Kinji Fukasaku

Known for Directing

Kinji Fukasaku (July 3, 1930 – January 12, 2003) was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer. He is best known in the west for directing the Japanese portion of the Hollywood film Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Battle Royale (2000).

Born

July 3, 1930

Died

January 12, 2003 (age 72)

Birthplace

Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

Filmography

107 films, 6 shows

Movie DirectorRelease Date ↓All GenresAll ErasAny RatingAny Runtime

TMDB2.5

Battle Royale II: Requiem

2003 · 2h 35m

country: Japan

It's three years after the events of the original Battle Royale, and Shuya Nanahara is now an internationally-known terrorist determined to bring down the government. His terrorist group, Wild Seven, stages an attack that levels several buildings in Tokyo on Christmas Day, killing 8000 people. In order for the government to study the benefits of "teamwork", the new students work in pairs, with their collars electronically linked so that if one of them is killed, the other dies as well. They must kill Nanahara in three days - or die.

TMDB3.6

Battle Royale

2000 · 1h 53m

country: Japan

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

TMDB3.9

The Geisha House

1999 · 1h 53m

country: Japan

Set in a Kyoto geisha house during the post-WWII era, the young Omocha begins her rigorous apprenticeship within the traditional community of geiko and maiko. She must navigate complex internal rivalries and a strict social hierarchy while the house struggles to maintain its customs. As modern society shifts around them, the residents face the increasing pressure of Japan's changing cultural identity.

TMDB3.8

The Abe Clan

1995 · 1h 34m

country: Japan

A Choice between Loyalty or Duty of the Samurai! Can the heartlessness of society crush the honor of an individual? In the spring of the 18th year of Kanei, Hosokawa Tadatoshi, feudal lord of the Higo area, died. Although Tadatoshi forbade his vassals to follow him in death before he died, they still committed seppuku one after the other. The new feudal lord, Mitsunao, Tadatoshi's son, also gave the order forbidding seppuku. Abe Yaichiemon obeyed his former lord's last wish but is now being called a coward by his comrades and finally decided to follow Tadatoshi in death in order to save his family's honor. Mitsunao, upset by Yaichiemon actions, punished the Abe family unfairly. Objected to this, the Abe family shut themselves up in their manor as the lords troops moved in. This is the true story of what happened within the Hosokawa clan in early Edo era.

TMDB2.7

Crest of Betrayal

1994 · 1h 46m

country: Japan

Weaving two storylines together: the first is the story of 18th-century shogunate intrigue and loyalty, and the second is a ghost story about a beautiful woman who falls victim to passion and evil.

TMDB3.6

The Triple Cross

1992 · 1h 48m

country: Japan

Following the bloody aftermath of a heist, three robbers are double-crossed by a new accomplice, who is then tracked down amid escalating carnage and spectacular car chases.

TMDB3.6

A Chaos of Flowers

1988 · 2h 19m

country: Japan

Set in the Taisho era, Hana no ran is a story about fashionable people without impulse control. Much of the action centers on a popular woman writer, the real-life poet Akiko Yosano, and her experiences among the literati of early 20th century Japan. Because of her independent, anti-war and often erotic poetry, she was a lightning rod for revolutionaries and other extremists, many of whom were destined to glamorous, yet ultimately pointless, deaths.

TMDB3.5

Sure Death 4

1987 · 2h 11m

country: Japan

Having been demoted for failing to prevent the murder of one of his superiors, Mondo is startled by a group of masked thugs who are soon attacked in turn by an unseen force. He begins to suspect the work of assassins, but whose side are they on?

TMDB2.3

House on Fire

1986 · 2h 13m

country: Japan

In the 50s, the complicated life of a popular writer who must share his life with his family, his numerous mistresses and his work

TMDB3.5

Shanghai Rhapsody

1984 · 2h 1m

country: Japan

Set in the 1930s in the international city of Shanghai, the film follows the extravagant life and times of a group of jazz musicians, living from one advance paycheck to the next, as the country teeters over the brink into the Second Sino-Japanese War.

