Two major yakuza factions from Tokyo and Osaka battle over control of Yokohama, using local gangs as their proxies. Amid this violent struggle, Tsukamoto (Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss), the head of one of the local gangs, is released from an eight-year prison sentence. The feud forces him into action, but he learns that those pulling the strings have political connections and that he is up against overwhelming forces. A predecessor to and blueprint for Fukasaku’s Sympathy for the Underdog, Japan Organised Crime Boss also signals the director’s first collaboration with Bunta Sugawara, the later star of Battles Without Honour and Humanity as well as with Tomisaburo Wakayama (The Bounty Hunter Trilogy) and gangster-turned-movie star Noboru Ando (Eighteen Years in Prison).
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Supplements
- Archival interview with Kinji Fukasaku
- Interview with yakuza film historian Akihiko Ito (2024)
- Visual essay on Koji Tsuruta’s collaborations with Fukasaku by yakuza cinema expert Nathan Stuart (2024)
- Trailer
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Stuart Galbraith IV and an archival review of the film