"Blood for Blood" 1971 movie review, part two

 

 Release Date: June 10, 1971   Length: 86 minutes    Director: Yasuhara Hasebe

Writer: Hideichi Nagahara  Subs done by Mashhamid .... also goes by the titles of Bloody Conflict and Bloody Feud.

 If you look at the sky tonight and see a shortage of Stars don't fret.... most were in this movie!!!! Nikkatsu, along with perhaps Toei, was and perhaps still is the biggest studio in Japan and especially for movies. From about 1955 until 1972 no studio released more action films and bet over 80% of the movies I review came from Nikkatsu. But in the early 70's action and Yakuza film weren't as popular so they switched to doing Pinku films for quite a long time, most of those were decent but after a while became a bit tiring.  EDIT: Many other studios specialized in certain genres such as TOHO being the king of horror and sci-fi flicks. Those are my faves so think that's what you may be seeing next.  So as mentioned before bet 90+% of the films I'll be reviewing will be before 1972 and still wonder are there any old movie fans that visit here? But I'm only reviewing a small percent of the films I view, perhaps one of three or four that I watch and most will be ones I had never seen before. The director Yasuharu Hasebe was another who was very noted, have seen many of his films but guiltily my faves from are the four he directed in the "Stray Cat Rock" movie series.

 Main Cast: Did make a wry comment about Stars above and this film certainly had many of my faves from that era. But all in all think every film reviewed over the last few weeks topped this film but often when I write a review up seem to enjoy it more as it's almost like viewing a film for the second time. A little lower down and in the next post will give more thoughts on the positives and negatives, there really were no negatives but just thought this movie would be better as the cast was so strong. Of course will explain the entire story in this and the next post, here's a quickie synopsis on what to expect. The location is the fictional K City which I think wasn't too far from Tokyo as it was an easy drive there. K City is a booming town with much construction going on plus many new businesses and factories opening up. There's two Yakuza gangs that control the streets of K City who are the clans Akiba and Shimura.

 Though Yakuza gangs they don't seem to be as tough as ones from Tokyo and do treat everyone fairly though of course their 'services' do require much protection $$. There's two gangs from Tokyo who have been noticing the boom in K City and want in on the action, those clans are Seishinkai and Udagawa. When neither gang gets their way the only solution to them is violence and blackmail, soon both of the existing K City Yakuza gangs were at war with their new rivals. There was plenty of backstabbing and deceit by these two newcomers but by the end of the film it appeared there was no one left alive from any of the four gangs!!!! 

Jo Shishido as Naoto Tezuka.... One of my all time fave actors and check out his sideburns in this film! Tezuka has just been released from  prison after serving a five year sentence but for what? That was never revealed but five years for killing someone seems the most logical guess. When his boss of the Akiba gang was murdered early on Tezuka took control of the Yakuza clan based in K City. He was a ladies man as Tezuka had a relationship with both Masae and Junko over five years prior though neither worked out.

Masaru Saito as Hiroshi Yoshinaga.... He also had a large role in the drama that I recently recapped which was "Akai Meiro" and he played a prosecutor. Yoshinaga was good friends with Tezuka though both were in different K City gangs. Yoshinaga seemed to be the leader of the Shimura clan but think it was because we never saw the main boss. He's the brother of the below woman and did buy her a diner though the two are estranged.

 Meiko Kaji as Masae Yoshinaga.... My #1 actress of all time and think this now makes it 25 movies I've seen her in! However was disappointed her role wasn't larger or more meaty as she is excellent in action roles. She is the sister of the above man, Masae had been in Tokyo for many years but returned to K City when Tezuka was released from prison. The pair once had a fling but that ended so many years ago though Masae still seems to have the hots for him. She operates a diner that her brother purchased upon her return to K City.

Tatsuya Fuko as Koji Ozawa.... Another big star who is still acting to this day and so isn't Meiko, both were so superb in the "Stray Cat Rock" series. Ozawa is a member of the Akiba gang and seemed to be up there as far as ranking goes. He was close to Tezuka and missed him so badly while he was in prison.

