The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
Strong yakuza flick benefits from lapel-grabbing, stylish direction from old hand Kinji Fukasaku, but it also has a fairly likeable identification figure in the character of Shozo Hirono. (The lack of likeable leads is usually one of my major quibbles with the yakuza genre, e.g. Fukasaku's Graveyard of Honor.) Starts to come apart after about an hour (when Hirono gets sent off to prison), but just when it seems ready to go all to hell Fukasaku will steer it back on course with a well-timed burst of violence or a nice character moment. (I especially liked the barbershop assassination, with the chair spinning wildly every time the target is shot.) I hope all the films in this series are at least this good, 'cause now I'm committed to tearing through the whole thing.
Grade: B
Strong yakuza flick benefits from lapel-grabbing, stylish direction from old hand Kinji Fukasaku, but it also has a fairly likeable identification figure in the character of Shozo Hirono. (The lack of likeable leads is usually one of my major quibbles with the yakuza genre, e.g. Fukasaku's Graveyard of Honor.) Starts to come apart after about an hour (when Hirono gets sent off to prison), but just when it seems ready to go all to hell Fukasaku will steer it back on course with a well-timed burst of violence or a nice character moment. (I especially liked the barbershop assassination, with the chair spinning wildly every time the target is shot.) I hope all the films in this series are at least this good, 'cause now I'm committed to tearing through the whole thing.
Grade: B
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