the necessary steps to attain it. As he recalls his younger days, Kamimura never softens or emotes. His words are blunt and ineloquent as he states:

"I'm not running away. I'm surviving. That's how I've stayed alive this long. If I hadn't fought when I was a kid, I'd have starved to death. I'll make it out his time, too."

—Jô Shishido (Shûji Kamimura in ' A Colt is My Passport')

Considering the truck is timed to emerge from the darkness of the tunnel and return into the light as he finishes that thought, we've no doubt that this man of few words will make good on his statement. But, it's interesting to note that Kamimura chose a word like "surviving", instead of the word "live", and all of the accompanying richness and fullness with which it is associated.

Given the fact that the on-screen action has been accompanied by a soundtrack that is more like one typically found in a spaghetti Western, whether it be directed by Sergio Leone or not, this one being complete with reverbed electric guitar riffs and plaintive harmonicas, it's altogether fitting that a sandy and desolate stretch of land that wouldn't be out of place in such films is selected by our gunslinger as the setting for his final showdown with his betrayers. Dust billows across the screen as he digs the holes he needs for his plan. Telephone poles, which could just as easily be supporting telegraph lines, vanish into the distance. In true Western fashion, his weapons are simple; a shotgun, his titular Colt (or Baretta, as the case may be), and a some dynamite. Kamimura stands alone, squared off opposite the villains as if ready for a duel on the streets of Tombstone or Deadwood. All he's missing are spurs and a wide-brimmed hat. As the camera zooms in on the watch-face during these moments, one almost expects it to depict that high noon is mere seconds away. While that, perhaps, may have been a bit too on the nose, a final judgement is coming, nonetheless.

A Colt Is My Passport Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot stylishly in black and white and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, A Colt is My Passport looks quite good in motion. The largest concern to note is a moiré effect visible in the upholstery of a chair at around the 53-minute mark which is obvious in one shot shot, but is a non-issue the next time the chair and its occupant are on-screen moments later. Other than that, there is the very occasional missing frame. These are minor elements to nitpick in an overall handsome and enjoyable presentation. Fine detail is typically quite pleasing, especially in mid-range and close-up shots. Take, for instance, the close-up of Mina at about the one-hour mark as she takes a worrying phone call. As the camera zooms in, every strand of her eyebrows, every fine line around her eyes, and even the pores in the skin of her cheek are visible. The same holds true for Kamimura when he receives similar treatment. A slight five o'clock shadow is visible on his troubled visage as we progress later into the film and the situation looks increasingly unlikely for his escape and survival. Braiding on ropes is visible, and wear and age on well-used guns are also easy to make out. Fabrics such as Kamimura's suit coat present with a satisfying tactile presence, and wood paneling displays appreciable grain. Grain texture is also visible in leather gloves, and the details and workings of the numerous firearms and their accessories are well-defined. Fine film grain is present throughout and is managed well, never becoming problematic and affording the moving image a richly filmic look. Blacks are deep and inky, and image possesses realistic depth. It's a lovely and moody presentation.

A Colt Is My Passport Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The original Japanese 2.0 stereo track is as efficient and effective as Kamimura himself. It isn't flashy, but it gets the job done. Music is handled well by track, and it is routinely pressed into service to pump the film's theme music with it's fat guitar line and whistled melody through the stage which it does with solid clarity and fidelity, sounding like an authentic product of its time. By definition, music and sound effects are lacking the bottom end support endemic of more modern tracks, but it does well enough without it. The score isn't reliant on bass-heavy beats, and most of the gunfire fire which occurs with some frequency is more in line with the handguns preferred by those who are packing heat. Other effects like shattering glass, closing doors, and the like are reproduced well. Dialogue is crisp and clean and presented without defect. Foley work to bring in ambient sounds like vehicle engines and environmental sounds are mixed very low in some instances or are virtually nonexistent in others. Given the consistency of how these elements are handled and what I've experienced in other Japanese films from the era, it feels like a sound design choice which, here, adds to the feeling of isolation experienced by Kamimura, keeping our attention on him and heightening tension as a result. It' a capable companion for the film.

A Colt Is My Passport Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The on-disc and printed supplemental material is as below.

• Audio Commentary by Author and Filmmaker Jasper Sharp - Sharp, the author of the indispensable Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, begins by expressing his fondness for Nikkatsu's output from this era, referencing 1967's Branded to Kill and 1966's Black Tight Killers, and pointing out that the gun Kamimura uses in the film is a Baretta and not a Colt as the title would indicate. Jasper identifies 1967 as the peak year for hitman films both in Japan and internationally. Pertaining to this film specifically, he shares the film was written in four days and shot in twenty, as was more or less the norm for Nikkatsu at the time. A wide variety of trivia bubbles up over the span of the commentary, such as the fact that it's Shishido Jô's own incredibly expensive watch which fills the screen at a few points during the film. After providing details about the car used by Kamimura, he calls attention to the monorail that still runs to the Haneda Airport, as well as the locations the film used at the airport itself. Sharp is rarely silent and largely bases his comments on the on-screen action, but he isn't afraid to deviate and devote a fair amount of time to broader subjects such as cast and crew members, the films and politics of the era, and the studio's output. It's and enjoyable and informative track.

• Video Essay: 'A Colt is my Passport' and the Borderless Action Film by Derek Smith (15.52) - Beginning with a discussion of the film's theme song, before moving on to the film's influences and Nikkatsu studio's post-war output. A quick look at the studio's leading directors occurs before giving focus over to Jô Shishido, and ultimately, the film itself.

• Video Essay "The Neo Noir Yakuza Cool of Shishido Jô" by Phillip Jeffries (21.41) - The feature explores Shishido Jô's impressive black-and-white career, his struggles to achieve similar levels of success in color features, his (and other actors') use of plastic surgery to craft a memorable look, as well as Jô's influences.

• Stills Gallery (2.01) - A series of stills and publicity shots auto-advance to the film's theme song.

• 16-page Booklet - The booklet features an essay by James Balmount about Joe Shishido, as well as some brief notes about the release.

A Colt Is My Passport Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's hard to conjure an image of a cooler cinematic contract killer than Jô Shishido's Kamimura. Despite the potentially chaotic and surprising events we see unfolding in the wake of his latest job, he seems to be able to anticipate every eventuality and dictate the flow of events to his advantage. Kamimura may bleed, but he never sweats. The film, like Jô Shishido's character, is ruthlessly efficient - every scene and action has a purpose, and not a moment is wasted in the tensely crafted film. An interesting mash-up of genres, the spaghetti Western influences, including the score and the scene of the final showdown, imbues Kamimura a degree of implied honor and ethics, while the noirish elements shape him as a cunning and hard-boiled man of action who's intrinsically dangerous to know. He may be a killer, but he's still somehow on the side of the angels. Never less than engaging, New Wave Video's A Colt is my Passport is very highly recommended.