Ryohei Uchida as Goro Hoshino: One of the main leaders of the Seishinkai gang from Tokyo, what a conniving, slippery weasel he was! There will be much about Hoshino in the review and he's so underhanded it's hard to list all of the cruel things he did!

Hajime Mitamura as Kyuzo Matsuzawa.... Son in-law of the Akiba leader and was married to the below woman. Bit of a wimpy man and his father in-law allowed the Seishinkai gang to hold Kyuzo as a hostage while some wheeling and dealing was going on. He was killed by the rival Yakuza group 2/3's of the way through though it was made to look like a suicide. For all that Kyuzo was only in a few scenes.

 Yasuko Sanjo as Junko Matsuzawa.... Like her above husband she didn't have much screen time, she recently gave birth to their first son. Before Tezuka went to prison five years ago he was head over heels for Junko, would they have gotten married if not for that prison sentence? Probably not as Junko did hate the Yakuza way of life and surprised she wed Matsuzawa

Kenjiro Uemura as Akiba.... Obviously the leader of the Akiba Yakuza clan based in K City, though a gangster was a decent man who was killed at about the twenty minute mark of the film. He was the father of Junko who married one of his clan's members and the elder Akiba didn't think too highly of his son in-law.

Jotaro Togami as Shinjiro Komine.... Leader of the Seishinkai clan who are based in Tokyo but trying to take over K City. What a devilish man Komine was though not as bad as his second in command Hoshino, both got their just dues at the end.

Akiyoshi Fukae as Arai.... From the Udagawa gang who are also from Tokyo and trying to gain a foothold in K City. Arai wasn't the gang leader, we never met that person nor anyone else from the gang except for him. While it wasn't a large role his death was very key to the story.

Toru Tamura as Tetsu.... Not 100% sure this is the man that played Tetsu but looked at the ages of the cast and think I figured it out. Tetsu was the youngest of the Akiba clan and had been used badly by Hoshino. Testu for so long wouldn't reveal Hoshino had killed his main boss Akiba which ended up resulting in two more of his mates dying. Plus later on Hoshino convinced Tetsu that the above man Arai was against the Akiba clan which wasn't true.

 As is the case for most movies there were a few other characters but none were all that important nor were their roles large. One thing I have not had good luck with is finding trailers for these films. It is true they are over fifty years old but most other films have trailers or at least some sort of videos that have highlights, there's sadly ZERO for this movie. But as mentioned do watch many films and only have reviews for about a third of those so how about a video for a superb movie that won't be reviewed?  The last film I viewed before writing this post up was "Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2" that was released in 1972. Meiko Kaji had the lead role and was superb so what a shame she wasn't used well enough in this movie. The first of this two part series is among my favorites of her, for so long was just lukewarm about this sequel but it is a decent one with such a strong cast. Meiko was the only one with huge roles in both movies which really had nothing to do with each other.
 

 

 Let's get to part two of this solid film which was enjoyable yet will admit there are so many better than this one. A grade of 8.1/10 is what I'll give this film which could be considered to be a B-. The second half was so much better than the first half which I would have graded an 8.6/10, the story was interesting though a bit confusing at times so would recommend this film though not that highly. The negatives weren't major ones but the film did begin off a bit slowly and do wish we got to know the main characters a bit better. Such as Meiko who played Masae, I was disappointed her role wasn't more important and anyone could have played that part. My biggest beef which others had a problem with too was with three of the Yakuza gangs, we got to know the members of the Akiba clan well but not the other three. We only learned of the names of four members from the other three gangs and at times because of that we didn't know who was in a melee or what gang(s) had been targeted. Think I figured it all out but there could be an error or two in the recap and overall sure it won't affect anything. Oh well, not every film ends up being a must watch though this wasn't bad at all and was just expecting better.

