Tetsurô Tanba

This is an unusual work from the transitional period of “Toei’s realistic line”, depicting the life of corporate racketeers, a variant of modern yakuza. The protagonist is modeled on Ogawa Kaoru, who screenwriter Kasahara Kazuo became interested in after learning about her existence while researching “Battles Without Honor and Humanity” (non-fiction series). Kasahara closely interviewed Ogawa and wrote the script. The “economic yakuza,” who had only appeared in supporting episodes until then, are now fully featured as the main theme and protagonist, and the film is said to have been a precursor to later Hiroshima jingi: Hitojichi dakkai sakusen (1976) and Nippon no Don: Yabohen (1977), as well as the “financial yakuza films” and “economic yakuza films” that were mass-produced on original videoRead More »

Plot:
In a village subsisting on its herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the inhabitants. One of them, the son of the head of one of the fish companies by the name of Tetsu, decides to overthrow Jakoman and his cohorts.

(Remake of a 1949 movie of the same name directed by Senkichi Taniguchi written by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshirô Mifune)Read More »

A war breaks out on the streets between rivalry Yakuza clans.Read More »

Letterboxd-Review:
A superb proto-jitsuroku type yakuza film by Junya Sato. Fumio Watanabe (in probably his best role) is a wonderfully cast against type as a crime boss who actually cares for his men and is the first one to barge into fight when rivals come knocking on the door. Powerful political figure Eijiro Yanagi becomes his consultant, after which short tempered rival boss Ryohei Uchida starts feeling the fire under his arse. Things get even more heated after Watanabe takes a Ginza gambling joint from the Chicago mafia with the assistance of machine gun happy lone wolf Noboru Ando. Tetsuro Tamba, Hideo Murota and Rinichi Yamamoto are a detective squad in a desperate battle against red tape while trying to bring the gangs down. The story is fictional, but the film feels like a jitsuroku movie. Sato draws an entire underworld map with cops, gangsters and political players all placed on the same chess table. The film is talkative, but never boring, feels extremely matter of fact, and comes with a fabulous musical score by Masaru Sato.Read More »

Kuroki, a journalist working for a newspaper, is investigating the clandestine sale of arms to Southeast Asia.Read More »

Quote:
Sawaki is released from prison after serving eight years for murdering a rival gang leader in order to obtain the land rights to a landfill for the Kotaki clan and he discovers that the world has changed significantly in that time. The police have forced the disbanding of all yakuza groups in and around Tokyo and most of the former yakuza have moved on to legitimate jobs while the low-level thugs have returned to their former gangs. Shimamura, a former executive of the Kotaki clan, has become the president of a construction company that built an oil complex on the landfill and now intends to build another one as soon as they clear the inhabitants off of land owned by Dr. Omachi. Shimamura takes control of the debt owed by Dr. Omachi on his poultry farm in order to exert pressure on him. The poultry farm is worked by Mie, Sawaki’s former lover and mother of his child. Sawaki feels connected to the residents and regrets past his actions that have caused their existence to now be threatened. When Shimamura and his rival former Kotaki clan executive Sakurada battle over the land rights and each pressure the residents in their own way, Sawaki views them as corrupt and decides to follow his traditional code of honor to save the residents.Read More »

yoko Itakura returns as the government tax agent willing to tackle the toughest cases. This time she takes on a fanatical but lucrative religious cult run by a vile lecher.Read More »

Twenty six years after the execution of her soldier husband on the dying days of World War II the widow is still searching for the truth by meeting with, questioning and interviewing the dead man’s comrades, companions and executioner. The stories retold are one part of the reason why war is as bad as has been said. The state and existence of the survivors is another witness to the dangers of war and warmongers.Read More »

A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.Read More »