Ken Takakura and Brutal Tales of The Yakuza
Reviews of two new Blu-rays starring Japan’s inimitable Ken Takakura: Brutal Tales of Chivalry / Shôwa zankyô-den (1965) from Twilight Time + The Yakuza (1974) from Warner Archives.
Tag: Ken Takakura
BR: Brutal Tales of Chivalry / Shôwa zankyô-den (1965)
It’s almost a tale of a reformed pacifist driven by loyalty to his late father’s non-violence decree, with Seiji suppressing his fine-honed instinct to make precisions strikes as the clan’s business and areas of control are whittled down by a once-respectful nemesis…
BR: Yakuza, The (1974)
Derived from a story and originally scripted by brothers Leonard and Paul Schrader, respectively, producer-director Sydney Pollack, fresh off The Way We Were (1973), had Robert Towne (Chinatown) attenuate the action and violence and put a greater emphasis on the culture clashes between east and west…
BR: Bullet Train / Shinkansen daibakuha (1975)
Bullet Train stemmed from studio Toei’s desire to break into the international market with their own disaster film entry, and director Jun’ya Satôcame up with the concept of a train that had to keep running or risk a planted bomb exploding once the speed dropped below 80 km…
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