The Boss's Head (1975) User Reviews

The Head of the Boss

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 16 August 2017]

Sugawara is Kuroda, an itinerant gambler who steps in when a hit by drug-addicted assassin Kusunoki goes wrong, and takes the fall on behalf of the Owada family, but when the gang fails to make good on financial promises to him, Kuroda targets the family bosses with a ruthless vengeance.

Crafting the script this time are Susumu Saji, perhaps best known for writing "Voice Without a Shadow" (1958) for Nikkatsu; and Kôji Takada, who wrote "The Street Fighter" (1974) with Sonny Chiba. The general concept details some of the conflicts between the Owada family and the Kyoei Group over the control of the Kanmon Straits.

This is a very smart location choice. Much like how the American mob infiltrated the docks, it makes sense to have the yakuza try to control the Straits, which is a necessary passageway for boats coming from Korea and China. Whether it be drugs or something legal, whomever controls the passageway can very effectively put their dominance on the commercial world of Japan.

Even better, this time we add Meiko Kaji to the mix. Though best known as the assassin Lady Snowblood, or perhaps the murderous Sasori from the "Female Convict 701: Scorpion" series, she is no less menacing here.

Yakuza Papers Pt. 7 - Kuroda, the Wandering Yakuza

[jimniexperience · 8/10 · 22 April 2018]

The return of Kinji Fukasaku's envisioned gangster franchise. Kôji Takada is taking the screenwriting reigns - and brought the old-school calculated violence mixed with a love for lower society women. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wanderer Shuji Kuroda leaks information to Tetsu, a Owada member, about a hit on Boss Kyoei. After Tetsu gets high and unable to perform, Kuroda does the hit and gets 7 years behind bars. He's promised 5 million upon his return. He saves inmate Shimura from getting raped and Shimura becomes Kuroda's new henchman.

When he gets out he discovers Tetsu drugged out and kicked out of the Owada clan. He threatens to take Tetsu's bar by force but Tetsu devises a way to get Kuroda his money. They kidnap Boss Owada and his mistress and threaten to bury them alive and Owada coughs up the money. He sends Captain Aihara to pay Kuroda , but Aihara has other plans.

He gives Kuroda a bunch of heroin and tells him to sell it in Akamatsu's territory. Akamatsu is at odds with Aihara (who is having affair with his barhostess) and sends flunkies to rob Kuroda. Kuroda's henchman kills Akamatsu at the expense of his own life, and now the Owada clan is under police surveillance.

Boss Owada informs the clan he is taking in Kuroda, fore he is a wanderer who has assisted their climb in power. This puts Aihara in an uneasy spot, who was hoping to either blackmail or get Kuroda killed during his affair with Akamatsu. After the Boss overhears Aihara talking about seccession before he considers retiring, Owada makes a drastic decision of appointing Izeki (the longest standing member) as the new Chairman and Kuroda as his trusted enforcer. These recent changes foils Aihara's scheme of taking over the family.

Meanwhile Tetsu has a withdrawal episode and storms into the club attacking members of Owada. Kuroda and Aihara rivalry thickens as Kuroda dances with Aihara's mistress on the night of their ceremony. Aihara uses the opportunity of Tetsu's crazed attack to blackmail him into killing both Kuroda and Boss Owada to save his own life. Tetsu lets Kuroda live, but kills Boss Owada , sending the clan down a path of leadership uncertainty.

At Owada's funeral, Aihara's supporters bully Izeki into dropping rank and appointing Aihara as the new Chairman. Kuroda decides to kill Aihara to fulfill Boss Owada's dying wishes. Izeki sends his henchmen to kill Kuroda but he escapes disappearing without a trace.

Aihara starts his path to visit all the Yakuza Families of Japan, and Kuroda devises a plan to ambush him along the way. After a few botched attempts Kuroda finally gets his wish after staging a police arrest to get Aihara and gang to drop their guard. Aihara and gang celebrate the good news in the club. Shimura sneaks past security and kills Aihara and his gang kills Shimura. As everyone in the Owada family surround Aihara hospital bed they get a call from Kuroda, congratulating Izeki for becoming the new Chairman of the Owada clan. The movie ends with the yakuza tradition crowning Izeki new Chairman, and Kuroda is back in attendance.

More gangster violence from Kinji Fukusaku

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 24 December 2017]

THE BOSS'S HEAD is the second in the NEW BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR & HUMANITY trilogy and sees many returning cast members in a new stand-alone story. Once again Bunta Sugawara headlines the story, playing a small-time assassin who goes off the deep end when a Yakuza crime family which is in debt to him refuses to honour their obligations, causing him to go on a rampage of revenge. Anyone familiar with the rest of Kinji Fukasaku's gangster output of the 1970s will know what to expect here, with endless violent interactions between rival gangsters and families, the general abuse of women and the weak, interspersed with scenes of male bonding. The cast is particularly good, with Mikio Narita an ever-imposing presence, the long-serving actor Seizo Fukumoto (best known in the west for playing Tom Cruise's bodyguard in THE LAST SAMURAI), Sonny Chiba cameoing as a bartender, and LADY SNOWBLOOD herself, Meiko Kaji, showing up for good measure.

A return to form for the series after the slightly shaky sixth film

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 7/10 · 20 September 2022]

This seventh film in the Battles Without Honour and Humanity series was a notable improvement over the sixth. The whole series is the gold standard for Japanese yakuza movies, thanks to their fast pacing, complex plots full of gang politics and betrayal, brutal violence, and chaotic camerawork.

On the topic of complex plots, I do often get lost watching these movies because of how many characters there are, but The Boss' Head was surprisingly simple, comparatively. Most of the conflict is internal (within one crime family), which means there's less of a need to keep track of which character belongs to which gang, which gets pretty difficult with some of the other films.

The plot involves a loose associate/lone wolf gangster becoming wrapped up in the main family, and the consequences that come from him involving himself with them. If you've seen other yakuza movies before (or even just other gangster movies before), it's the kind of stuff you'd expect, but it's executed well here.

They churned most of these movies out within a matter of years, and I'm impressed with the overall quality of the series. While this film wasn't a high point, I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous one I watched. Also, seeing as there's only one more film to go for this series (at least the ones that came out in the 1970s), I feel I can safely say - even if I don't end up liking the eighth much - that it's overall a very good series of frantic, gritty, bloody crime-thrillers.