The Yakuza (1975)

Synopsis: Written by Paul Schrader and Robert Towne and directed by Sydney Pollack, THE YAKUZA is the exciting, violent tale of the attempt to rescue a young girl from Japanese gangsters. When shipping executive George Tanner (Brian Keith) discovers that his daughter has been kidnapped, he calls upon... Written by Paul Schrader and Robert Towne and directed by Sydney Pollack, THE YAKUZA is the exciting, violent tale of the attempt to rescue a young girl from Japanese gangsters. When shipping executive George Tanner (Brian Keith) discovers that his daughter has been kidnapped, he calls upon an old army buddy. Former private eye Harry Kilmer knows a lot about Japan, as well as a lot about the Yakuza, the gangsters who keep an iron grip on Japan's gambling, sleaze, and protection rackets. Kilmer realizes there's a right way and a wrong way to approach the brutal underworld. And he knows that in terms of power, there's only one thing mobsters everywhere respect: greater power. Robert Mitchum portrays Kilmer in this bone-jarring East-West collision. Released prior to BLACK RAIN, the film spearheaded the genre as the first American picture to weave the old and the new Japan into a tightly knit action story. Adding to its authenticity is costar Takakura Ken, the "Japanese Clint Eastwood" and a kingpin of his nation's Yakuza film genre. Through Takakura the values that form the centuries-deep bonds of the Nippon underworld are revealed. [More]