 So I don't get tired of reviewing films may start up again with another semi-series that I began some years back. Which is after two weeks or for every ten movies would do a post for the top four movies I viewed and have a post to rank them. Would have a very short recap and also any trailers or videos for the movie. That sounds like a good idea as these movie reviews do take a while to do plus need to take so many screenshots, in the next drama/movie post will have what my plans will be. **** On to part two of this movie review and we did end off on a hectic note. The four gangs are all up in arms now that the Udagawa clan exec Arai was murdered by the Akiba member Tetsu, he had been talked into the killing by the Seishinkai member Hoshino and see how it can get confusing! That's Hoshino on the left above, Tezuka from the Akiba clan is on the right and he had been greeted by Hoshino when him and his troops were about to attack the Udagawa family. Much was explained in the above post and let's pick up the action from that point.

 Though it was one of the leaders from the Udagawa clan that had been killed the Akiba family took the initiative before being attacked by this Tokyo gang and raided their temp HQ  Which is what the Seishinkai clan had been hoping for as it opened the door for them to attack the Shimura clan, though they are currently at odds with Akiba there's a chance Tezuka and his members would have backed Shimura up. Led by Tezuka the Akiba group took care of the smaller Udagawa gang rather easily, once that was accomplished Tezuka was informed that the Seishinkai group had attacked the Shimura HQ!!!! Whew, needed a scorecard to keep track of everyone and Tezuka rushed to the aid of the gang as his best friend Yoshinaga was one of their leaders. But at the Shimura HQ there wasn't a living soul(!), was this long time K City gang destroyed? It appears so but there was a bigger question for Tezuka, where was his friend Yoshinaga as he wasn't at the group's building? So it appears two gangs are gone, in the case of Shimura perhaps gone forever but the Udagawa clan can send more troops from Tokyo.

 That you can see in the middle screenshot above as Ozawa was telling the new leader of Akiba the news of Udagawa regrouping so would Akiba be strong enough to defeat two gangs? Of all the Yakuza members Ozawa seems to be the wisest of them all, he's someone you want backing you up and the new leader Tezuka trusts Ozawa more than anyone else. One person who Tezuka does not trust at all is the high ranking Seishinkai official Hoshino, above they had a brief meeting. Tezuka was so incensed that Hoshino and his gang raided the Shimura HQ without his knowledge, Hoshino in his annoying way told Tezuka not to worry as it means they are so much closer to ruling K City for themselves! Which of course the Akiba clan does not want to see happen but the Seishinkai group is much stronger and battle tested, least for now no demands have been made by Hoshino. On a bright note arriving at the Akiba HQ that evening was Yoshinaga, to Tezuka's surprise his best friend was still alive and kicking. Yoshinaga was injured badly in the melee and was the only Shimura group survivor, he had recently found out some info about the Seishinkai clan. Which is of their underhanded ways at getting the three other gangs to battle against each other plus Yoshinaga told Tezuka that none of his members had killed the Akiba boss, it was someone from the Seishinkai clan but who? Yoshinaga was in bad shape so was brought to Masae's restaurant to recoup and hide out. Still there was Tetsu who had killed Arai which started this mini war, he also knows who the true killer of Akiba was but still hasn't told anyone.

 Now keep these movie reviews at three segments, so much did take place in the last 30-35 minutes but should be able to hit that goal. Another goal was set by the Seishinkai boss Komine in the top screenshot, he told his trusty assistant to destroy the Akiba clan and make sure that includes Tezuka! Hadn't mentioned Matsuzawa's name for a while, he was the son in-law of the murdered Akiba leader and had been held hostage at the Seishinkai HQ in a deal that Akiba had made and from the first second we all knew it was a mistake. Though the Shimura clan is destroyed and the Udagawa family is holding off from attacking anyone Matauzawa is still being held hostage but as Hoshino told him above they'll allow his wife Junko and their new born son to visit. However that was another ploy from Hoshino who then confessed to Matsuzawa that his Seishinkai troops are in the preparations to destroy his Akiba gang plus the newbies on the block the Udagawa family. Hoshino left the room right after that but Matauzawa knew something else had to be in the works and correctly deduced it had to involve him. Knowing his wife would be arriving soon and also hopefully the new Akiba leader Tezuka Matsuzawa quickly scribbled a short note. While being held hostage Matsuzawa had overheard the details of every dirty tick the Seishinkai gang have done. That note he was hiding in his hand when some Seishinkai members burst into his room and made Matsuzawa swallow a few sleeping pills which led to his death! Have always found it odd how so many die from just five or so sleeping pills in Japanese films but that note hadn't been discovered.

