Vice Admiral Takajiro Ohnishi could see that Japan’s defeat in WWII was inevitable. Read More »
Tag Archives: Kôsaku Yamashita
The Biggest Gamble AKA Sengo Saidai no Toba (1969) Kôsaku Yamashita, Kôji Tsuruta, Ken Takakura, Akiko Koyama
When Honjo is selected as Kansai district’s chairman, Iwasa of the rival gang asks Itsuki to do everything possible Read More »
Yakuza of Seki AKA Seki no yatappe (1963) Kôsaku Yamashita, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Isao Kimura, Yukiyo Toake
A young yakuza, Yatappe, wanders around the country in search of his long-lost little sister, Oito. Read More »
Fate Deals the Card of Death AKA Bakuchi-uchi: Inochi-huda (1971) Kôsaku Yamashita, Kôji Tsuruta, Tomisaburô Wakayama, Michiyo Yasuda
Seijiro and Shizue meet in Niigata and fall in love. Seijiro has to go back to Tokyo soon after Read More »
The Story of a Man Among Men AKA Shura no mure (1984) Kôsaku Yamashita, Hiroki Matsukata, Wakako Sakai, Shigeru Amachi
Hiroki Matsukata takes the lead role in this epic film as a young spirited yakuza Read More »
The Pledge AKA Bakuchi-uchi Gaiden (1972) Kôsaku Yamashita, Gorô Ibuki, Nobuo Kaneko, Takuzô Kawatani
When Omuro Yahachi of the Omuro family is selected as Mutsumikai Soke’s successor, the conflict between the Kitakyushu and Wakamatsu begins. Read More »
Samurai Geisha (1969) Kôsaku Yamashita, Sumiko Fuji, Ken Takakura, Tomisaburô Wakayama
Popular geisha Shinji (Fuji Junko) must defy a gang who plot to steal a lucrative coal business Read More »
Red Peony Gambler: Biographies of a Gambling Room (1969) Kôsaku Yamashita, Bin Amatsu, Hiroshi Arikawa, Daisuke Awaji
After collecting her sickly follower from jail, Oryu is taken in by a fishing village. Read More »
A Lively Geisha (1968) Kôsaku Yamashita, Sumiko Fuji, Bunta Sugawara, Keiko Yumi
Koshizu (Fuji), a young geisha, tries to kill herself but is saved by cook Yukichi (Sugahara). Read More »
Dasso yugi / Jail Breakers (1976) Kôsaku Yamashita, Shin’ichi Chiba, Haruko Wanibuchi, Eitarô Ozawa, Action, Crime
The film is packed with nice stunts throughout, but the screenplay could be better. After escaping the prison Chiba teams up with a bunch of thugs, who design prison escapes for money. Unfortunately trust and loyalty are unknown concepts to these men who take turns deceiving each other. The endless “who’s-cheating-who” game has been done better in other films, and sometimes the writing is downright sloppy: when a carefully planned escape operation fails, Chiba simply steals a fire engine and drives away without anyone noticing! It also feels that director Kosaku Yamashita, who made his name with yakuza films, was a bit out of his element here. However, even with these weaknesses it’s an entertaining action comedy which compares favourably against some of the later, similar Yasaku Matsuda films like Execution Game (1978) and No Grave for Us (1979). The focus is on stunts and comedy.
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Nihon jokyo-den: ketto midare-bana / Bloodiest Flower (1971) Kôsaku Yamashita, Sumiko Fuji, Ken Takakura, Masahiko Tsugawa, Crime, Drama
The story of Tei, a female coalmine operator, who risks her life to protect the business that was passed on by her late husband.
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Jail Breakers/ Dasso yugi (1976) Kôsaku Yamashita, Shin’ichi Chiba, Haruko Wanibuchi, Eitarô Ozawa, Action, Crime
Kamiki is a professional fixer of jailbreaks who allows prisoners to escape for big money.
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