James Shigeta Movies

Crimson Kimono stars Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta as Korean War army buddies, working side by side with the LA homicide squad. When stripper Gloria Pall is murdered, Corbett and Shigeta are sent to investigate. Both are smitten by the lovely Victoria Shaw, who is implicated in the crime. Corbett becomes jealous of Shigeta, who is deeply hurt, feeling that Corbett's animosity is borne of racism. Their friendship, and the central romance, is resolved after the detectives bring the murderer to heel in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. Samuel Fuller's love of oriental exotica is never more pronounced than in the climactic sequences, staged before the backdrop of the Japanese New Year celebration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cowboy Line Bartlett (Jack Lord) comes to San Francisco and meets Kim Sung (Nobu McCarthy), a Chinese slave girl coveted by the manager of a whorehouse. To save her from this fate, Bartlett buys the girl himself and takes her home to serve as a housekeeper. His mother, Ma Bartlett (Josephine Hutchinson), is not happy that a Chinese girl is living in her home, and even less happy when Kim Sung and her son fall in love. Their affair also arouses the jealousy of Cheng Lu (James Shigeta), a Chinese immigrant living in town. The proud Cheng learns to become a western-style warrior by taking sharpshooting lessons from the mysterious Deacon (Mel Torme). ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The only Rodgers and Hammerstein cinemadaptation to be produced by Universal Pictures, Flower Drum Song was, alas, also the only Rogers and Hammerstein film to lose money at the box office. It looks far better now than it did back in 1961, if only because of the paucity of musical films in the 1990s. Essentially a comedy about the culture clash between old-world Chinese and assimilated Chinese-Americans, the film begins when Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) and her grandfather (Kam Tong) smuggle themselves into San Francisco. It seems that Mei Li has arrived to honor an arranged marriage between herself and Runyonesque nightclub owner Sammy Fong (the incomparable Jack Soo). This might prove delicate, since Sammy is in love with flashy cabaret entertainer Linda Low (Nancy Kwan). Meanwhile, Linda is romancing Wang Ta (James Shigeta), the son of a wealthy Chinatown merchant (Benson Fong). Soon, however, Mei Li and Wang Ta have fallen in love.......It's a complex plot, to be sure, but comedy and music manage to predominate. The songs include "I Enjoy Being a Girl" (a tour de force for the special effects department, and for Nancy Kwan), "A Hundred Million Miracles," "The Other Generation," "Love Look Away," "I Am Going to Like It Here," "Don't Marry Me," "You Are Beautiful," "Grant Avenue" and "Chop Suey." Flower Drum Song is attractively produced and consummately acted; while no classic along the lines of King and I or Sound of Music, it deserves a second look. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol is revisited yet again in this made-for-television holiday drama. Told with a different twist, in this version, a melancholy father spends his Christmas Day mourning the son he lost in World War II. His holiday grieving is interrupted by the visiting ghosts of Christmases past, present and future. Henry Mancini provides the score. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Rick Richards (Elvis Presley) is a helicopter pilot who is grounded when his chopper runs federal aviation official Donald Beldon (John Doucette) off the road in Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Already suspended as a airline pilot, he and partner Danny Kohana (James Shigeta) struggle to keep their business flying. Suzanna Leigh plays the pretty secretary, but Elvis does not limit his affections to just one girl. Technical credits and locations scenes of the beautiful islands are the highlight of the film. Presley warbles his usual slew of songs, but most are unremarkable. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This military comedy finds chief petty officer Doc Willoughby (Doug McClure) on board the submarine U.S.S. Bustard. He spends the majority of his off-duty time chasing women, getting in fights and trying to stay one step ahead of the irascible commanding officer. He scatters cockroaches in the captain's quarters in an attempt to gain shore leave to make time with a pretty female. Nancy Kwan is the Japanese nurse who is his love interest, and James Whitmore is the infuriated commander who suspects but is unable to pin anything on the resourceful CPO. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The initials stand for University Medical Center, where this TV movie was set (the University was actually UCLA, though not so named). The heads of the institution are Dr. Joseph Gannon (Richard Bradford), and Gannon's mentor and best friend Dr. Lee Forestman (Edward G. Robinson). Gannon performs a heart transplant on Forestman, a procedure that lands him in court. The plaintiff is the heart donor's widow, who claims that Gannon allowed her husband to die to save Forestman. When U.M.C. developed into the long-running weekly series Medical Center, Edward G. Robinson was busy elsewhere, Chad Everett replaced Richard Bradford as Gannon, and James Daly, third-billed in U.M.C., had been appointed the med center's chief of staff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harry Kellem (Russ Conway), an American businessman working in Tokyo, has been accused of murdering his Japanese wife. The actual culprit is Kellem's brother-in-law Toshio Masaki (Khigh Dheigh), who for political reasons is bent on destroying Japanese-American diplomatic relations. Assigned to clear Kellem and expose Masaki, the IMF embarks upon a series of clever ruses, wherein Paris impersonates a Kabuki dancer, Willy poses as a martial arts champion and Dana disguises herself as the late Mrs. Kellem. Originally seen on October 31, 1970, "The Butterfly" was scripted by Eric Bercovicci and Jerry Ludwig, from a story by Sheldon Stark. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Hilton's beloved fantasy novel about the land of Shangri-La was given an awkward musical treatment in this extravagantly produced flop. Larry Kramer's screenplay stays close to the 1937 Frank Capra original, as a plane fleeing China crashes in the Himalayas and a mixed group of survivors discovers the magical, peaceful land of Shangri-La. Here the film becomes a full-fledged musical, with songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David illustrating the distant realm's nature and the conflict that happiness causes amongst the survivors. Curiosity-seekers may be intrigued by the film's reputation as a notorious dud, but fans of the story would be better served by the classic original, despite a cast of well-respected names, including Peter Finch (in the Ronald Colman role), John Gielgud, Liv Ullmann, and Charles Boyer. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar guest stars as an accident victim who turns out to be too tall to be removed from his damaged car by the emergency team. In another incident, a fraternity pledge's life is jeopardized by a misfire party prank. And back at the station house, head nurse Dixie (Julie London) is forced to take a heavy workload due to budget cuts, while Dr. Early (Bobby Troup) suffers from a horrendous case of hiccups. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this detective adventure, the pilot episode for the short-livedTV series, suave Matt Helm gets involved with the smugglers who have been providing black market munitions to African mercenaries when he assigned to protect the life of a movie star. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Killer Who Wouldn't Die was the original network title for the 1976 TV movie also known as Ohanian. Mike Connors plays Ohanian, an Armenian-American ex-cop who runs a charter boat service. He's pulled back into the investigation game when one of his old friends is killed in Hawaii by a foreign assassin. The Killer Who Wouldn't Die was the two-hour pilot for an unsold series starring Mike Connors. Had it been picked up, undoubtedly much would have been made by the publicity mills that Ohanian was Connors' real last name--just as we were constantly reminded that Sanford was the actual moniker of comedian Redd Foxx. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson) is in dire need of a life-saving operation. Lacking the necessary funds, Mary's father, Charles (Michael Landon), signs up for a high-paying -- and highly-dangerous -- new job. Working shoulder to shoulder with his neighbor Mr. Edwards (Victor French), Charles becomes a "powder monkey," part of a team blasting a tunnel for the railroad. Inevitably, disaster befalls Charles and Edwards in the form of a sudden cave-in. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide