New Battles Without Honor and Humanity

In 1973-74, Japan's Toei studio made five yakuza films under the umbrella title Battles Without Honor and Humanity. Loosely based on the memoirs of an actual yakuza leader, all were directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starred Bunta Sugawara. The enormous success of this quintet led Toei to demand sequels, resulting in the trio of films collected here. While all are yakuza yarns, the plots are not related to either the previous films or each other, and even though Sugawara stars in all three, he plays different characters. In the first, New Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1974), Sugawara stars as Makio, a thug who is approached by both a lieutenant wanting Makio to kill their boss and by the boss himself, who wants the traitor dead. In The Boss's Head (1975), Sugawara plays a drifter who, after assassinating a yakuza boss, is cheated out of the agreed-on payment and goes to extremes to get what he is owed. And The Boss's Last Days (1976) finds Sugawara in the role of Nozaki, who becomes embroiled in increasingly complicated efforts to avenge the assassination of the leader of his gang. None of these movies approach the quality of the first two Godfather films, which were made at roughly the same time, but Fukasaku creates a sense of visceral excitement, with plenty of violent fights and shootouts, and Sugawara consistently cuts a tough-as-nails figure. Presented with decent transfers (with no sign of serious restoration), extras include a retrospective featurette, and a two-part interview with screenwriter Koji Takada. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)