STRAY CAT ROCK: BEAT ‘71
Toshiya Fujita, 1971.
Japan, 87 minutes.
In Japanese with English subtitles.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1 — 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 4 — 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 18 — MIDNIGHT

After getting framed for a murder her boyfriend Ryumei committed, Furiko finds herself incarcerated in the Women’s Remand Center. Two months later, she and her chosen sister Ayako escape. While Ayako heads to Shinjuku to rally Furiko’s crew, Furiko returns to her hometown to find Ryumei and confront him. Things get complicated when Furiko and her gang learn Ryumei is poised to inherit his family’s business empire, while his father (who framed Furiko for the murder) is running for mayor: his campaign would be wrecked by a murder scandal, so he kidnaps Furiko and holds her hostage in his mansion. As Furiko’s freewheeling crew schemes to rescue her, they become entangled in a web of political intrigue and corrupt cops. Much lighter fare than the rest of the STRAY CAT ROCK series, BEAT ’71 builds to an explosive climax at an abandoned mine transformed into a fake Western film set just outside of town where hippies, a biker gang, and chimpanzees face off amidst gunfights and dynamite.