What a discovery . . . I’m glad this was recommended to me. Kôsaku Yamashita’s powerful 1968 drama belongs to the semi-chivalrous ‘honor and code’ yakuza tradition. Crime clan blood brothers Kôji Tsuruta and Tomisaburô Wakayama are good men caught between conflicting loyalties to family, friends, and the yakuza credo. Clashes of honor lead to unavoidable ‘knives out’ confrontations. It’s as intense as the Japanese classics. The extras offer a refresher in yakuza customs and protocol, with expert guidance from Chris D. and Mark Schilling.
Big Time Gambling Boss
Region A + B Blu-ray
Radiance (UK)
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Bakuchiuci: Sôchô Tobaku; Gambling Den: Gambling Boss; The Great Casino; Presidential Gambling Street Date February 1, 2023 / Available from Radiance (UK) / £16.99
Starring: Kôji Tsuruta, Tomisaburô Wakayama, Hiroshi Nawa, Nobuo Kaneko, Hiroko Sakuramachi, Hideto Kagawa, Michiyo Hattori,Shin’ichirô Mikami.
Cinematography: Nagaki Yamagishi
Production Designer/ Art Director: Jirô Tomita
Film Editor: Miyamoto Shinjirô
Original Music: Toshiaki Tsushima...
Big Time Gambling Boss
Region A + B Blu-ray
Radiance (UK)
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Bakuchiuci: Sôchô Tobaku; Gambling Den: Gambling Boss; The Great Casino; Presidential Gambling Street Date February 1, 2023 / Available from Radiance (UK) / £16.99
Starring: Kôji Tsuruta, Tomisaburô Wakayama, Hiroshi Nawa, Nobuo Kaneko, Hiroko Sakuramachi, Hideto Kagawa, Michiyo Hattori,Shin’ichirô Mikami.
Cinematography: Nagaki Yamagishi
Production Designer/ Art Director: Jirô Tomita
Film Editor: Miyamoto Shinjirô
Original Music: Toshiaki Tsushima...
- 1/21/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
To mark the Blu-ray release of Big Time Gambling Boss and The Working Class Goes to Heaven, both out on 2nd January, we’ve been given a Blu-ray bundle of both movies to give away to 2 winners.
Big Time Gambling Boss
Tokyo, 1934. Gang boss Arakawa is too ill and a successor must be named. The choice falls on Nakai, but being an outsider he refuses and suggests senior clansman Matsuda instead. But Matsuda is in jail and the elders won’t wait for his release, so they appoint the younger and more malleable Ishido to take the reins. Clan honour and loyalties are severely tested when Matsuda is released, resulting in an increasingly violent internal strife. An atmospheric tale of gangland intrigue written by Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honour and Humanity) and starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, and genre legend Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss is one of the all-time classics of the yakuza genre.
Big Time Gambling Boss
Tokyo, 1934. Gang boss Arakawa is too ill and a successor must be named. The choice falls on Nakai, but being an outsider he refuses and suggests senior clansman Matsuda instead. But Matsuda is in jail and the elders won’t wait for his release, so they appoint the younger and more malleable Ishido to take the reins. Clan honour and loyalties are severely tested when Matsuda is released, resulting in an increasingly violent internal strife. An atmospheric tale of gangland intrigue written by Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honour and Humanity) and starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, and genre legend Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss is one of the all-time classics of the yakuza genre.
- 12/28/2022
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
“Yakuza Papers” pentalogy has reached the status of cult since many years, particularly for the combination of realism in the presentation of Yakuza and exploitation aesthetics. The second part of the series tones down the first aspect and instead invests in the second, which is heightened even more by the presence of Sonny Chiba and Meiko Kaji in the cast.
This time, Hirono’s story is pushed to the background, and the focus lies with two new characters that eventually become adversaries. The first one is Yamanaka, who, after a fight with the yakuza, ends up in prison where he befriends Hirono, before becoming a member of the Muraoka family and starting a relationship with the boss’s niece, Yasuko. The second one is Katsutoshi, a man considered paranoid even among the sociopathic yakuza, who is kicked out of his own father’s family for causing problem with Muraoka,...
