Shadows On The Highway (1971)

Fukuda does Fukasaku

Cut from the same cloth as the likes of Spielberg's Duel, 3,000 Kilometer Trap / Shadows of the Highway sprang from the golden age of Japanese automotive films, one that offers up a surprisingly sombre and low-key chase thriller across the Japanese landscape. It's directed exceptionally well by the usually ridiculous Jun Fukuda. There are few images quite as breathtaking as the black-striped, bright orange GTO floating over blankets of white. However, it does feel like Toho desired him to capture the same aesthetics and style you'd see in a Kinji Fukasaku thriller rather than his usual madcap direction. The acting all around is solid and the pacing is exceptionally nippy, breezing with the roar of an engine accompanied by a brilliant cheesy cool jazz score by Norio Maeda serving as the perfect companion for an epic cross-Japan road trip. Despite a couple of questionable sex scenes and having next to no internet presence, it is very worthwhile to seek out Shadows of the Highway, it's tense, moody and exhilarating in the way only the best car chases can be.

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