Bakuto gaijin butai

This film was sitting among the "New Releases" at the videostore. Got it, watched it, liked it. Also seen enough to suit my taste. Don't need to get into Yakuza (Japanese organized crime) films along with everything else in life. BUT Sympathy for the Underdog is very good movie making and I feel fortunate for having happened on to it.

If Yakuza films are anything like their predecessors, Samurai movies, the genre is huge and varied. In this one from 1971, director Kinji Fukusaki tells the story of a Yakuza boss getting out of jail. All his trappings of power are gone. All he's got are his brains and some very loyal friends.

Among the Extras on the DVD I rented, there are excerpts of an interview with the Director's biographer, a man named Sadao Yamane. It's a very informative interview, where he explains the rise of the organized crime genre. Post World War II Japan began in chaos. Those who could leave the past behind and exploit the present tense could rise to power. The protagonist of Sympathy for the Underdog had been there, done that. Now he has to do it all over again.

While the genre must be very formulaic, there's got to be room for fresh takes. Fukusaku's s style consists of quick takes: the dialogue is curt, information is conveyed in a multimedia of ways; the editing is very tight. And then came a big surprise for me. Towards the end, a moment of genuine tenderness poetically expressed. That's when I heard the quality of writing in this film.

So let's just say Sympathy for the Underdog helped define the art of its type. If you like movies about the world of men, this one's well worth watching.

We really know that in this yakuza situation what will happen and it will be with lots of shouting with guns and knives and much blood and many dead. The well known, Koji Tsuruta, being out of prison after ten years and is wanting to get together some of his old pals. Still with this we have had it before but then it is rather splendid that they had been together in Yokohama and decides to go to Okinawa. It is rather surprising because here at the time the US was in control there only a few months after the film was released and they gave it back to the Japanese. There are much location shots really there and it looks great and we see foreigners and resistance groups and some many dark alleys and seedy bars. In Okinawa we get to see with great Tomisaburo Wakajama as the downtown boss and we know that there will be some spectacular action. I thought it was rather good with Koji and his pals walking together in the street and I wondered if Tarantino had seen this because it reminded me of Reservoir Dogs (1992).

I just watched this movie and have to agree with Frankie (another movie reviewer here), it more than anything inspired Tarantino. The pacing of the movie, the sense of "coolnes" that permeates the film, the genre, everything about this film influenced gangster films for decades to come. There is the argument however, that Tarantino is derivative and irrelevant, but people see his movies and enjoy them. Even without the knowledge of his inspiration, which is varied, you can't help but like his films.

But about this movie:

It's about a gangster who gets out of prison and strikes up a plan to take over a city in Okinawa with the remnants of his previous gang. Unfortunately, they've never been to Okinawa, and the natives are tougher than they look.

Lots of quick edits, freeze frames and groovy hippie music (with a surf beat) provide the kitsch factor.

Highly recommended!!!

Two years after Japanese Organized Crime Boss, the great Japanese director teams up Koji Tsuruta and Tomisaburo Wakayama once again for one more stab (pun intended) at the yakuza genre.

Apart from the collaboration of these two great actors, Sympathy for the Underdog shares many similarities in terms of themes and plot points with their earlier 1969 picture, so much so that Sympathy could be interpreted as a reimagining of the same story.

Koji Tsuruta is the cool underboss of a Yokohama family that gets out of prison after doing a 10 year stint for killing the boss of a rival family in retribution. The family he left behind has now scattered and their earlier allies are now running the show. Realizing there's no more room for them in Yokohama, they'll travel down south to Okinawa to set up their turf, much to the dismay of the local yakuzas.

As one would expect from a Fukasaku picture, it's packed with more bloody action, fistfights and shootouts in seedy bars and back-alleys than you could shake a stick at. But it also has an emotional core by using the familiar genre distinction of traditional old yakuzas that have no place in the new emerging world of new yakuza families that operate much like corporations and who put profit above loyalties and bonds. It's also important to notice that certain things that pass off as novelty these days are anything but. The roots of Guy Ritchie's style for example can be traced back to pictures like this one. Flashbacks that end with freeze frames, voice-over played over montages, it's all part of Fukasaku's visual arsenal and part of what makes him such an influential director.

Like I said above, Sympathy is very similar (at times identical) to the themes and plot points of Japanese Organized Crime Boss. From Tsuruta getting out of prison to find his family in shambles to Tomisaburo Wakayama's character starting out as the antagonist only to join Tsuruta and his gang out of respect for him to the ending, it's all very familiar. It might not win any accolades in terms of novelty, but it's still a fine picture and damn entertaining to boot. Lone Wolf and Cub fans in particular will get a kick out of the character Wakayama plays: Yonabal, the one-hand giant. He's a different kind of badass than Ogami Itto, but he and his band of hooligans are just as likely to raise hell and take no prisoners in the process.

Good cinematography, although sometimes the camera-work got in my nerves what with the cranky 180 degrees shots and overuse of the zoom lens, although that's to be expected from a 70's b-movie. The score is suitably jazzy, in occasion funky or eerie and compliments the action just as well. The opening shot of Tsuruta getting out of prison has a particular "cool" air to it.

All in all a must-see for Fukasaku and yakuza fans and a good entry point for newcomes. All the staples of a successful genre picture are here.

need I say it?...Tarantino. Kinji Fukasaku in my opinion inspired Tarantino more than any other filmmaker; De Palma, Scorsese, Suzuki among them. The dialog beats, the action beats, even the music seems all vaguely familiar to Tarantino's filmography. Fukasaku is THE yakuza director. While I'm sure most yakuza fans will opt for Seijun Suzuki who came first and who, no doubt, inspired Fukasaku, I compare it to Ford vs. Kurosawa. Ford clearly inspired Kurosawa but Kurosawa took these inspirations and combined them with his own sensibilities to make something truly unique. The same goes for Suzuki and Fukasaku. Watch this and the Yakuza Papers films which are sold together in a great box set and tell me this guy isn't the best. The narrative of Sympathy is not particularly original, it's the age-old small gang vs. big gang which can be seen in this all the way to the recent Miike films. What makes this special is the feeling of the film. The dialog, acting, music, cinematography, style all combine for an unforgettable visceral experience. It's impossible to watch this film and not be drawn in by Koji Tsuruta's performance as the ultimate bad-ass. Fukasaka is also the same man that made the ridiculously entertaining and witty Battle Royale and who died in the middle of Battle Royale II in which his son took over. Home Vision Entertainment did a great job on this DVD and I recommend any yakuza or action fan pick this up immediately.