The Pledge
1972 · 103 min · ★ 5.8 · Drama, Crime
When Omuro Yahachi of the Omuro family is selected as Mutsumikai Soke's successor, the conflict between the Kitakyushu and Wakamatsu begins.
Directed by Kōsaku Yamashita · Written by Tatsuo Nogami
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Make it a double feature
3h 13m togetherBoth from Kōsaku Yamashita.
Gamblers CollectionSee all →
Gamblers · 1967Gamblers
★ 8.01967
MovieActionCrime
Tsuruta is a respected tattoo artist working with comrades Machida and Yamashiro. His former boss, who also just happens to be the master who had tattooed the magnificent dragon on Tsuruta’s back, is now a dissolute, bitter drunk living with his son in law and sickly grandson. His daughter, the boy’s mom, is indentured at the brothel run by boss Nakamura and daughter Matsuo. Nakamura’s two faced second in command Amatsu will not let the mother see her son…
Gamblers: The Dragon Tattoo · 1967Gamblers: The Dragon Tattoo
1967
MovieDramaAction
The second part of the Gamblers series.
Gambler: Victory Without Death · 1967Gambler: Victory Without Death
★ 6.01967
MovieCrimeAction
Tsunetaro Asakura AKA "Dynamite Tsune" is a talented gambler, but not infallable. After losing his Boss's money in a dice game he repays his debt by serving as a pit boss for a struggling coal mine in Kyuushu. Quickly there's trouble with the local mining competition, who doesn't always play a fair game. True to his hot-headed nickname, Tsune only gets into deeper trouble.
Big Time Gambling Boss · 1968Big Time Gambling Boss
★ 7.21968
MovieDramaCrime
Tokyo, 1934. The boss of the clan that controls gambling agonizes and some of his followers propose to Nakai to take his place, but he refuses the offer.
Gamblers: The Raid · 1968Gamblers: The Raid
★ 10.01968
MovieActionCrime
5th entry in the Bakuchi-uchi series.
Gambling Den's Master Clan · 1968Gambling Den's Master Clan
★ 7.01968
Movie
Sixth entry in the Bakuchi-uchi series.
A Gambler's Certain Death · 1969A Gambler's Certain Death
1969
MovieCrime
Part 7 in the Gambling Den series. This time Koji Tsuruta is a gambler who feels sympathetic towards a woman whose naive husband is driven to a debt trap by a rotten gambling den owner (Tatsuo Endo) and his dishonest card dealer (Isamu Nagato). The plot is standard stuff and features too much talk, but there's also a decent balance between melodrama and lyricism in the form and storytelling. Tsuruta was a perfect fit for these kind of roles, with the stoic and emotional sides nicely mixed in his screen persona.
The Drifting Gambler · 1970The Drifting Gambler
★ 9.01970
MovieCrime
8th part of the Gamblers / Bakuchi-uchi series.
Fate Deals the Card of Death · 1971Fate Deals the Card of Death
★ 8.51971
MovieDrama
Seijiro and Shizue meet in Niigata and fall in love. Seijiro has to go back to Tokyo soon after, and they promise each other to meet again a year later. However, Seijiro gets jailed for five years. Unable to find him, Shizue gets married to a yakuza boss who can help her family business.
More from Kōsaku YamashitaSee all →
A Yakuza Goes Home · 1970A Yakuza Goes Home
★ 10.01970
MovieCrimeDrama
Shimamura & Mineko return to Kamagasaki in Osaka. In their return Shimamura quickly finds himself defending a lady in distress. During the skirmish he bumps into his old buddies who turns him on to the "new" goings on in town, Shimamura is angered to discover a Chinese triad organization has overthrown their gang, a situation they must reverse. Now he and the old gang finds themselves putting their lives on the line defending the honor of the "Yakuza Way", the locals of Osaka, even Japan!!
The Viper Brothers: Four and a Half Years in Jail · 1973The Viper Brothers: Four and a Half Years in Jail
★ 10.01973
MovieActionComedy
Part 5 in a long running (8+1 films) action/comedy/melodrama series about a pair of short tempered, amoral, but not evil chinpira (Bunta Sugawara and Tamio Kawachi) thinking too big of themselves. After serving four and a half years in prison, Masa and his brother Katsuji leave Kobe to go to Nagoya to help a hostess get her daughter back from her mother. As they arrive in Nagoya, they get into a scuffle with the local yakuza affiliate. Sugawara and Kawaji's chemistry is even more evident here than usual, the storyline is alright if melodramatic. Delightful start with Tatsuo Endo as a nice guy prison guard! How many times have you seen that? And we got Kyosuke Machida (henchman) with cool beard and the always good Tsunehiko Watase (young hood) on board as well. One of the best films in the series.
The Marked Man · 1968The Marked Man
★ 10.01968
Movie
A man from Osaka comes up to Tokyo to fight gangsterism.