TMDB2.9

Legend of the Eight Samurai

1983 · 2h 13m

country: Japan

The evil Hikita clan rises from the dead to fulfill a curse on the Satomi clan by restoring the face of their warlord by using the skin of Princess Shizu. In the process of trying to capture her, the clan murders her entire family, but Princess Shizu escapes their clutches. She enlists the aid of eight samurai warriors, possessors of powerful magic crystal, led by Dosetsu (Sonny Chiba!) to help rescue the remaining members of her court and revenge her family. Along the way, they must fight undead warriors, evil spirits, poisonous beauties and a giant centipede.

TMDB4.5

Theater Of Life

1983 · 2h 18m

country: Japan

Adaptation of Shiro Ozaki's novel.

TMDB3.2

Fall Guy

1982 · 1h 48m

country: Japan

Ginshiro, threatened by poor repute and upcoming star Tachibana, forces his friend Yasu to marry Konatsu, Ginshiro's pregnant mistress; Yasu becomes a stuntman to make ends meet.

TMDB3.2

Lovers Lost

1982 · 2h 6m

country: Japan

A poignant love story between a 29-year-old woman, who has once been a prostitute but is now the mistress of a wealthy jewelry merchant, and a 19-year-old college student.

TMDB2.9

Samurai Reincarnation

1981 · 2h 2m

country: Japan

After surviving the slaughter of many Christians 350 years ago, a samurai denounces God for ignoring the pleas of believers. He sells his soul to Satan and receives the power to resurrect the dead to join him in a murderous rampage.

TMDB3.6

Gate of Youth

1981 · 2h 20m

country: Japan

The story of Shinsuke, a young man who lives through a stormy life as a poverty-stricken coal miner. Ranging from Shinsuke's infanthood to his mid-teens. Coal workers and the mines dominate nearly every aspect of his life. Shinsuke's father a group leader at the mine, dies while bravely using dynamite to rescue a group of trapped Korean miners. Several older men attempt to help he and his mother cope, including a friendly Harley-riding yakuza boss. This movie has it all, drama, romance, sex, yakuza and violence! It is based on a story by Hiroyuki Itsuki that was originally serialized in the magazine Shukan Gendai in 1969-70.

TMDB3.1

Virus

1980 · 2h 36m

country: Japan

Scientists in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure to a military virus that was released in a plane crash and has wiped out the rest of the world.

TMDB2.8

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Complete Saga

1980 · 3h 44m

country: Japan

The 224-minute compilation edition of Battles Without Honor and Humanity compiles these four movies: Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Deadly Fight in Hiroshima, Proxy War, Police Tactics.

TMDB3.4

The Fall of Ako Castle

1978 · 2h 39m

country: Japan

This is the story of "The Forty-Seven Ronin." Based on historical events in 1701-2, the movie tells the tale of the Asano clan's downfall and the revenge of its former samurai on the perpetrator of the catastrophe. Lord Asano was goaded, or tricked, into drawing his sword inside the Shogun's palace -- a crime which carried the death penalty. The newly installed Shogun was furious at Asano and ordered all his clan's assets seized, meaning some 20,000 samurai and commoners were unemployed and landless at a stroke. Forty-seven of these ronin (masterless samurai) banded together to take attempt revenge on Lord Kira, who had goaded Asano into drawing his sword.

TMDB2.9

Message from Space

1978 · 1h 45m

country: Japan

The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been nearly wiped out by the Gavanas, whose leader takes orders from his mother rather than the Emperor. King Kaiba sends out eight Liabe holy seeds, each to be received by a chosen one to defend the Gavanas. Each recipient, ranging from hardened General Garuda to Gavana Prince Hans to young Terrans Meia, Kido, and Aaron all have different reactions to being chosen.

TMDB3.5

Shogun's Samurai

1978 · 2h 10m

country: Japan

Following the death of the second Tokugawa shogun, it is revealed that he was poisoned by retainers of his son Iemitsu in hopes of gaining him the shogunate despite the stammer and birthmark which undermine his respect. Iemitsu and his brother Tadanaga become bitter rivals for the shogunate, and the land is split into factions, eventually erupting into warfare. Iemitsu's mentor, his fencing instructor Yagyu, is fixated upon securing Iemitsu the shogunate and ends up betraying everyone, even his own family, in pursuit of the goal.

TMDB3.3

Doberman Cop

1977 · 1h 30m

country: Japan

Joji Kano is a loose cannon cop from backwoods Okinawa, sent to Tokyo to investigate the grisly murder of an Okinawa woman. As he probes deeper into the sleazy world of flesh-peddling, talent agency corruption and mob influence, Kano uncovers the shocking truth.

