Blood for Blood / Bloody Feud / Ryuketsu no koso (1971)

Blood for Blood is a yakuza movie remarkable primarily for Jo Shishido’s sidesburns and Hajime Kaburagi’s music score. Shishido plays the standard yakuza #2 just released from prison to find his old gang under pressure both from traditional enemies and from new, larger Tokyo gangs as well. After a while, there are so many different …

Black Tight Killers / Ore ni sawaru to abu naize (1966)

Black Tight Killers is arguably the apotheosis of the Nikkatsu "borderless action" film. Tethered to reality by only the thinnest of cords, it is a swirl of color, sexual tease, heroic derring-do, bullet bras padded with explosives, comic-book female ninjas, and action, action, action, featuring Akira Kobayashi at peak grin, complete with wink, bare-chested muscles, …