This time, Hirono’s story is pushed to the background, and the focus lies with two new characters that eventually become adversaries. The first one is Yamanaka, who, after a fight with the yakuza, ends up in prison where he befriends Hirono, before becoming a member of the Muraoka family and starting a relationship with the boss’s niece, Yasuko. The second one is Katsutoshi, a man considered paranoid even among the sociopathic yakuza, who is kicked out of his own father’s family for causing problem with Muraoka,...
- 3/24/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
With the fifth and, as the title says, final episode in the “Battles Without Honor and Humanity” series, there was a major chance in the production. Whereas the former episodes had been scripted by Kazuo Kasahara based on the articles about the yakuza by writer Koichi Iboshi, Koji Takada took over the project. In an interview feature titled “Last Days of the Boss”, which can be found on the release of the film by Arrow Video, Takada reflects on how he convinced Fukasaku and the producers of his vision for the fifth film, which would not only continue the story of Shozo Hirono played by Bunta Sugawara, but which would also change the dynamics within the series, making it a legitimate sequel as well as a refreshing deviation from the formula of the series.
Buy This Film
After the events of the previous film, “Police Tactics”, Hirono (Sugawara) serves a...
Buy This Film
After the events of the previous film, “Police Tactics”, Hirono (Sugawara) serves a...
- 12/16/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
After the continued success of the previous entries into the Battles Without Honor and Humanity-franchise, distributor Toei understandably called for more movies utilizing the distinct narrative and visual approach which director Kinji Fukasaku had introduced in his first film. Given the plethora of fact-based accounts of yakuza crimes and gang wars, screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara focused on a war between rivaling factions in Hiroshima and the surrounding area. In order to continue the idea of the wars of the yakuza mirroring social and political developments in Japan and the rest of the world, Fukasaku and Kasahara employed the concept the proxy war, a large variety of smaller conflicts symbolizing a chasm of power within yakuza hierarchy, a war of ideologies and, of course, for power and money.
At the beginning of the film, we find Hirono in the middle of a tumultuous time within the yakuza. Having...
At the beginning of the film, we find Hirono in the middle of a tumultuous time within the yakuza. Having...
- 12/10/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Review by Roger Carpenter
Director Kinji Fukasaku and writer Kazuo Kasahara, both of the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, team up with Fukasaku’s favorite yakuza star, Bunta Sugawara—also of Battles Without Honor and Humanity fame—to create the kinetic yakuza drama Cops Vs Thugs.
Two rival gangs vie for a lucrative land deal and it’s up to the cops to keep the balance. Detective Kuno (Sugawara) has forged an unlikely relationship with up-and-coming gangster Hirotani (Hiroki Masukata) of the Ohara gang, thus ensuring they have a competitive edge over their rivals, the Kawade gang. But when violence erupts between the two gangs over the land deal, it is up to Lt. Kaida (Tatsuo Umemiya) to settle the score once and for all. Unfortunately, Lt. Kaida is a by-the-book cop, which doesn’t sit well with the thugs as they are used to Detective Kuno’s more relaxed dealings with the gangs.
Director Kinji Fukasaku and writer Kazuo Kasahara, both of the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, team up with Fukasaku’s favorite yakuza star, Bunta Sugawara—also of Battles Without Honor and Humanity fame—to create the kinetic yakuza drama Cops Vs Thugs.
Two rival gangs vie for a lucrative land deal and it’s up to the cops to keep the balance. Detective Kuno (Sugawara) has forged an unlikely relationship with up-and-coming gangster Hirotani (Hiroki Masukata) of the Ohara gang, thus ensuring they have a competitive edge over their rivals, the Kawade gang. But when violence erupts between the two gangs over the land deal, it is up to Lt. Kaida (Tatsuo Umemiya) to settle the score once and for all. Unfortunately, Lt. Kaida is a by-the-book cop, which doesn’t sit well with the thugs as they are used to Detective Kuno’s more relaxed dealings with the gangs.
