Black Rain

How this film uses it

Everyone in the story chases the same thing: a pair of printing plates for counterfeit American money. Sato takes one half in New York and uses it to bargain with the older boss, Sugai. The plates barely matter as objects. Their job is to set the cops, the yakuza and the American mob against each other.

Where to see it

The gift box at the end: Nick says goodbye to Matsumoto and hands him a dress shirt in a box. Underneath it, Matsumoto finds both plates.

How this film uses it

Sugai is the film's main criminal, yet he gets a reason you can follow. He tells Nick he survived the bombing of Hiroshima and that his counterfeiting is revenge for the "black rain" that fell that day. He also blames American influence for corrupting younger men like Sato. You do not have to agree with him to see where he comes from.

Where to see it

Sugai's house: with a tip from Joyce, Nick meets Sugai, who explains his past and why he is flooding the world with fake American money.

How this film uses it

Nick and Sato are more alike than either would say. Nick is a cop under investigation who helps himself to cash from a crime scene. Sato is a yakuza who breaks his own clan's code to grab power. One reading is that Sato shows Nick what a man who bends every rule for himself turns into.

Where to see it

The final chase: Nick chases Sato by motorcycle, they fight, and Nick ends up with Sato at his mercy. He brings Sato in handcuffed.

How this film uses it

Scott filmed Osaka's Dotonbori district, a canal lined with neon signs, as the film's main look. The lit-up bridge and the neon wall over the water give it the feel of a future city, close to the world of his own science fiction work. The city looks dazzling and dangerous at the same time.

Where to see it

The Osaka nightclub: Nick meets Joyce, an American hostess from Chicago, who tells him Sato is fighting Sugai in a gang war.

How this film uses it

Japan's high costs, red tape and strict gun rules wore down the production, and Scott left the country early. The climactic motorcycle chase was shot in California's Napa Valley. Los Angeles airport stood in for Osaka's airport, and a steel mill in Fontana finished a scene the crew could not complete in Japan. The story still plays as one trip through Japan.

Where to see it

The steel foundry: Nick and Matsumoto follow a hostess to a foundry where Sato meets Sugai. The scene was left unfinished in Japan and completed in California.