Akagi Keiichiro’s last film before his untimely death at the age of twenty-one, Ushihara Yoichi’s Kurenai no Kenju (Crimson Pistol) is also one of his best. Unlike the many Nikkatsu Action films that have little or no relationship with any known reality, but give no sign of that fact, Kurenai begins with a closeup of the lantern-jawed Tarumi Goro laconically telling a client that "professional hitmen don’t exist in Japan." Tarumi, we learn, was once a hitman himself, but injured his shooting arm. He has since set himself up as freelance trainer of hired killers. He finds his first prospective apprentice, Akagi, in a nightclub, saving a hostess (Shiraki Mari) from hoodlums who have come to reclaim her for their boss.
Akagi proves an apt pupil, with quick reflexes and the right attitude. Then he is hired by a boss involved in drug turf war with two other gangs. His first assignment: the hostess, who knows too much about an approaching drug deal to live. Akagi frees her instead - and thus places his own life at jeopardy.
The ensuing action is non-stop - and Akagi once again displays not only his talent for action, but an unfaked sensitivity and decency that would be much missed by Nikkatsu, not to mention his fans, after his departure.