The Yakuza (1974)

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers:

Paul Schrader (screenplay) and
Robert Towne (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

March 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

A man never forgets. A man pays his debts.

Plot:

Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George's kidnapped daughter...

Plot Keywords:

Yakuza | Sword Fight | Detective | Katana Sword | Cult Favorite

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Harry Kilmer
Ken Takakura	...	Tanaka Ken (as Takakura Ken)
Brian Keith	...	George Tanner
Herb Edelman	...	Wheat
Richard Jordan	...	Dusty
Keiko Kishi	...	Eiko (as Kishi Keiko)
Eiji Okada	...	Tono (as Okada Eiji)
James Shigeta	...	Goro
Kyosuke Mashida	...	Kato
Christina Kokubo	...	Hanako
Eiji Go	...	Spider (as Go Eiji)
Lee Chirillo	...	Louise
M. Hisaka	...	Boyfriend
William Ross	...	Tanner's Guard
Akiyama	...	Tono's Guard
Harada	...	Goro's Doorman

Directed by
Sydney Pollack

Writing credits
Paul Schrader		(screenplay) and
Robert Towne		(screenplay)
Leonard Schrader		(story)

Produced by
Michael Hamilburg	....	co-producer
Sydney Pollack	....	producer

Original Music by
Dave Grusin

Cinematography by
Kôzô Okazaki		(director of photography) (as Okazaki Kozo)

Film Editing by
Don Guidice
Thomas Stanford

Production Design by
Stephen B. Grimes		(as Stephen Grimes)

Art Direction by
Yoshiyuki Ishida		(as Ishida Yoshiyuki)

Costume Design by
Dorothy Jeakins

Makeup Department
Garry Morris	....	makeup artist

Production Management
John R. Coonan	....	production manager (as John Coonan)
Isao Nagaoka	....	unit production manager (as Nagaoka Isao)
William Ross	....	assistant production manager
Yoshio Yamamoto	....	unit production manager (as Yamamoto Yoshio)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mike Abe	....	assistant director
Stephen B. Grimes	....	second unit director (as Stephen Grimes)
Michael D. Moore	....	assistant director (as Michael Moore)

Art Department
Toshio Miyagawa	....	props (as Miyagawa Toshio)
Seiji Moori	....	tattoo artist (as Mohri Seiji)

Sound Department
Basil Fenton-Smith	....	sound mixer (as Basil Fenton Smith)
Arthur Piantadosi	....	sound re-recording mixer
Ed Scheid	....	sound effects (as Edwin Scheid)

Special Effects by
Tomoo Kasai	....	special effects (as Kasai Tomoo)
Richard Parker	....	special effects

Stunts
Bill Saito	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bobby Byrne	....	camera operator (as Robert Byrne)
Duke Callaghan	....	director of photography: american sequences
Yoshiaki Masuda	....	gaffer (as Masuda Yoshiaki)
Tamio Matsuo	....	assistant camera (as Matsuo Tamio)
Haruhisa Murase	....	grip (as Murase Haruhisa)
Clifton Ralke	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Mamoru Mori	....	wardrobe (as Mori Mamoru)

Editorial Department
Carol Ann Jackson	....	assistant editor
Ralph Sandler	....	assistant editor
Fredric Steinkamp	....	supervising editor

Music Department
Ted Whitfield	....	music editor

Other crew
Kuroki Masami	....	production personnel
Phill Norman	....	title designer
Michie Ross	....	production secretary
Masao Sato	....	assistant to executive producer (as Sato Masao)
Gaylin P. Schultz	....	production coordinator (as Gaylin Schultz)
Takeshi Sugimoto	....	production personnel (as Sugimoto Takeshi)
Keiko Tsushima	....	script girl (as Tsushima Keiko)
Hope Williams	....	script supervisor
Seiji Yada	....	production personnel (as Yada Seiji)

Production Companies

• Toei Company
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1979) (USA) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print - Panavision)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Toei Company  special thanks (as Toei Motion Picture Company)

Also Known As:

Brotherhood of the Yakuza (UK) (video title)

Runtime:

Japan:123 min | UK:107 min | USA:112 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) | Singapore:PG | France:-12 | Canada:14A (video rating) | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (cut) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Kyoto, Japan

Company:

Toei Company

Trivia:

Martin Scorsese wanted to direct after Mean Streets (1973) but the producers wanted Sydney Pollack.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: The boom mic is clearly visible in one scene when Oliver Wheat grabs his cat while telling the story of Eiko to Dusty, the mic appears behind the table and is retracted as Wheat advances.

Quotes:

Dusty: American saw cuts on a push stroke, Japanese saw cuts on a pull stroke. When an American cracks up, he opens up the window and shoots up a bunch of strangers. When a Japanese cracks up, he closes the window and kills himself. Everything is in reverse.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Soundtrack:

Only the Wind

Powerful and melancholy

A neglected classic of 70's film-making, this is perhaps the most "Japanese" movie ever made by a non-Japanese. The story is rich and multi-layered, featuring not one but two sets of star-crossed lovers in a brilliant and melancholy examination of contrasting themes of memory, secrets and betrayal, friendship, honor and obligation. The script is both literate and intricate; the characters' motives are almost always obscure until another layer of deception is stripped away.

Only Robert Mitchum could have done justice to the role of Harry Kilmer, a retired detective returning to Japan for the first time in many years to rescue his old Army friend Tanner's daughter, who has been kidnapped by the Yakuza in a dispute over a debt Tanner owes them. When Kilmer arrives in Japan, he seeks out Ken, the brother of his ex-lover Eiko (played by the astoundingly lovely and talented Kishi Keiko). Ken is a lone wolf, an ex-Yakuza who now runs a martial arts school, and though there is obviously no love lost between the two, Kilmer knows Ken carries an obligation to him for rescuing Eiko and her infant daughter in the early days of the Occupation.

Kilmer is still bitter about the past, deeply wounded by his love for Eiko, who would not marry him -- though she offered to live with him as long as he wished -- even though she loves him deeply. This was the reason why he left Japan and never meant to return.

Now, with Ken's reluctant help, he rescues Tanner's daughter, but this only leads to an intensifying spiral of tragic consequences, because nothing is quite what it seems. Only when Kilmer begins to understand the truth of the situation is he able to act constructively.

Everyone in this film, from Brian Keith to Herb Edelman to Richard Jordan (in one of his first starring roles) turns in a first-rate performance. James Shigeta and Christina Kobuko also deserve honorable mention. But it is Mitchum and Takakura Ken -- who does more with just his eyes and tense, almost feline body language than many who now lay claim to the title of "actor" -- that make this movie.

This is not an action film in the sense of later -- and far inferior -- efforts like "The Challenge" and "Black Rain", though there are scenes of intense and graphic violence. Nor does it have a happy ending, although some of the characters do ultimately find redemption and a hope of reconciliation.

"The Yakuza" is a work that deserves a much larger audience, one that will totally engage a thoughtful viewer with its universal themes worked out against the background of a very different culture, with its own mindset and traditions. I give it my highest recommendation.