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6 · 1969Brutal Tales of Chivalry 6
★ 9.01969
MovieDramaAction
This is the sixth film in the Brutal Tales of Chivalry series
Yakuza Ladies Revisited 2 · 1993Yakuza Ladies Revisited 2
★ 8.01993
MovieDrama
Recently released from prison for a murder sentence, a yakuza boss's wife leaves Hong Kong for a fresh start, but a betrayal leads to her return.
Samurai Geisha · 1969Samurai Geisha
★ 7.51969
MovieDramaCrime
Popular geisha Shinji (Fuji Junko) must defy a gang who plot to steal a lucrative coal business from struggling miners during the turbulent Meiji Era. A stellar all-star cast, a thrilling story, and Takakura Ken's violent swordplay, make this a classic Yakuza movie!
Red Peony Gambler · 1968Red Peony Gambler
★ 7.41968
MovieDramaAction
Ryuko was raised by her father, a gambler named Senzo Yano in Kumamoto, Kyushu, after her mother died when she was little. When she turned 18 years old, her father was attacked and killed by a stranger in alley. Ryuko then dissolves her yakuza family, and, carrying the wallet left by the killer, she sets out on a journey to avenge her father’s death. Five years later, she wanders the nation, known only as! Red Peony Oryu who has a red peony tattooed on her shoulder and has the defiance and courage of a man. She meets Katagiri - a loner gambler, Kumatora - boss of a family in Shikoku, and Otaka - female boss of the Doman Family in Osaka. With their help, she finally catches up with the man who murdered her father.
Scoundrel · 1968Scoundrel
★ 7.01968
MovieCrimeDrama
Shimamura is a violent street thug who joins the yakuza & is merciless & unscrupulous on his rise, lacking any sense of either duty or chivalry. When imprisoned, he is repeatedly transferred from one prison to another, because no one can handle him.
Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai · 1963Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai
★ 6.71963
MovieHistoryDrama
After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he recounts his gruesome family history which saw generations of his ancestors suffer and sacrifice themselves for the sake of their cruel lords.
A Lively Geisha · 1970A Lively Geisha
★ 6.21970
MovieDramaCrime
Young geisha Koshizu's wish of reuniting with the man, Yukichi, who helped her ten years ago comes true. When she learns of the trouble Yukichi's business is facing, she stands ready to come to his aid, and thus repay a debt that's long overdue.
The Tattooed Hitman · 1974The Tattooed Hitman
★ 6.21974
MovieDramaAction
The most dangerous hired gun in Kyushu's underworld has managed to trigger a vicious gang war, and now, there's a contract on his life. Though nobody is more skilled in the arts of dealing death, can the tattooed hitman fend off the entire Japanese mafia as he searches for the man who wants him dead?
Red Peony Gambler: Biographies of a Gambling Room · 1969Red Peony Gambler: Biographies of a Gambling Room
★ 6.21969
MovieActionDrama
Oryu the Red Peony, a wandering female yakuza on a soul-searching journey after the death of her father. After collecting her sickly follower from jail, she is taken in by a fishing village. Feeling indebted to their generosity, she stays to work for the village and promises to leave her yakuza ways behind. When a dispute breaks out for the gambling rights to a local festival, the villagers are harassed by a gang of thugs. When the harassment turns violent, Oryu must decide wither to keep her promise or protect the villagers.
Giant Rumble · 1964Giant Rumble
★ 6.01964
MovieAction
In this gritty tale of gamblers battling in the samurai era, Okawa Hashizo gives perhaps his greatest performance as a gambler returning to his home town. Swearing allegiance to his fiancée’s father, a decent boss, he had taken to the road after a gang fight until things cooled down. While honing his sword skills in his travels, everything in the town had changed and he descended into a virtual hell of violence. Opponents were being slaughtered by a former samurai ‘Bodyguard’ played by Tanba Tetsuro at the height of his amazing career. While these two master swordsmen are fated to meet, before that can even happen they must survive one of the longest, bloodiest swordfights in movie history!
The Story of a Man Among Men · 1984The Story of a Man Among Men
★ 6.01984
MovieDramaCrime
During the Showa era, a young yakuza survives war and injury and rises to become a clan boss with the help and respect of his sworn brothers.
Jail Breakers · 1976Jail Breakers
★ 6.01976
MovieCrimeAction
Kamiki (Sonny Chiba) is a career criminal who is given the chance to break out of prison for the 33rd time. Afterwards Kaimiki teams up with a bunch of thugs that engineer prison escapes for money.
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★ 5.71985
MovieDramaCrime
A made man during the height of Hiroshima's yakuza turf war must maneuver through the violence and betrayal inside the criminal underworld.
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Koji Tsuruta
Tomisaburō Wakayama
Bunta Sugawara
Yūko Hamada
Hiroki Matsukata
Junko Matsudaira
Gorō Ibuki
Tatsuo Endō
Akira Shioji
Ryūtarō Tatsumi
Ryūko Azuma
Nobuo Kaneko
