Best movies like The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 3: Proxy War
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Plot Summary:
The film is set in 1960, fifteen years after the end of the end of World War II. Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), the protagonist of the first film in the series, has managed to separate from the Yamamori family, create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 3: Proxy War (1973):
Similar in 84%
Wandering Ginza Butterfly (1972)
Plot Summary:
Gang leader Nami (cult film legend Meiko Kaji) kills a member of a yakuza group and goes away to prison. Upon her release three years later, she’s a shamed woman confined to living in the shadowy world of sex clubs and street gangs. She returns to the city to live with her uncle, a billiard-hall owner, and after befriending pimp and ne’er-do-well Ryuji (Tsunehiko Watase), she gets a job working at a hostess club in the chic Ginza neighborhood, where the expensive shops and neon lights conceal a dark world of crime and sexual slavery. But when a rival gang attempts to muscle in on the club, Nami becomes enmeshed in a violent struggle that forces her to wield a skilled pool cue to defend her uncle’s business, and eventually a short sword to wreak bloody vengeance upon her enemies.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: cult film
Similar in 85%
The Violence Action (2022)
Plot Summary:
Kei Kikuno attends a vocational school as a student. For her part-time job, she works as a contract killer. She is excellent at her job and never gets scared by anyone. One day, she receives the most challenging request.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 823
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: yaoi
Similar in 89%
Bloody Territories (1969)
Plot Summary:
A once-powerful yakuza clan disbands as a result of a police crackdown, but one small group refuses to bow to police pressure, and launches a campaign to take over Tokyo's drug, prostitution, and gambling rackets. Someone wants to stop them. Is it the police? Rival gang members? Or is it an entirely new group of hired killers who will stop at nothing to gain complete control of Tokyo's "bloody territories"?.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 94
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: Japan
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Massacre Gun (1967)
Plot Summary:
Kuroda (Jô Shishido) is a mob hitman who turns on his employers after being forced to execute his lover. Joining forces with his similarly wronged brothers, hot-headed Eiji (Tatsuya Fuji) and aspiring boxer Saburô (Jirô Okazaki), the trio escalate their mob retaliation to all-out turf war where no one will stop until one faction emerges victorious.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 533
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: Japan
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Violent Panic: The Big Crash (1976)
Plot Summary:
Like its title, this crazy Toei film from 1976 falls neatly into two parts. The first details the exploits of two bank robbers who specialize in "smash and grab" style heists. Evidently, Japanese banks of the period left huge piles of cash laying around on filing cabinets and end tables. The thieves dream of escaping Japan and going to Brazil. Charismatic lead Tsunehiko Watase gets involved with Miki Sugimoto, a strange girl with a severe mental problem. After a bank robbery goes wrong and his partner is killed, Watase is assaulted by his dead partner's thuggish brother who wants the loot.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 149
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: poliziottesco
Similar in 79%
Wolves, Pigs & Men (1964)
Plot Summary:
Sabu and his pals hold a pauper's funeral for Sabu's mother. His brother Jiro arrives home, fresh out of jail, and Sabu pointedly states that Jiro is not invited. Jiro meanwhile is planning a big job - steal 40 million in cash and drugs, and he invites Sabu and gang to act as decoys, for 50,000 each. The sting is a success, but the double-crossing starts almost immediately. Sabu discovers how little of the take they were promised and hides the stash. Jiro and his slimy partner pressure the kids to fess up. Meanwhile, their respectable elder brother Ichiro is being leaned on by the town's big boss, whose money it was.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
The Shogun Assassins (1979)
Plot Summary:
This is a film about a real person. Sanada Yukimura fought a war against Tokugawa Ieyeasu. In the beginning the film shows Yukimura fighting to defend the Osaka Castle. He used very unconventional methods, wich were not approved by the other defenders. When the Osaka campaign was lost, Sanada is shown dedicating all his efforts to assassinate the shogun Ieyeasu. There are several attempts one more interesting than the other. There is also magic ( Ninja employed by Sanada). There is a lot of first class action.The film is bound to interest all viewers that like "Samurai" films.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 161
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: jidai geki
Similar in 78%
Fists of Bruce Lee (1978)
Plot Summary:
Fighters ally with each other and fight for no apparent reason. The plot is meaningless, just a vehicle to see fight scenes.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Drama, Action
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, cult film
Similar in 82%
Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967)
Plot Summary:
When a local gambling house kidnaps some peasants because they failed to pay their debts, a rival gambling house pays their debts and sets them free.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, tense, suspense, cult classic, semi serious, cult film
Similar in 79%
Yakuza Torture History - Lynching (1969)
Plot Summary:
The film is divided into three parts - the first two taking place in feudal Japan, the last segment being more "modern" and set in the late 1960's. All three deal with those that have broken the Yakuza code, and their subsequent torture and dispatch.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 390
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: anthology, grindhouse, banned
Similar in 81%
The Challenge (1982)
Plot Summary:
Rick, a down-and-out American boxer, is hired to transport a sword to Japan, unaware that the whole thing is a set up in a bitter blood-feud between two brothers, one who follows the traditional path of the samurai and the other a businessman. At the behest of the businessman, Rick undertakes samurai training from the other brother, but joins his cause. He also becomes romantically involved with the samurai's daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: offbeat, crime drama, cult classic, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 90%
Samurai Spy (1965)
Plot Summary:
Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 86%
Return of the Street Fighter (1974)
Plot Summary:
Martial artist Takuma Tsurugi returns to take on a Yakuza family that may be embezzling money from charities to finance their own operations. Both the police and the Yakuza find themselves battling Tsurugi, but Tsurugi's fight ultimately is with the mob, and he concentrates on them.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, disturbing, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, psychotronic, independent film
Similar in 88%
The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 4: Police Tactics (1974)
Plot Summary:
