Acting
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53 movies sorted by popularity
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.
1969 Nikkatsu yakuza movie
Saheji, a man-about-town, gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can’t pay the bill. He makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate—but always by making sure to get a “commission” for his troubles.
Businessmen arrange the early release from prison of Togawa, serving time for taking revenge on the truck driver whose carelessness confined Togawa's sister, Rie, to a wheelchair. They want Togawa to hijack an armored truck loaded with 120 million yen; their leverage is to promise him money for surgery for Rie. Togawa consents and plans the heist with three others. The plan is solid, but it doesn't go smoothly. Togawa must improvise, there are traitors somewhere, and double-crosses mount. Can Togawa escape with enough money to help his sister and ensure a passage out of Japan?
The first of many movies featuring the lighthearted adventures of two truck drivers. Momojiro and his best friend Kinzo take to the road on their cargo trucks impressing each other with their skills in driving fast and evading the police while transporting commodities throughout the country. Chance encounters with people along the way help them to come to terms with events clouding their past and offer them a shot at redemption.
Shinko Terasawa was always considered to be the odd ball of the bunch. At a time when romance was against school regulations, Shinko was the first to take a bite out of the forbidden fruit. Expelled from her former school, she finds herself in an all-girls school in Jokamachi, where rumors fly. One day, Shinko delivers an anonymous love letter addressed to her English teacher, Ms. Shimazaki. Convinced that the students are playing a prank, Ms. Shimazaki is adamant about getting to the bottom of this "problem”.
A tragic love story between a prostitute and a young trainee monk.
The upstart Godai family conglomerate plans to strengthen ties with the hardliners in the Kwantung Army as they plan military expansion into Manchuria.
Zatoichi runs afoul of some evil fugitives, working for a corrupt law official.
In the late 1890s, coal is a precious new natural resource. During an era of rapid economic growth, dreams are instilled into the lives of many across Japan. A vigorous young man with a look of fearless determination, sets foot on the northern part of Kyushu, an area where Yakuza thrived. His name is Kingoro Tamai (Yujiro Ishihara). With plans to travel the world, Kingoro worked diligently at a coal mine. His loyalty and hard work earned the respect of his peers, his courage won the heart of the beautiful Mon (Ruriko Asaoka), and his success evoked jealousy in his enemies.
A Japanese intelligence officer faces personal crises in the years preceding the Manchurian conflict.
Joe, Okita, and Serizawa hear of the armed robbery of a truck carrying one billion eighty million yen's worth of Mint paper. Knowing that the thugs will now need a counterfeiter to make the bogus bills, they each decide to cash in on it by selling them the idea that they need Sakamoto, the best counterfeiter in Japan. A seesaw game unfolds between the three men as each tries to outdo the other two in handing over Sakamoto for one million yen to Hijikata, the big boss, who intends to make counterfeit money with the stolen paper. A little belatedly, they realize it needs their combined forces to outwit Hijikata and they raid his place together. Outnumbered, however, they are thrown into a basement room and the gas is turned on. Certain death stares them in the face, but the three men are not ones to take things lying down....
The life of entertainers in Asakusa’s pleasure quarters. An exciting yakuza story with superb action.
1962 Japanese movie
No description available.
Two newlyweds decide to build their dream home, and hire an old friend named Yanagisawa to design it. Unfortunately, Yanagisawa isn’t licensed to build homes, so they call in the wife’s father, a retired carpenter, to help out. When Yanagisawa’s contemporary ideas clash with the old carpenter’s traditional Japanese methods, the project becomes a huge mess.
A group of rank-and-file soldiers are jailed for crimes against humanity, themselves victims of a nation refusing to bear its burdens as a whole.
The wandering gambler (Akira Kobayashi) once again picks up the dice he forswore in order to take revenge of the gangsters who exploit good citizens. The second installment in The Gambler series.
A violent story of loyalty and revenge among the many "yakuza" or gambling groups in Japan.
On January 26, 1948, a robbery of the Teigin bank took place in Tokyo - the criminal poisoned the bank employees and fled the scene with a large amount of money. In parallel with the investigation conducted by the Japanese police, journalists are also trying to find the culprit. Based on a true incident.
Two brothers seek revenge on the yakuza responsible for the death of their father.
Ryuji Oshima, a gambler, kills Saiga in self-defense, and considering himself unfit to lead men, secludes himself in a temple to atone for his misdeeds. At home, when his mother, the boss of a construction gang, bids for and gets the job of building the Town Hall, other gangs set out to disrupt her business and try to kill her.
Nanjo, a new teacher at a girls' high school, unwittingly becomes the object of gossip when he buys underwear for Shimizu and spends his vacation with a female teacher. It turns out that Nanjo and Shimizu have fallen in love.
[Period Covered: 1570-1573] Towards the end of the Tenmon Era, Shogun Ashikaga`s powers were weakening by the day and many were there who planned to overthrow him. It was the beginning of the Sengoku (Warring States) period. Three men attack a gunpowder maker in a farmhouse, the first chopping off his arm with his sickle-&-chain weapon, the second blinding him with sword, the third giving the killing blow. His son Kojiro Kosume escapes the attackers as everything he has known up to then explodes into conflagration. He grows up & enters the start of the Tokugawa Era, intent on avenging his father.
Keiko is pretty and intelligent but her home life is not a happy one. Never having known a father's love, she develops a possessive attachment to Mr. Mazaki, the new mathematics teacher.
A travelling theater troupe, led by Umagoro Ichikawa, comes to play in a mining town, and manages to sell every seat. Before the play begins, however, a miners' strike is announced, creating an uproar. In addition, the players find they have been cheated out of their profits by a crooked impresario.