TMDB3.4

Hokuriku Proxy War

1977 · 1h 38m

country: Japan

A Yakuza group from Osaka with dreams of national dominance moves into the snowy Hokuriku region, sparking a bloody turf war with local gangs.

TMDB3.3

Yakuza Graveyard

1976 · 1h 37m

country: Japan

A police investigator cracks down on yakuza business, but once he realizes the police are in negotiations with certain factions, he sides with his own syndicate of choice.

TMDB3.5

New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 3: Last Days of the Boss

1976 · 1h 31m

country: Japan

The eighth sequel of the series by the successful “Fukasaku and Bunta” collaboration revolves around the men of a lesser organization that are constantly bullied by the upper organization and “bleed in vain” in gang wars.

TMDB3.0

Violent Panic: The Big Crash

1976 · 1h 25m

country: Japan

Takashi, a bank robber, dreams of his final heist and escaping to Brazil... but in his way, stands a woman that loves him, his dead partner's brother, a corrupt cop, a motorcycle gang and every police officer in the Kanto region.

TMDB3.7

New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2: Head of the Boss

1975 · 1h 34m

country: Japan

The seventh in the shocking "Jingi Naki Tatakai" movie series, which exposes the true lives of the yakuza that is hidden by a mask of "jingi". The next stage of this continuing drama is the Kanmon Channel where the Owada and the Kyoei groups are battling for territorial rights and drug smuggling. The Owada sends their man, Tetsu, and his friend Shuji to kill the Kyoei boss. With the promise of fame and riches, Shuji takes the fall and goes to jail for 7 years. But when he's released, he discovers that he and Tetsu have been all but forgotten by the Owada. Feeling betrayed, Shuji takes matters into his own hands and becomes an unsuspecting pawn in an internal conflict and an assassination attempt on the Owada boss. And now angered, Shuji seeks revenge...

TMDB3.6

Gambling Den Heist

1975 · 1h 32m

country: Japan

After eight years in prison, Takeshi’s mission is a big heist from his own clan’s gambling parlor.

TMDB3.0

Cops vs. Thugs

1975 · 1h 40m

country: Japan

When a lucrative waterfront development becomes available, the Kawade gang quickly use their political connections to secure the land. However, the acting boss of the Ohara gang also has his eyes on the property and recruits crooked detective Tokumatsu Kuno to help him hijack the deal. With relations between the rival gangs at breaking point, it's not long before all-out war breaks out as the gangsters, police and local politicians battle for control of the city.

TMDB3.3

Graveyard of Honor

1975 · 1h 34m

country: Japan

A self-destructive man becomes a powerful member of the yakuza but quickly loses his self-control. Based on the true story of Rikio Ishikawa.

TMDB2.9

New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 1

1974 · 1h 38m

country: Japan

Bunta Sugawara is Miyoshi, a low-level assassin of the Yamamori gang who is sent to jail after a bungled hit. While in stir, family member Aoki attempts to seize power from the boss, and Miyoshi finds himself stuck between the two factions with no honorable way out.

TMDB3.6

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode

1974 · 1h 40m

country: Japan

While Hirono is in prison, his rival Takeda turns his own crime organization into a political party, whose two executives stir up new tensions in their thirst for power.

TMDB3.5

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics

1974 · 1h 41m

country: Japan

As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.

TMDB3.5

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War

1973 · 1h 42m

country: Japan

Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.

TMDB3.7

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima

1973 · 1h 39m

country: Japan

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

TMDB3.7

Battles Without Honor and Humanity

1973 · 1h 39m

country: Japan

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

TMDB3.4

Outlaw Killers: Three Mad Dog Brothers

1972 · 1h 26m

country: Japan

The great Bunta stars as a gangster who is sent to jail for the sake of his gang, but when he’s released he finds everything completely changed and his gang has swept him aside for being too violent. He tries to start a new life with his two ”brothers” but can’t seem to escape old affiliations

TMDB3.4

Street Mobster

1972 · 1h 32m

country: Japan

After serving time, a defiant street thug is incensed to find his town overrun by two yakuza factions. He gathers his crew and takes them on.

