Interesting and well-acted, if clumsy, American take on the Japanese gangster genre. Robert Mitchum stars as a private detective who goes to Japan to rescue an American girl who has been kidnapped by a yakuza, with Japanese screen idol Ken Takakura as a former gangster who helps him in
his quest. Kishi Keiko plays a woman with whom Mitchum had had a love affair while stationed in Japan at the end of WWII, and whom he now re-encounters.
Written by Paul Schrader from a story by his brother Leonard (the screenplay was then rewritten by famed script doctor Robert Towne), THE YAKUZA was a commendable attempt to expose American audiences to some of the conventions of ...
Released:
1975
Rated:
R
Length:
112 mins