A noir action whodunit with Kobayashi his usual jaunty self as the smart aleck private eye whose missing person search soon becomes a murder case. Nightclub-managing, drug-dealing gangster Uchida is the prime suspect in the case until he commits suicide. Kobayashi then discovers evidence that points to the doctor sibling of an innocent girl. The climax in a rural snowy locale is suspenseful and well-staged.
A celebrity, dissatisfied with his personal and professional lives, impulsively leaves fast-paced Tokyo to deliver a much-needed jeep to a remote village. When his controlling manager, the woman he loves, follows, the two must reconcile while dodging reporters.
Thirsting for revenge, Jokichi rashly attempts to assassinate the evil Chogoro but ends up being captured by yakuza. His life is spared by Boss Juzaburo, in order that the harmony of an important commemoration not be further disturbed. Though now even more of an outcast, Jokichi is asked by another Yakuza boss, Umezo, to guard Oyuki, the wayward daughter of Juzaburo. The tragic consequences of this assignment will lead him into a deadly trap and a final confrontation with Chogoro.
The humorous tale of Jimbei, a miller, and his wife Osen who live in complete happiness. But Osen's beauty attracts numerous would-be lovers among whom is the local governor, a timid creature, who is dominated by his high-born and beautiful wife, who dresses in a scarlet battle-tunic, a sign of his family's military merit around which he fabricates fantastic tales of his prowess in war. During the traditional festival when the villagers are released from observance of all social customs and restrictions, it is permissible for any man to attempt win the favors of the one he loves. However, the timid but romantic governor goes to the length of having the miller arrested to clear the way for his seduction of Osen. But Osen fights off his advances with an old hunting gun and dashes out of the mill. Jimbei, meanwhile, has escaped from jail and dashes home to finds the governor in his bed. Convinced that his wife has been violated, he decides to take an eye for an eye.
It is the Taisho era in Japan. A man has quit the Yakuza after five years and returned to Shikoku in order to begin his life anew as a ferryman. His boss, however, became ill and the boat is taken due to unpaid debts to the local thugs. His new life has not begun well and he is determined to rebuild the shattered business. The Yakuza, however, have added the ferry business to the rest of their portfolio of local concerns.
Based on crime fiction novel written by Seicho Matsumoto.
A young man travels to Egypt and becomes embroiled in an independence movement by chance. Produced entirely on location overseas, which was groundbreaking at the time.
Joe, a master diver, explodes his fighting spirit and friendship across raging seas and scorching deserts in this gorgeous and entertaining epic.
The wandering swordsman, Ino Heihachiro, defeats Ichima, the youngest of the famed swordsmanship trio, the Nikis, but sustains an injury. In the mountains of Tohoku, he is aided by a young boy named Shosuke. Heihachiro finds refuge in the home of the boy's parents, Magoichi and Shino, only to discover that Magoichi was a skilled ninja from Koga. The peaceful days with the family are short-lived as Ichima, bent on revenge, along with his brothers Kurodo and Ryuma, pursue Heihachiro. Heihachiro and Magoichi head towards the duel's location, but the village headman, Seibei, blinded by the allure of gold dust in the mountains, abducts Shino...
Yoji Kitami, a fisherman's son, is a student in Tokyo. His father had died at sea and Taichiro, his brother, is sending him to the university. But the outbreak of violence by radical students and blockade of classrooms make studying impossible and Yoji goes home. Fortunately, he meets Katsuyuki Shinoda, a childhood friend, who works on a whaling vessel. Yoji decides to join him and rediscover a meaning in life. But finding sidework on a whaler is not so easy and Ogaki, a veteran harpooner, curtly turns him down. But finally, deeply touched by Yoji's earnestness, Ogaki reluctantly agrees to take him with them. Rules are very strict, for even one slight slip-up may jeopardize the safety of the entire ship. For a long time, it seems like a living hell, but with patience and courage, he begins to learn the ropes. And the day they sight their first whale, Yoji comes into his own and finds the real meaning of life.
A brave warrior fights to restore peace to a town riddled by crime, one sword at a time, in this historical action saga.
A man who became the third boss faces off against delinquent foreigners and villains vying to rule the underworld in order to develop the port city.
Hiroshi is the second officer on board the Hakuromaru. Lead by his captain, he heads out to town to recruit new crew members for their next voyage. Hiroshi is baffled when his captain approaches the Daigo-Kuroshiomaru crew, a notorious group nicknamed "the hoodlums of the sea". Their offer is greeted with scoffs and quickly turned down.
In the third movie of the Gambler series, the Wandering Gambler is defeated by a cheat that he cannot expose and his dice hand is crushed. Now the gamblers pursue each other into Nagano in winter, with a detective hot on their trail.
When Tornado Joe is wrongly accused of distributing counterfeit banknotes, he gets on a mission to clear his name and challenge the mastermind behind this scheme.
Tsuiseki is a 1961 crime film.
A yakuza falls in love with his brother's mistress while he is serving his sentence, and hides out in Hakodate to wait for her... A mood action masterpiece set to a hit song. Ruriko Asaoka plays both the older and younger sisters who fall in love with the same man.
A romance of a pure young lover and his heartbreak for a beautiful older woman.
The Edo Murders: Sasachi’s Greatest Triumph | Two bodies have been found on Tsukuda Island, hacked to death with an axe. Detective Sasachi suspects a man he saw skulking around the night before, only to find that the man is Juzo, a thief once captured by his late father.
An action comedy that depicts two men fascinated by a woman in red high heels who are convinced to confront a vicious yakuza gang. The 2nd of the 3 part Roku Denashi movie series.
