Overview
is a 1975 Japanese yakuza film directed by Kinji Fukasaku. Written by Tatsuhiko Kamoi, it adapts Fujita Goro's novel of the same name. It is based on the life of real-life yakuza member Rikio Ishikawa, who is played by Tetsuya Watari. Noboru Ando, who plays Ryunosuke Nozu, was actually a yakuza member before becoming an actor.
Home Vision Entertainment released the movie on DVD in North America in 2004. Takashi Miike directed a remake of it in 2002.
Plot
Rikio Ishikawa, a member of the Kawada yakuza family in Shinjuku, assaults and steals money from the Aoki gang, members of the rival Shinwa family from Ikebukuro, for operating in their territory. Ishikawa then robs a Sangokujin gambling den with Imai, whom he had become friends with in prison and who asks Ishikawa to join his gang; he stashes his gun with a geisha named Chieko. After being released from jail that night, he returns for the gun and rapes her.
The Nozu family boss is running for parliament, and is associated with the Kawada family. When Ishikawa severely wounds Aoki after finding him in one of their clubs, he is scolded for this by Kawada, who is worried the Shinwa might retaliate. Both the Shinwa and Kawada families gather and arm themselves in a standoff that is only ended when Kawada pays the American Military Police to disperse them. However, Nozu loses the election and when he lectures Ishikawa, Ishikawa blows up his car. Ishikawa is severely beaten and told to commit yubitsume; however, he gets drunk, stabs boss Kawada and flees to Chieko before turning himself into police some days later. Having committed an unforgivable offense, he is banished from the Tokyo yakuza for 10 years, and retreats to Osaka upon his release from prison. There, he becomes addicted to drugs and fast friends with fellow junkie Ozaki.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).