Stray Dog (1949)

Takashi Shimura: Chief Detective Sato

Photos 

Quotes 

• Det. Murakami : You have to feel sorry for Yusa.

  Det. Sato : Oh, no. Thinking like that won't get you anywhere as a cop. It's easy to develop delusions, chasing criminals all day. We can't forget the many sheep a lone wolf leaves wounded. Half those citations were capital cases. There's no help for a cop who doesn't believe he's protecting the masses. I say leave the psychoanalysis to the detective novels.

• Det. Sato : He'll rob again. Once does not a habit make, but the second time, a stray becomes a rabid dog. Am I wrong?

• Det. Sato : This is the make-or-break point. He's killed someone. A killer's like a mad dog. Do you know how a mad dog walks? There's an old ditty that's disturbingly close to home. "A mad dog only sees straight paths."

• Det. Sato : Now, the hard part.

  Det. Murakami : I'll get him.

  Det. Sato : Don't you see anything but Honda? We can't put this crowd at risk. We have to assume he's armed. And a bullet's nothing like a foul ball. Got to get him away from the crowd.

  Det. Murakami : But how?

  Det. Sato : We mull it over. We've got five innings to go.

• Det. Murakami : The way I imagine it...

  Det. Sato : Imagining only complicates an investigation. Stick to the facts.

• Det. Sato : Where's he hang out, then?

  Honda's Moll : I don't know. I've heard he's keen on baseball. I bet he goes to the stadium.

• Baseball Stadium Vendor : How 'bout some ice pops? Sweet popsicles. Popsicles here.

  Det. Sato : We'll take two.

  Baseball Stadium Vendor : Twenty yen, please.

• Det. Sato : That kind of high-strung girl is as stubborn as they come. Make 'em mad and they clam right up.

• Det. Murakami : Sato-san, do you think it was my Colt again?

  Det. Sato : What the hell does it matter if it was?

• Det. Sato : We want to see Namiki.

  [the show director, a tall young man with thick, limp hair, slumps down in a chair and holds an electric fan to his face] 

  Girlie Show director : [lazily]  Harumi's out today. She's a real problem, that one. One little comment and she takes the day off. She's quiet all right, but the quiet ones are always the most stubborn. And she's sick right now.

  Det. Sato : She's sick?

  Girlie Show director : With her monthlies, you know. They're always impossible then.

• Sakura Hotel manager : Who is he anyway?

  Det. Sato : A mad dog.

• Kogetsu Hotel manager : Enjoy.

  Det. Sato : It's sake.

  Kogetsu Hotel manager : It's one way to beat the heat.

  Det. Sato : Thanks. What'd he do?

  Kogetsu Hotel manager : He came late at night and left ridiculously early the next morning. Beyond that...

  Det. Sato : Who was his geisha?

  Kogetsu Hotel manager : Oh, that's right. Yes, she escorted him as far as the street.

  Det. Sato : Her name?

  Kogetsu Hotel manager : Kintaro. She's one of Wakehisamatsu's girls.