overhears that there is Yakuza infighting downtown. She rushes there only to find Kinta’s body, having died from his gunshot wound. In the aftermath, days later, Haruko’s family is convinced that all things American will be of great benefit to her and, by extension, her family because she is vivacious and attractive. Her family helps her to prepare to leave with Gordon, the American military businessman. However, she has decided otherwise and sets off to see her uncle who has a job for her in Kawasaki. Her leave-taking is emotional and she cries. In the final scene, as she wipes the make-up and lipstick off her face and walks away over an open seashore, an American aircraft carrier arrives in the port and a busload of young Japanese women excitedly rushes off the bus and starts waving to the sailors coming onshore. She marches past them and boards her train out of town. Cast Hiroyuki Nagato - Kinta Jitsuko Yoshimura - Haruko Masao Mishima - Himori Tetsurō Tamba - Slasher Tetsuji Shirō Ōsaka - Hoshino Takeshi Katō - Ohachi Shōichi Ozawa - Gunji, Gangster in check shirt Yōko Minamida - Katsuyo Hideo Sato - Kikuo Toshio Takahara - Doctor Miyaguchi Eijirō Tōno - Kan'ichi Akira Yamauchi - Sakiyama Sanae Nakahara - Hiromi Kin Sugai - Haruko's mother Bumon Kahara - Harukoma Production During the immediate post-war years, Imamura had been a black market hustler himself. Imamura conducted extensive research for the film, spending time with gangsters who he found to have a unique kind of pride and freedom. The gangsters teased Imamura for working hard but not having much money. Initially, Imamura wanted 1,500 pigs for the climax of the film, but had to make do with 400 due to financial constraints. Due to the controversial nature of Pigs and Battleships, and Imamura's overrunning production time and costs, Nikkatsu banned Imamura from directing for two years, during which time he wrote screenplays. Reception and awards Pigs and Battleships won the 1961 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film. In his 1986 review, Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times described the plot as complex but with a simple message, a warning about cultural imperialism, and calls the climax hilarious and unique. Also in 1986, Vincent Canby of The New York Times too praised the climax and described the movie overall as "refreshingly impolite". John Berra, writing for Electric Sheep Magazine, described