Kuroda (Jô Shishido) is a mob hitman who turns on his employers after being forced to execute his lover. Joining forces with his similarly wronged brothers, hot-headed Eiji (Tatsuya Fuji) and aspiring boxer Saburô (Jirô Okazaki), the trio escalate their mob retaliation to all-out turf war where no one will stop until one faction emerges victorious.
This Japanese gangster movie perfectly encapsulates the genre that became known as "Nikkatsu noir", named after the production company and the moody black-and-white crime features it cranked out during the late 1950s and 60s. Jo Shishido (Branded to Kill) plays the sharp-suited mobster whose decision to cut ties with his boss leads him and his younger brothers down a doomed path. With its doleful jazz soundtrack, this is an unremittingly downbeat affair, populated by characters whose cards seem to be marked from the start and whose endings prove to be less than heroic. The climactic shoot-out on a deserted motorway construction site ties things up in style, with director Yasuharu Hasebe giving the recycled pulp action a dynamic cutting edge.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Yasuharu Hasebe |
