Japan's Most Chivalrous

Sun and Stars

July 1962 •Japanese

It's a thrilling, action-packed entertainer with sparks of men versus villains in an up-and-down tale of brothers burning with masculine will and passion.

The Yakuza

December 1974 •English

When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.

Gang vs. Gang

July 1962 •Japanese

The plot opens with the hero (Tsuruta) leaving prison, having served time through taking the blame for a fellow gang member’s crime. However, his former gang boss seems to have gone to seed, with people now killing each other and dealing in drugs. The hero then teams up with a lone operator (Tamba) who specialises in shaking down gangsters.

The Man's Crest: I Shall Kill

October 1965 •Japanese

Jet Black

November 2018 •Japanese

Takemiya Union Tōjō-gumi Wakagashira Yasuda (Hitomi Matsuda) retaliates against the Kansai-based Myōjin-kai by attacking their office after an assassination attempt on Union chairman Shimamura (Shunsuke Kariya). Joined by Yamashina-gumi Wakagashira Kiryu (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi), the two succeed and pledge to work as brothers without an official oath, dedicating themselves to their organizations and the Union. The Union faces upheaval with Shimamura's retirement announcement and the loss of his son, Katsuto (Hitoshi Ozawa). The leadership race narrows to Tōjō (Hiroyuki Watanabe), Yasuda's boss, and Yamashina (Masahiro Noguchi), Kiryu's boss. Just as Yasuda’s casino operation thrives, a police raid confiscates all earnings and forces its closure. In desperation, Yasuda turns to a certain man (Naoto Takenaka) for help.

Jet Black 2

December 2018 •Japanese

Yasuda (Hitomi Matsuda), the Wakagashira of the Takemiya Union Tōjō-gumi, infiltrates the hideout of the Yamashina-gumi's Sakazaki (Junichi Kawamoto), who had been secretly engaged in organ trafficking. Yasuda tries to extract the truth from Sakazaki, but is killed by Detective Hyūga from the Organized Crime Division (Marubō). The blame is pinned on Yasuda, leading to his arrest. Two years later... In Yasuda's absence, the boss of the Tōjō-gumi, Tōjō (Hiroyuki Watanabe), is assassinated by a hitman from the Myōjin-kai. The situation changes drastically. Nikaidō (Tarō Kawano) pressures Yasuda to reestablish his oath of allegiance, but Yasuda firmly refuses. Frustrated by Yasuda's response, Nikaidō makes a certain proposal to the union's chairman, Shimamura (Shunsuke Kariya).

A Weapon in My Heart

October 1996 •Japanese

A detective and his partner track down a call girl with information about a drug cartel. After taking her into custody, they are attacked by cartel members. The detective and the woman manage to escape, but they are soon hounded by a professional hitman hired to eliminate them and recover the heroin stolen by the woman.

Gorotsuki

March 1992 •Japanese

This coming-of-age drama comically depicts two young men who yearn to become members of the yakuza underworld, focusing on the apprenticeship of a rookie yakuza

Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6

November 1969 •Japanese

This is the sixth film in the Brutal Tales of Chivalry series

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die

December 1972 •Japanese

The ninth and final film in the Contemporary Tales of Chivalry series.

Lupin the Third: Goemon's Blood Spray

February 2017 •Japanese

A yakuza boss hires Goemon Ishikawa, a modern day samurai, to protect him aboard his cruise ship casino. Everything goes sideways when the famous thief, Lupin the Third, tries to rob the vessel. Lupin's being hunted by a powerful and mysterious man: the so called “Ghost of Bermuda.” With Goemon's employer dead in the ensuing chaos, his honor is at stake, and the only way to preserve it is with blood. But this opponent is like no other, and to make things right, Goemon may need to sharpen not only his sword, but himself as well!

Gonin

September 1995 •Japanese

Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers.

Boiling Point

September 1990 •Japanese

Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a tough gangster, who is in serious debt to the yakuza and planning revenge.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

March 2007 •Japanese

Former yakuza underling Kazuma Kiryū has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his yakuza past. Unfortunately, Kiryū's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball-bat-wielding psycho Gorō Majima, who has a grudge to settle with Kiryū.

The Bad Boss

May 1968 •Japanese

The first in what would become Toei's most successful, longest-running bosozoku film series. It lasted from 1968 till 1972 through sixteen films.

The Hungry Shinjuku Detective

January 1994 •Japanese

The private eye of Shinjuku Yokubo Tantei is a lone wolf, lush, and loser but has kept his integrity in a dirty, dangerous world.

Kids Return

July 1996 •Japanese

Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.

Level

November 1994 •Japanese

Pinocchio: A Man Without Nationality

June 1997 •Japanese

A yakuza search for his past

Wharf Temperament

October 1961 •Japanese

The story of male friendship unfolding during a boxing match between the navigator, who took responsibility for the accident and went ashore from the ship, and a young docker, whom he loves like a younger brother.