Le vaurien

This is like the first part of a soap opera so you're not getting a complete story, but you are getting lots of stabbings, brothers on opposite sides, and suffering ladies. If you like Yakuza movies, this is a good one to start with.

This film begins with a young boy having to endure the death of his mother, and then a little later on the death of his younger sister as well. So, having grown up without a father, he subsequently finds himself homeless and does what he can to make ends meet. Naturally, his behavior soon catches the attention of the local police authorities and eventually he is put in a juvenile detention facility. Not at all happy with the living conditions, he and an older boy escape and from that point on he again manages to fend for himself until he finally finds a home within a yakuza organization. Unfortunately, after killing a man for attempting to assassinate the leader of his clan, he is quickly arrested and sent to prison. Yet, after serving several years behind bars, he soon discovers that freedom can be even more difficult to handle. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film started off well enough but some of the action scenes seemed to get a bit too repetitive at times. It was, however, good enough to warrant five more sequels and that, if nothing else, speaks to its entertainment value. Followed by "Outlaw-Gangster VIP 2."

It's a long time now that I have reviewed a Japanese crime film, and I have so many in my library. My favourite period is the sixties till the seventies, the Kinji Fukasaku era. More or less social oriented topics, showing poverty, ghettos, violence. This one is not at the level of Fukasaku however and the topic not very different from the other ones of these decades: a hoodlum gets out of jail and of course gets back to his former violent life, this for various reasons. Tetsuya Watari was from same generation as Noburu Ando, Koji Tsuruta, Bunta Sugawara, Takakura Ken, all famous gangsters roles actors. This gangster social movie is not bad at all and I am surprised that it was shown in France twenty years ago, aired on a movie channel.

A yakuza movie series recently released on video by Arrow (God bless 'em), five movies starring Tokyo Drifter's Tetsuya Watari. Other familiar Nikkatsu faces appear, too, including Watari's love interest from Tokyo Drifter, Chieko Matsubara (she of the perpetually sad face). The story here begins more or less like many other yakuza pictures, with Watari being released from prison. He finds his former gang has languished without him and the rival gang, whom he went to prison fighting, has grown more powerful. Immediately, he gets himself into big trouble when he defends Matsubara, a virginal youth new to Tokyo, from a gaggle of handsy yakuza. As the film moves on, it distinguishes itself with several fantastic set pieces, including some really violent yakuza brawls, and one of the best murder sequences I've ever seen, with one of Watari's best friends being clandestinely dispatched while waiting for the train. The film kind of ends in the middle of the story, but the studio knew it was going to make a series of these films immediately - this was one of five films, and the first of four of them that was released in 1968 alone! Definitely worth checking out.