As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima. Akira Kobayashi's Takeda tries to keep a lid on things, but hotheaded underlings create chaos, with one boss whacked in neutral territory, and the craven boss, Uchimoto, informing on an assassination attempt by his own minions. While the police round up hundreds of yakuza foot soldiers, Bunta Sugawara's Shozo Hirono plots to finally take out longtime nemesis, boss Yamamori.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: queer cinema
Similar in 82%
Cops vs. Thugs (1975)
Plot Summary:
In at least 6 movies by director Kinji Fukasaku, Bunta Sugawara played a yakuza thug. This time, he carries a badge but his character hasn't lost his distaste for double-dealing bosses and authority figures who are out to cover their own butts. Detective Kuno is balanced between the law and pragmatism. Cops didn't enforce the law to the point of pushing gangsters over the edge. In return, the gangsters mostly stayed out of the public eye. Some of them even became friends with cops, sharing a mutual desire to keep-down trade unions and leftists. When that balance is upset, Kuno has to decide where his loyalties lie. In this gray world, cops aren't always good and gangsters are thoroughly bad.. although there's no reward for good men who drink from the cup of corruption. "Cops Versus Thugs" has that trademark Fukasaku camera-work.. constantly moving, zooming, and putting you right in the middle of the action, changing loyalties and political maneuvering between cops and criminals.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 909
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: crime drama, detective
Similar in 78%
The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 2: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
Plot Summary:
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka (Kinya Kitaoji) finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hit man and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo (Sonny Chiba) draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara) into a new round of bloodshed, culminating with the tragic demise of the young Yamanaka.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: cult film
Similar in 82%
The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 5: Final Episode (1974)
Plot Summary:
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode is part five and the final installation of a series of yakuza films directed by Kinji Fukasaku. In the wake of a big police crackdown, Akira Kobayashi's icily sun- glassed Takeda attempts to transform the Hiroshima yakuza families into a legitimate political organization: The Tensei Coalition. When the young Matsumura ascends to the chairmanship of the coalition, the older, hardened yakuza led by Jo Shishido (BRANDED TO KILL) seize one last opportunity to stir up chaos and bloodshed. Culminating with the arrests, deaths, or retirement of the first postwar yakuza generation, this milestone series draws to an ambivalent close.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Woman Sharper (1963)
Plot Summary:
Handsome young Katsuta tries to follow the yakuza code, but even his boss doesn't believe in it. Diamond Fuyu is less ethical, and allows the idiotic Tetsu to trick a schoolgirl he fancies, Hanako, into a type of bonded prostitution. Because of gang conflict, the Izu family (to whom Katsuta belongs) has their last gambling den taken over, and he seeks revenge. This brings him back into contact with a former lover who is also a card trickster - she is also Diamond Fuyu's sister, and is now married to Okaru-Hachi, who has mastered a clever card cheating trick called Okaru, which involves the deft use of mirrors.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 426
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: offbeat, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 77%
Gamblers in Okinawa (1971)
Plot Summary:
A yakuza gang gets driven out of Yokohama by a big gang from Tokyo. They relocate to Okinawa to violently start over.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, crime drama
Similar in 86%
Street Mobster (1972)
Plot Summary:
The Japanese yakuza films certainly have a well-earned reputation of being violent and chaotic. Some are more frenetic than others and Street Mobster is unbelievable high on savagery and energy. It dawned the re-birth of the genre, telling the story of low-level punks who will do anything without compromise and little sense of honor.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: Japan
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: crime drama, bloody, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 81%
Outrage (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story begins with Sekiuchi, boss of the Sannokai, a huge organized crime syndicate controlling the entire Kanto region, issuing a stern warning to his lieutenant Kato and right-hand man Ikemoto, head of the Ikemoto-gumi. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring the unassociated Murase-gumi gang in line, and he immediately passes the task on to his subordinate Otomo, who runs his own crew. The tricky jobs that no-one wants to do always end up in Otomo’s lap.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, cynical, rough, realistic, bloody, psychological, sincere, neo noir, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007)
Plot Summary:
Former Yakuza underling Kiryu Kazuma, who has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration, and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his Yakuza past. Unfortunately Kiryu's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball bat-wielding psycho Majima Goro who has a grudge to settle with Kiryu.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan, South Korea
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, heroic, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (1989)
Plot Summary:
This 26th film installment of the Zatoichi series sees Shintaro Katsu return to this classic role after a 10 year hiatus. The blind masseur Ichi gets caught between rival Yakuza clans.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: cult classic, exciting, tense, atmospheric, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 86%
Yojimbo (1961)
Plot Summary:
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 129000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: black and white, visual, visually stunning, black comedy, cynical, art house, exciting, atmospheric, bleak, realistic
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Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972)
Plot Summary:
In the third film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: bloody, talky, stylized, manga, exciting, rough, clever, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 83%
Beyond Outrage (2012)
Plot Summary:
As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, psychological, noir, neo noir, bloody, hood, crime thriller
Similar in 88%
Fatal Blade (2000)
Plot Summary:
East meets West as the Japanese Yakuza battle drug lords and the LAPD in the streets of Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 280
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, captivating, suspense, crime drama
Similar in 87%
Karate Warriors (1976)
Plot Summary:
The fourth and final film in the "Street Fighter" series, where Tsurugi protects a little boy while coping with rival gangs.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 362
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: grindhouse
Similar in 85%
Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
Plot Summary:
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, exciting, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 82%
Outrage Coda (2017)
Plot Summary:
Ôtomo gets involved with new Yakuza battles after he comes back the Yakuza society.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, neo noir, hood