Takeuchi mostly rambles, takes pride in having lowered a ‘fortunate man,’ sheds little light on his motives, save for claiming a rough life, which he does not detail, hating the fact that Gondo lived high on the hill, looking down on those below, and being thankful his mother died before his scheme, lest she shower him with indignation, tears, and rebuke. Then he screams and tries to attack Gondo, wailing, in fear of death — despite his denials, but he's stopped by the barriers. Guards rush in, drag him away, and a steel gate slams down, leaving Gondo alone facing nothing. It is a heart-rending, and perfect, ending.
Despite its technical perfection, the film scores highly for its deeper meanings. Kingo Gondo, as example, not only faces an ethical choice of paying for the release of the child, while possibly destroying his career, but a loss of social standing and respect. To him, his job at National Shoes is more than a career, thus his hesitation to pay the ransom the next morning is explicable. We know he started off poor and worked his way up from the very bottom. He defines himself by his career (see the wonderful opening scene where he rebukes his greedy colleagues who care nothing of quality). He does not have a career; he is his career.
In essence, he must kill a large part of himself for a child unrelated to him. And, while doing so, he faces the tugs of the police, who want to rescue the boy; the chauffer, who begs for his employer’s help; his wife, who is accustomed to luxury, not sacrifice, from birth (she is manifestly a Japanese ‘trophy wife’ for Gondo) yet chides him to not lose his soul, asking a version of the old Biblical question, "What good is success if you lose your humanity?" (this while dealing with his rivals, before the kidnapping; the words take on added meaning later); his assistant Kawanishi, whom he knows will betray him somehow, yet who offers contradictory advice; and the kidnapper, who seems to nurse a personal hatred for Gondo, for reasons which are never learned. In the role, Mifune gives one of his greatest performances. He dominates the first hour like few actors and characters have a film, and then slowly recedes into acceptance of his reduced status as the film perdures.
Then there are scenes which would have been throwaways in lesser films, such as when Gondo rebukes Kawanishi, who returns with an offer of a token position in National Shoes, to mitigate the public relations damage they suffer for booting Gondo out of the company, even as Gondo’s creditors (perhaps gangsters - due to their gaudy clothing they are not traditional Japanese businessmen) piece by piece are parsing his existence, and will not even let him pay off the interest on the money he borrowed, forcing him into bankruptcy to pay off the lump sum, when the money is recovered.
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