Japan after World War II: Katsuji (Ken Takakura) has just returned from
the battlefront with the intention of finding his sister Akiji and his
girlfriend Hide - instead he is busted and sent to Abashiri prison for
getting intoa fight with American soldiers. Once out again, he soon hooks
up with Ishozu's yakuza clan, and after handling a confrontation with the
rivalling Chinese gang in an unbloody way, he falls into favour with
Ishozu's own mentor Tettoro, much to the dismay of Ishozu himself.
Eventually, Katsuji finds his sister again. She has since become a
prostitute out of desperation, but there is a man who wants to marry and
make an honourable woman out of her - but unfortunately, it's Yang, a
member of the Chinese gang. At first, Katsuji is strictly against Yang
marrying his sister, but gradually, Yang opens Katsuji's eyes to the fact
that the Chinese aren't the ones bleeding dry the street vendors, as whose
protector Katsuji sees himself, it's Ishozu's gang.
Katsuji also finds hide, who has become a gaisha, but since his best
friend Gunji has fallen in love with her without knowing she's Katsuji's
girl, Katsuji decides to give her up for Gunji even though she's still in
love with him.
Katsuji decides it's a good idea to let the Chinese have deslings witht
he street vendors directly and take Ishozu's gang out of the equation -
upon which Ishozu's henchmen kill Yang. Knowing what Yang has meant to his
friend and his friend's sister, Gunji decides to have revenge in Katsuji's
stead but is shot dead by Ishozu's gang. Now it's up to Katsuji to storm
Ishozu's headquarters armed with a dagger, and he manages to kill pretty
much everyone important, but is ultimately captured by the police ... and
brought back to Abashiri prison.
Not a prison movie as the title might suggest - the movie sends less
than 10 minutes in jail -, this is actually a typical and very clichéed
yakuza movie. And to be honest, it's not a very good one, just your
typical by-the-numbers gangster tale with no surprises or unexpected
plottwists, pretty much just the same old story. Also, on a directorial
level, this film has little to offer, just a routine effort with no
aspirations to be anything more than it is.
Not the worst thing you have ever seen, probably, but still a
disappointment.
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