 Right after that Junko and Tezuka entered the room, to say they were shocked would be an understatement. With his wife and son about to visit why would Matsuzawa kill himself(?), there was no answer to that from Hoshino but Tezuka did notice that note Matsuzawa was clutching in his hand. That note is right above and said the Seishinkai clan had devised a plan to kill the Akiba leader with the Udagawa gang, Tezuka kept the note hidden from all. He departed with Junko and it's when we learned they once had a close relationship and may have even gotten married at one point. However Junko hates the 'Yakuza Life', now that her father and husband have been murdered she's leaving K City and never wants to see a gangster again! With the info from Matsuzawa's note Tezuka was about to rush to Masae's restaurant to question his underling Tetsu harshly on what really took place when Akiba was stabbed to death. However at that time Ozawa had also been working on that and was finally able to knock some sense into the daft brain of Tetsu. Who finally admitted he witnessed Hoshino stab Akiba but had kept it a secret as Hoshino was somehow able to convince Tetsu it would be better for the Akiba family to believe their ally the Shimura clan had done the killing. It didn't make much sense to me at the time but the gullible Tetsu bought Hoshino's story but then again he did have ten knives pointed at his face! So that led to more Akiba members getting killed along with the Shimura family being destroyed. The only one left from the Shimura clan was Yoshinaga who was at his sister Masae's place and heard the entire story, with Ozawa and Tetsu they headed to the Seishinkai HQ to enact their own revenge and all of what took place is right above and in the bottom set of screenshots.

 Final section and am glad for I can get quite burnt out from watching and reviewing so many movies or dramas in such a short amount of time. I did think the first half of this film was just so-so but the last twenty minutes were so action packed, what took place then is in the above screenshots and the first four below. The trio of Ozawa, Tetsu and Yoshinaga made it to the Seishinkai HQ to avenge the killing of Akiba though of course it won't be an easy task as there had to be at least 25 Seishinkai members there. But soon Tezuka arrived and while the odds were still bad the quartet were so hell bent on revenge and did eliminate all of the members and never used a gun, their fists and some swords were good enough. But one person did have a gun who was Hoshino, you can see him firing above and did nail Tezuka. Hoshino also hit Ozawa twice in the stomach and that was a severe injury but there was no stopping Ozawa who stabbed Hoshino repeatedly and finally this devil got his just due. However in the melee both Tetsu and Yoshinaga were killed so now the Shimura family has lost it's final member. Though Hoshino is history there's one more person to go and that's the main Seishinkai leader Komine who had to be staying at his ritzy hotel. So off went Tezuka and Ozawa but before they left the Seishinkai HQ arriving was Masae though there wasn't much she could do. Tezuka asked if she would once again wait for him which received no response, Tezuka looked so bad odds were high he would never see tomorrow!

 At Komine's hotel room the pair were able to easily take out his two guards but there was no Komine to slay, now it was just a waiting game until be returned. There are some screenshots of that above with Tezuka and Ozawa easing their pain drinking some bottles of high class liquor, those two are in so much agony and how haven't they died yet???? Ozawa did pass out but was still alive, Tezuka did finally hear the hotel door open and jumped into the room for a final showdown with Komine! Though he was so severely hurt from the gunshot wound Tezuka took out Komine's two guards and and also easily stabbed Komine to death, many Yakuza leaders are not the fighters they once were. In the final seconds we saw Tezuka driving Ozawa down the street, there wasn't another car on the road as it as may have been only 5:00 am. Ozawa was still conked out and I thought he may have been dead. When Tezuka checked on his mate's condition he swerved onto the median and the fourth screenshot below is how the film ended, to me it appeared both were dead but being a Yakuza flick one never knows. Whew, that wraps things up and did give my thoughts, grades and such in the beginning. A decent film but there are much better in this genre, think my next films to review should be something other than action movies but first may will do an old 1966 drama first.