A young criminal joins a yakuza family to kill the gangsters who beat him up Read More »
Tag Archives: Shin’ichi Chiba
Yellow Fangs (1990) Shin’ichi Chiba, Hiroyuki Sanada, Mika Muramatsu, Akira Kurosaki, Adventure, Horror, Thriller
Based on a true story. In 1915, a mountain village in Japan was attacked by a giant bear, dubbed “Red Spot”, who terrorized the villagers for days Read More »
The Killing Machine (1975) Noribumi Suzuki, Shin’ichi Chiba, Yutaka Nakajima, Makoto Satô, Action, Drama
Sonny Chiba plays the character referred to as “Mr Soh”, who is based on the true life founder of Shorinji Kempo, Doshin So. Mr Soh has been acting as a secret agent in Manchuria during the Japanese occupation. Read More »
Saigo no tokkôtai / The Last Kamikaze (1970) Jun’ya Satô, Kôji Tsuruta, Ken Takakura, Shin’ichi Chiba, Drama, War
Saigo no Tokkotai (The Last Kamikaze) is set in the final months of World War II, when it was increasingly obvious that Japan was going to lose the war. Read More »
Ah, yokaren / The Young Eagles of the Kamikaze (1968) Shinji Murayama, Yukiko Anjô, Junzaburô Ban, Shin’ichi Chiba, Drama, War
The film is dedicated to the souls of flight school graduates killed in WWII. The sky was god for these kids. They dreamed about becoming pilots and applied to flight schools. Read More »
 dôki no sakura / Diaries of the Kamikaze (1967) Sadao Nakajima, Hiroki Matsukata, Shin’ichi Chiba, Isao Natsuyagi, War
This movie is dedicated to desperate young Japanese pilots, during the Second World War. Read More »
Sengoku jieitai / G.I. Samurai (1979) Kôsei Saitô, Shin’ichi Chiba, Jun Etô, Moeko Ezawa, Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A squadron of Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers find themselves transported through time to their country’s warring states era 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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Kimitachi ga ite boku ga ita / Here Because of You (1964) Ryuichi Takamori, Ushio Akashi, Shigeko Arai, Shin’ichi Chiba, Drama
An uplifting drama about the bond between a group of high school seniors and their kind-hearted teacher, Mr. Yabuki. Faced with the rigors of growing up in modern times, students often look to Mr. Yabuki for advice and guidance. But when Mr. Yabuki’s career is threatened as a result of a false accusation from the school’s PTA, the students band together to stand up for their beloved teacher and help him to save his good reputation and job.
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Nippon dorobô monogatari / Tale of Japanese Burglars (1965) Satsuo Yamamoto, Rentarô Mikuni, Yûnosuke Itô, Shin’ichi Chiba, Shinjirô Ehara, Drama
Hayashida Gisuke is illegal dentist during the day and a burglar by night. One night during the burglary he becomes a witness of derailment. Later some commies were found guilty in this incident, but he know it wasn’t they. He can save innocent people but for that he must confess his own crime.
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