{{short description|1961 film by Yu Hyeon-mok}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Obaltan | image = Obaltan 1961 Poster.jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Yu Hyun-mok | producer = Kim Seong-chun | writer = Lee Beom-seon | starring = Choi Moo-ryong<br />Kim Jin-kyu<br />Moon Jeong-suk | music = | cinematography = Kim Hak-seong | editing = Kim Hui-su | distributor = Cinema Epoch | released = {{Film date|1961|4|13|df=y}} | runtime = 110 minutes | country = South Korea | language = Korean | budget = | native_name = {{Infobox Korean film name/auto|hangul=^오발탄|hanja=誤發彈}} }} '''''Obaltan''''' ({{Korean|hangul=오발탄}}; also known as '''''Aimless Bullet''''' and '''''Stray Bullet''''') is a 1961 South Korean tragedy film directed by Yu Hyun-mok. The plot is based on the novella of the same name by Yi Beomseon. It has often been called the best Korean movie ever made.<ref>{{cite book|last=Min|first=Eungjun|author2=Joo Jinsook|author3=Kwak HanJu|year=2003|title=Korean Film : History, Resistance, and Democratic Imagination|publisher=Praeger Publishers|location=Westport, Connecticut|pages=41, 46|isbn=0-275-95811-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=THE AIMLESS BULLET to Be Digitally Restored|url=https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/jsp/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&seq=2882&mode=VIEW|website=koreanfilm.or.kr|access-date=1 February 2026|language=en}}</ref>
==Plot== The film depicts Cheolho, an accountant living a hard life in post-war South Korea. He supports his pregnant wife, his younger sister Myeongsuk, who is a prostitute for American soldiers, his younger brother Yeongho, a war veteran, and their mother, who has post-traumatic stress disorder and is constantly screaming, 'Let's get out of here!' Cheolho has a toothache, but he refuses to go to the dentist despite his brother's insistence that the toothache is a much worse problem than paying for dental treatment.
Myeongsuk's former fiancé is also a war veteran who was left crippled and now needs crutches to walk. He calls off the engagement, believing that he would only be a burden.
Yeongho befriends an actress named Miri. Miri aims to help Yeongho get a job by casting him in a film. While reading his lines from the script, Yeongho realises that his character is being judged for his appearance, which is scarred from the Korean War. Choosing dignity over a rare chance to earn money, Yeongho quits the film. However, he later regrets his decision and wonders if he was too rash to leave such a promising job.
He then meets Seol-hui, a former nurse who tended to him in hospital during the Korean War. They confess their love for each other; however, Seol-hui is later killed in a murder-suicide by her neighbour, who was obsessed with her. Seeing her with Yeongho drove the neighbour mad with jealousy. He pushed Seol-hui off the roof of their apartment building and then jumped off after her.
The final part of the film portrays Yeongho robbing a bank with a gun he had secretly stolen from Seol-hui. After being caught by the police, Yeongho hands over the money and then his gun, breaking down into tears as he is arrested. Now in jail, Yeongho tells Cheolho to take his niece, Hae Ok, on a trip and to be a good father to his wife's child.
After hearing that his wife had died in childbirth and failing to see either her body or the baby, who had survived, Cheolho finally decided to visit the dentist. Although the dentist finds that two of Cheolho's teeth must be removed, he refuses to remove more than one tooth on the same day. He tells the taxi driver to take him to the police station to see his brother. However, once they arrive, he orders the driver to continue, repeatedly echoing his mother's plea, "Let's get out of here!" With his family gone and his toothache still troubling him, the taxi continues to drive aimlessly, leaving Cheolho's fate unknown.
==Cast== *Kim Jin-kyu as Cheolho *Choi Moo-ryong as Yeongho *Seo Ae-ja as Myeongsuk *Kim Hye-jeong *Noh Jae-sin *Moon Jung-suk *Yoon Il-bong *Yu Gye-seon *Nam Chun-yeok *Park Gyeong-hui
==Reception== The government banned ''Obaltan'' because of its unremittingly downbeat depiction of life in post-armistice South Korea. An American consultant to the Korean National Film Production Center saw the film and persuaded the government to release it in Seoul so that it might qualify for entry in the San Francisco International Film Festival. Director Yu Hyun-mok attended the film's première in San Francisco in November 1963. ''Variety'' called ''Obaltan'' a "remarkable film", and noted that its "brilliantly detailed camera work is matched by probing sympathy and rich characterizations."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Judy.|title=The Aimless Bullet|newspaper=Variety|date=13 November 1963}}</ref>
==Legacy== The most-cited quote from the film, mentioned in the contemporary ''Variety'' review and in later texts on South Korean cinema, is "Let's get outta here! Let's get outta here!" ({{Korean/auto|가자! 가자!|rr=yes|labels=no}})<ref>{{cite book |last=Kim|first=Kyung-hyun|title=The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema|year=2004|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham and London|isbn=0-8223-3267-1|pages=52|chapter=2. Nowhere to Run: Disenfranchised Men on the Road in ''The Man with Three Coffins'', ''Sopyonje'', and ''Out to the World''}}</ref>
==Availability== In December 2002, ''Obaltan'' was released on Region 0 DVD in South Korea with English subtitles,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Classic Korean film enters the DVD era|url=https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2005/03/04/features/Classic-Korean-film-enters-the-DVD-era/2536966.html|website=koreajoongangdaily.joins.com|date=4 March 2005|access-date=1 February 2026|language=en}}</ref> but as of November 2007 is currently out of print.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seoulselection.com/shopping_dvd_view.html?pid=221|title=The Aimless Bullet, or 'Obaltan' (1961)|publisher=seoulselection.com|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915032452/http://www.seoulselection.com/shopping_dvd_view.html?pid=221|archivedate=15 September 2008}}</ref> Gregory Hatanaka's Cinema Epoch released the film on Region 1 DVD on 13 March 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinemaepoch.com/comingsoon.htm#straybullet|title=STRAY BULLET|accessdate=20 May 2008|publisher=Cinema Epoch|archive-date=21 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521023940/http://www.cinemaepoch.com/comingsoon.htm#straybullet|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==See also== *Cinema of South Korea
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *{{Cite news|last=Judy.|title=The Aimless Bullet|newspaper=Variety|date=13 November 1963}} *{{cite book|last=Min|first=Eungjun|author2=Joo Jinsook|author3=Kwak HanJu|year=2003|title=Korean Film : History, Resistance, and Democratic Imagination |publisher=Praeger Publishers|location=Westport, Connecticut|pages=41, 46|isbn=0-275-95811-6}} *{{cite web |url=http://www.citwf.com/film248925.htm |title=OBALTAN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202064324/http://www.citwf.com/film248925.htm |archive-date=2 December 2010 |accessdate=8 November 2007 |publisher=The Complete Index to World Film}} *{{cite web |url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/aimless-bullet-am198324 |title=The Aimless Bullet |accessdate=8 November 2007 |last=Ralske |first=Josh |publisher=AllMovie}}
==Further reading== *{{Cite journal|title=Nation Rebuilding and Postwar South Korean Cinema: "The Coachman" and "The Stray Bullet"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGU-AwAAQBAJ&dq=%22choson+bando%22&pg=PA149#v=onepage&q=%22choson%20bando%22&f=false|journal=The Journal of Korean Studies|year=2006|issn=0731-1613|pages=129–162|volume=11|issue=1|first=Kelly|last=Jeong}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0053577|Obaltan}}
Category:1961 films Category:1961 crime drama films Category:Films directed by Yu Hyun-mok Category:1960s Korean-language films Category:South Korean crime drama films Category:Korean-language crime drama films