Watashitachi No Yuujin - - The Yakuza (1974, USA, Color,112 min) - -31 January 2025

Recommended. The Yakuza might only appeal to movie historians. It bombed at the box office. It's frequently called a neo-noir - - and it has some noir elements - - but it's really a hard-boiled detective story. The script was written by Paul Schrader (Raging Bull), based on a short story by his brother, Leonard (Kiss of the Spider Woman). The next script Schrader wrote was Taxi Driver, where he was allowed a bit more fake blood. Actually, Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) was one of the many directors considered for The Yakuza . . . until Sydney Pollack was drafted (The Way We Were). This was Robert Mitchum's (Out Of The Past) last major starring role, paired with martial-arts phenom, Ken Takakura (Railroad Man). Mitchum is doing a favor for a US gangster, retrieving his daughter from a Yakuza boss. It's a good movie . . . somewhat flawed by a lack of commitment to the genre.