Kanzenna yûgi (1958)

I caught this on Criterion's channel on Hulu without knowing anything about it. A group of five morally-challenged college students come up with a "perfect" plot to rip off an illegal bookie. Of course, as always happens in movies like this, something goes wrong and things quickly spin out of control. During the 1950's Japan made a number of movies in the "sun tribe" genre. (The most famous is Crazed Fruit which is also available from Criterion.) Sun Tribe movies are different from regular delinquent movies in that the delinquents were from affluent families. These movies gave audiences a chance to cluck their tongues at the excesses of the rich and the general worthlessness of the young generation. This movie is a solid example of the genre as the characters cut class, drink, sponge money off of people and generally drift toward a life of crime. The performances are good as is the story. It may not be as exciting as contemporary crime movies, but it had a couple moments of genuine suspense and it kept my interest all of the way through.