- 8/16/2017
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Considered by many to be director Kinji Fukasaku’s greatest single-film achievement in the yakuza genre, Cops Vs Thugs was made at the height of popularity of Toei Studios’ jitsuroku boom: realistic, modern crime movies based on true stories taken from contemporary headlines. Returning to the screen after completing their Battles Without Honor and Humanity series together, Fukasaku joined forced once again with screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara, composer Toshiaki Tsushima and star Bunta Sugawara to create one of the crowning achievements of his career, and a hard-boiled classic which is still ranked as one of the best Japanese films of the 1970’s.
It’s 1963 in the southern Japanese city of Kurashima, and tough-as-nails detective Kuno (Sugawara) oversees a detente between the warring Kawade and Ohara gangs. Best friends with Ohara lieutenant Hirotani (Hiroki Matsukata), he understands that there are no clear lines in the underworld, and that everything is colored a different shade of gray.
It’s 1963 in the southern Japanese city of Kurashima, and tough-as-nails detective Kuno (Sugawara) oversees a detente between the warring Kawade and Ohara gangs. Best friends with Ohara lieutenant Hirotani (Hiroki Matsukata), he understands that there are no clear lines in the underworld, and that everything is colored a different shade of gray.
- 5/16/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Bloody havoc reigns! Kinji Fukasaku's no-holds-barred vision of ugly violence and uglier politics on the streets of Hiroshima is a five-film Yakuza epic that spans generations. The film amounts to an alternate history of postwar Japan, that puts an end to the glorification of the Yakuza code. The enormous cast includes Bunta Sugawara, Tetsuro Tanba, Sonny Chiba and Jo Shishido. Battles without Honor and Humanity Blu-ray + DVD Arrow Video 1973-74 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 760 min. / Limited Edition Boxed Set Street Date December 8, 2015 / 149.95 Starring Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Tetsuro Tanba, Kunie Tanaka, Eiko Nakamura, Sonny Chiba, Meiko Kaji, Akira Kobayashi, Tsunehiko Watase, Reiko Ike, Jo Shishido Cinematography Sadaji Yoshida Production Designer Takatoshi Suzuki Original Music Toshiaki Tsushima Written by Koichi Iiboshi, Kazuo Kasahara Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the 1990s the American Cinematheque was headquartered in various places, but settled for a few years in a large...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In the 1990s the American Cinematheque was headquartered in various places, but settled for a few years in a large...
- 12/22/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Arrow Video has been a leader of UK Blu-Ray and DVD distribution when it comes to genre titles. Today, they have made my day by announcing that they are releasing the Complete Collection of Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor and Humanity series. All five films, also known as The Yakuza Papers, will see a limited Blu-Ray release in the UK (Region B) and Us (Region A). The announcement came straight from their Facebook page.
New UK/Us Title Announcement: Battles Without Honor And Humanity Dual Format Bd & DVD [Limited Edition]
Battles Without Honor & Humanity – this seminal series of epic gangsterism told with gritty realism plays like a head-spinning fusion of Martin Scorsese and Paul Greengrass! This Limited Edition collections features Kinji Fukasaku’s (Battle Royale) original five films in the series with brand new extras, the never-before-seen in the west ‘Complete Saga’ and a 150-page hardback book! Limited to just 2000 copies...
New UK/Us Title Announcement: Battles Without Honor And Humanity Dual Format Bd & DVD [Limited Edition]
Battles Without Honor & Humanity – this seminal series of epic gangsterism told with gritty realism plays like a head-spinning fusion of Martin Scorsese and Paul Greengrass! This Limited Edition collections features Kinji Fukasaku’s (Battle Royale) original five films in the series with brand new extras, the never-before-seen in the west ‘Complete Saga’ and a 150-page hardback book! Limited to just 2000 copies...
- 8/13/2015
- by Andy Triefenbach
- Destroy the Brain
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