TMDB3.8

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun

1972 · 1h 36m

country: Japan

A war widow determined to clear the name of her disgraced husband, who was court-martialed for desertion and executed. Official records have been destroyed, and the ministry that distributes benefits continues to deny her a pension. Twenty-six years after the war, she seeks out four survivors of her husband's garrison. Each tells a dramatically different story about her husband's conduct, but she is determined to learn the truth.

TMDB3.6

Sympathy for the Underdog

1971 · 1h 33m

country: Japan

A yakuza gang gets driven out of Yokohama by a big gang from Tokyo. They relocate to Okinawa to violently start over.

TMDB3.0

If You Were Young: Rage

1970 · 1h 29m

country: Japan

If You Were Young: Rage highlights the other side of post-war Japanese prosperity, focusing on the throngs of young people who missed out on the boom. We follow a group of young men that can't seem to get ahead, despite their willingness to try. Then one hits upon a plan - to work together to save for a dump truck and thus become independent contractors and be their own bosses at last. Ultimately life presents obstacles: jail for one, violence at the hands of the police for another, and a girlfriend and subsequent children for the third. An early Kinji Fukasaku gem that imports the freewheeling style of the French New Wave and the hip detachment of American noir.

TMDB3.7

Bloodstained Clan of Honor

1970 · 1h 28m

country: Japan

The story takes place in the sunset days of the yakuza in 1965. The postwar turmoil that created the black market and lubricated illegal business opportunities was giving way to Japan Inc. A young Bunta Sugawara takes over as the oyabun of a crime syndicate in Yokohama, where he is struggling to keep operations at the port there alive. As his syndicate is eroding quickly, a major heavy industries company offers his gang the chance to chase some vagrants out of a shantytown where they are squatting on land where a factory is to be built. The job would secure steady profits for Bunta's crime ring for years to come. However, Bunta and other members of his outfit grew up in the shanty, and they would be muscling their friends and neighbors. This sets the stage for an internal struggle that complicates the violent struggle with a rival mafia organization in Tokyo.

TMDB3.6

Tora! Tora! Tora!

1970 · 2h 24m

country: Japan

In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.

TMDB2.5

Black Rose Mansion

1969 · 1h 31m

country: Japan

When wealthy Kyohei hires singer "Black Rose" to perform in his exclusive club, he gets more than he bargains for when she attracts scores of homicidal past lovers. The film takes a bizarre twist when Kyohei's son falls victim to the femme fatale's unique charm.

TMDB3.8

Japan Organized Crime Boss

1969 · 1h 37m

country: Japan

Coming out of jail and hoping for a quiet life, Yokohama yakuza has to take the lead of his gang after the death of his boss. His small group is is taken in a crossfire between a big yakuza group from Osaka at war with the Tokyo alliance for the control of the city. He tries to keep to the old yakuza code but he is no match for the new thugs who live and fight without honor.

TMDB2.6

The Green Slime

1968 · 1h 30m

country: Japan

A giant asteroid is heading toward Earth so some astronauts disembark from a nearby space station to blow it up. The mission is successful, and they return to the station unknowingly bringing back a gooey green substance that mutates into one-eyed tentacled monsters that feed off electricity. Soon the station is crawling with them, and people are being zapped left and right!

TMDB3.5

Black Lizard

1968 · 1h 26m

country: Japan

A detective tries to outwit an art loving thief who has kidnapped the daughter of a jeweler to get to an exquisite diamond.

TMDB3.3

Blackmail Is My Life

1968 · 1h 30m

country: Japan

Though he has come from a rough background on the streets, Muraki quickly rises through the ranks by means of his well-honed blackmailing instincts. Desperate to keep rolling with his freewheeling lifestyle, Muraki sees his luck begin to crumble when he sets his sights on the business partners of a powerful gang boss.

TMDB4.0

Gambler's Farewell

1968 · 1h 31m

country: Japan

The story of men devoted to the yakuza lifestyle and their struggles during a time of fading yakuza power.

