This film is about a supposedly real-life yakuza maniac who made his mark in post-war Japan. In many ways, this nut was like Joe Pesci in GOODFELLAS except he had no friends at all (Pesci, a socipathic idiot at least had De Nero). Like Pesci, the anti-hero of this film had a hair-trigger temper and made a bad habit of screwing up his life. While the guy made it to the mid to upper levels in his organization, his insane actions (stabbing superiors, getting hooked on drugs and then stealing it from your superiors, etc.). If this guy WAS based on a real character, then the yakuza is actually a group of pussycats because no matter what he did, he seemed to get away with a lot of smacks on the hand. Imagine a mobster killing a godfather and just getting beaten up and banished as a result! Plus, shortly after his banishment, the idiot returns to town! This is all very interesting but the film, at times, just seems pointlessly violent. Sure, this guy's life WAS that way, but I just didn't want to sit and watch him rape, kill, stab, etc. for an entire movie. By the way, this is pretty much the entire plot. For gore and rape lovers, this film is for you--others think twice about watching.

Unhinged and unpredictable renegade yakuza gang member Rikio Ishikawa (an excellent and intimidating portrayal by Tetsuya Watari) gets banished to Osaka because of his crazy and violent conduct. Only young courtesan Chieko (a fine and sympathetic performance by the lovely Yumi Takigawa) gives Rikio any shelter and support as his self-destructive behavior compounds the severity of his situation. Director Kinji Fukasaku relates the gripping story at a brisk pace, offers a fascinating and illuminating exploration of the Japanese mobster criminal underground and their strict code of honor, deftly uses a mock documentary newsreel style to give the narrative a strong sense of historical accuracy and authenticity, stages the exciting action with rip-roaring brio, and maintains a tough gritty tone throughout. The startling moments of savage violence pack a ferocious punch. However, it's the stark and unwavering way this film presents the main character as a real nasty and irredeemable bastard whose raging temper and fierce nature make him a constant threat to everyone around him including and especially himself that gives the plot its an extra potent nihilistic edge; Rikio is the sort of horrible person who just couldn't get out of his own way and thus was doomed to meet a harsh untimely end. Hanjiro Nakazawa's wild widescreen cinematography boasts loads of insane tilted camera angles and funky occasional use of sepia and freeze frames. Toshiaki Tsushima's rousing score hits the stirring spot. A blistering portrait of a dangerous psycho.

This is a glorified, down-beat & grim "biopic" of a Yakuza madman named Ishikawa(Tetsuya Watari, who plays him as a quiet calm before the tornadic release)who has this mentally unstable nasty streak that comes out in a fiendish explosion when others stand in his way. He almost causes a clan war when he attacks a rival Yakuza lord from another city. This causes a downward spiral for him as his seemingly uncontrollable path of violence and death leads to a vicious attack on his own Kawada Yakuza Godfather and a banishment from all clans for ten years, which is part of the code. After a brief stint in prison he's ordered to stay in Osaka for the remaining ten and would be allowed back once he served his time. After only a year, Ishikawa returns to cause havoc once again. While in Osaka he developed a drug habit which would lead him down an even more violent path for he would find those in possession of what he needed and threaten their very lives if they wouldn't fork over product to stick in his arm. His only real ally is a tragic geisha, Chieko(Yumi Takigawa),who is slowly dying..but, even she suffered rape from Ishikawa showing that he has no real respect for anyone when it comes to getting his own degree of satisfaction by any means necessary. When he attacks the godfather of the Imai clan, no real avenue of escape will ever be available again. He often seems unkillable as attempts on his life are frequent, though he is often cunning through his hiding(..and also not so cunning when he appears in public at gambling houses). When he kills the Imai Godfather, his life expectancy shrinks considerably.

The film is told in a documentary form with narration depicting a specific tumultuous time in the late forties when clans operated almost like little governments dictating business within the city of Shinjuku. Each has their turf and tries to remain loyal to each other hoping to escape any means of war. All Japanese loathe a specific group of foreigners nicknamed "the thirds" making up mostly Korean, Taiwanese, & Chinese who seem to try to live within the city but are treated as the plague of the country. We also see how the loss to America in the World War seems to have created a child without it's parents as this massive collective of people frequent the streets in droves. The Yakuza clans do seem to be the only means of parent-ship available to those without a home or identity. The film is ultimately a blitzkrieg of gang wars, prostituting whores, "black-market" elections, gambling, drugs, and Ishikawa is immersed within the frenzied structure..he's certainly a doomed creature because how can such a crazed heathen as he ever survive? The film has wildly imaginative camera-work which seems to show an unbalanced world through the gaze of Ishikawa. It has visual verve and is certainly loaded with bloody carnage.