TMDB3.5

Dissolution Rites

1967 · 1h 32m

country: Japan

Sawaki is released from prison after serving eight years for murdering a rival gang leader in order to obtain the land rights to a landfill for the Kotaki clan and he discovers that the world has changed significantly in that time. The police have forced the disbanding of all yakuza groups in and around Tokyo and most of the former yakuza have moved on to legitimate jobs. Sawaki is disgusted that his yakuza brothers have abandoned their codes of honor and are abusing their newfound power in the legitimate business world to exploit the poor. Sawaki feels partly responsible for making them so powerful and enabling their corruption, so he decides to follow his traditional code of honor to save the residents of a small town where his former lover lives.

TMDB3.5

Rampaging Dragon of the North

1966 · 1h 25m

country: Japan

The son of a prominent member of a fishing community returns home after a stint with the yakuza to find his father has died under orders of a local gang leader. He sets out to avenge his father, keeping his plans secret from his mother who is cold to him since his perceived abandonment of the family. This wonderful, if little-seen, Fukasaku gem deals with family, community and what it means to do right by both.

TMDB3.8

The Kamikaze Guy

1966 · 1h 30m

country: Japan

An elaborate criminal tango based around treasure hidden during WWII.

TMDB3.7

The Threat

1966 · 1h 24m

country: Japan

Two escaped criminals who kidnapped a baby break into the house of Misawa, a man who works in an advertising agency and lives quietly with his family. They will force him to collect the child's ransom for them.

TMDB4.1

Wolves, Pigs & Men

1964 · 1h 35m

country: Japan

Sabu and his pals hold a pauper's funeral for Sabu's mother. His brother Jiro arrives home, fresh out of jail, and Sabu pointedly states that Jiro is not invited. Jiro meanwhile is planning a big job - steal 40 million in cash and drugs, and he invites Sabu and gang to act as decoys, for 50,000 each. The sting is a success, but the double-crossing starts almost immediately. Sabu discovers how little of the take they were promised and hides the stash. Jiro and his slimy partner pressure the kids to fess up. Meanwhile, their respectable elder brother Ichiro is being leaned on by the town's big boss, whose money it was.

TMDB3.7

Jakoman and Tetsu

1964 · 1h 40m

country: Japan

In a village subsisting on its herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the inhabitants. One of them, the son of the head of one of the fish companies by the name of Tetsu, decides to overthrow Jakoman and his cohorts.

TMDB4.0

League of Gangsters

1963 · 1h 20m

country: Japan

A yakuza is released from prison after serving a long sentence. He immediately sets about creating a new gang and attempts to pull off a huge ransom score.

TMDB3.8

Gang vs. G-Men

1962 · 1h 22m

country: Japan

Two rival gangs of gangsters clash for dominance of a neighborhood.

TMDB3.7

The Challenge

1962 · 1h 29m

country: Japan

Journalist Kuroki is investigating clandestine arms sales to Southeast Asia. He discovers that the point man in an arms trade was also involved in the cover-up of a murder on an American base during the Allied Occupation. The film rolls along as a suspenseful thriller while offering a critique of political corruption, hypocrisy, and journalistic cowardice in postwar Japan.

TMDB4.0

Greed in Broad Daylight

1961 · 1h 22m

country: Japan

After a successful robbery the culprits, from very different backgrounds, at once turn on each other.

TMDB3.3

Man with a Funky Hat: The 20,000,000 Yen Arm

1961 · 53m

country: Japan

Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba returns as the reckless son of a private detective takes on the case of a minor league baseball pitcher who disappears right before signing a contract into the major leagues. Meanwhile, the body of an orthopedist is discovered in the river.

TMDB4.5

Man with the Funky Hat

1961 · 53m

country: Japan

Ichiro (Chiba) is a scrappy little sport in a big car and funny hat always looking for some fun and some extra cash on the side. He and his friends get themselves involved in some shady business dealings involving a kidnapping.

TMDB3.5

Drifting Detective: Black Wind in Harbor

1961 · 1h

country: Japan

Drifting detective Goro Saionji is asked to investigate the sinking of a fishing boat in a port town on the Bōsō Peninsula and runs up against the smuggling gang behind the case.

TMDB3.5

Drifting Detective: Tragedy in the Red Valley

1961 · 1h 2m

country: Japan

The great Sonny Chiba stars as Goro Saionji, a drifting thrill-seeker. Out to investigate a suspisious plane crash in the Red Valley, he uncovers a plot involving yakuza and a shady land developer to evict an old farmer off of his land to build a sky resort. Goro must now help the old farmer and his daughter and take those criminals on.