Production: Toei
Color / Length: Color, 88 minutes
Director: Teruo Ishii
Actors: Ken Takakura, Naoki Sugiura, Kanjuro Arashi, Toru Abe
Review:
This part of the long lasting “Abashiri Prison”-Series is generally considered the best part of them all (at least, that’s what I read), which makes me wonder if I want to see any of the other parts, because this one was such a disappointment for me. “Duel at the wharf” (also known as “Abashiri Prison: going home”) is a rather melodramatic, talky and very badly edited Yakuza-Eiga.. There’s not a lot of action and even the last fight is sub par compared to other Yakuza-Eigas of that time.
Shin’Ichi returns to his hometown to become a better man and to go straight. Out of obligation he helps out the Oyabun of the Asahi-gumi (Kanjuro Arashi reprising his role of wise, old Oyabun) to keep his men, who work at the wharf, out of trouble with the rivalling Yasui-gumi, led by Yasui (Toru Abe, once again in the role as the evil, corrupt Yakuza). At the wharf he befriends the little half-blood Girl Emi (annoying; a little Japanese girl with black make-up and curly wig) which leads to some soppy “I’m gonna take care of you”-scenes. Yasui tries to provoke Asahi’s men into doing something which would give him the right to strike against the Yasui. He sends in white-clad Killer Joe (Naoki Sugiura) to build up the tension and get the wanted reactions. At first Shin’Ichi can keep the men out of trouble, even burning his Tattoo as a sign that he isn’t Yakuza anymore and that he has chosen a way without ….
Though Joe seems to watch this with respect, it is clear, that the final confrontation between the two men, will be a deadly one. When the head of the Asahi-gumi gets killed, Shin’Ichi goes into action, he grabs his Katana and takes on the whole Yasui-gumi alone. In the end there’s only Joe left, both are already covered in blood, Shin’Ichi from a wound and Joe from his bloody coughs of tuberculoses.
Ah… I really wanted to like it, but I just didn’t get into it. The little girl was so silly, the editing sloppy and the whole thing to… blah. Maybe I’ll give it another chance, but for now it’s only…
3 Katanas
Posts mit dem Label Abashiri Prison-Series werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Posts mit dem Label Abashiri Prison-Series werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Montag, 5. November 2007
Abashiri Prison: Continuation (1965) (Pt. 2)
Production: Toei
Color, Length: Color, 87 minutes
Director: Teruo Ishii
Actors: Ken Takakura, Kanjuro Arashi, Toru Abe, George Ai, Kunie Tanake
Review:
The first Abashiri Prison was such a huge success, Toei gave green light to series status the same year and Teruo Ishii got together with practically the same crew of Part 1 to shoot the first of totally 17 sequels. Ken Takakura was back as Shin’Ichi Tachibana, Kanjuro Arashi as Onitora, Toru Abe as the evil Yoda and even Kunie Tanake has a small stand in as the likeable wannabe Playboy-Gangster. Part 2 was shot in colour instead of the black and white of Part 1 and the location shifted from the Walls and Surroundings of the Abashiri Prison, to the not so glamorous cities of Hokkaido-District. There is also a change of tone in the story, which took a turn to broader humour. Something, that would be changed again in Part 3 (Abashiri Prison: Return to the wharf), that has a more melodramatic approach.
Abashiri Prison: Continuation should carry the subtitle “who’s got the loot?”, because the whole story concentrates on some diamonds stolen from a bank safe and smuggled in a replica algae. By mistake Shin’Ichi (Ken Takakura) gets his hands on a part of the loot, but somehow the Police seem to believe he has something to do with the robbery and the involved murder of a Policeman (which of course he hasn’t), what doesn’t make it easy for him to return the diamonds. Together with his bumbling Underling and a female Pickpocket, Jumi, he tries to get the man who is responsible for the Robbery and the Murders (besides the Policeman, a thief involved in the robbery and a woman working as a smuggler got murdered by the scrupulous Killer). To get things a little complicated a bunch of Strippers gets pulled into the story as well, which leads to even more confusion to all the parties involved. On his way to find out who pulled the strings behind the robbery, Shin’Ichi gets unexpected help from Onitora (Kanjuro Arashi), an Oyabun whom he already had met in Abashiri Prison and though Onitora (or Tora as friends call him) may be old, he still knows how to throw a good punch. But Onitora is not the only familiar face Shin’Ichi meets. As it turns out, the man behind it all is Yoda (Toru Abe), the evil Yakuza, who already had tried to break Shin’Ichi in Abashiri Prison. When Yoda captures Jumi, he tries to exchange her for the diamonds that are in Shin’Ichi’s care. And although Shin’Ichi is ready to put his own life on risk for her, the story takes another unexpected turn when a stranger comes to the rescue, which leads to a crazy rugby-like chase after the replica algae in the midst of a fire festival and ends in a mud fight between Shin’Ichi and Yoda.
The Abashiri Prison-Series hasn’t yet managed to spark the fire in me. But to be honest, Part 2 had me entertained non-stop. Probably my expectations were so low, that it couldn’t have disappointed me any more. And this charming little story about some stolen diamonds and the ensuing chaos reminded me of some of the better Gangster B-Movies from sixties I liked to watch on Sunday afternoons. And there were some scenes that really had some visual flair or at least interesting ideas behind them. Probably I’m too good to this movie, because the Plot had more holes, than the socks I wore when I still was a bachelor and there was some very bad acting. Not one for the Fukasaku-Crew and not necessary mandatory viewing, but if you don’t know what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon, give this bugger a chance.
3 1/2 Katanas
Color, Length: Color, 87 minutes
Director: Teruo Ishii
Actors: Ken Takakura, Kanjuro Arashi, Toru Abe, George Ai, Kunie Tanake
Review:
The first Abashiri Prison was such a huge success, Toei gave green light to series status the same year and Teruo Ishii got together with practically the same crew of Part 1 to shoot the first of totally 17 sequels. Ken Takakura was back as Shin’Ichi Tachibana, Kanjuro Arashi as Onitora, Toru Abe as the evil Yoda and even Kunie Tanake has a small stand in as the likeable wannabe Playboy-Gangster. Part 2 was shot in colour instead of the black and white of Part 1 and the location shifted from the Walls and Surroundings of the Abashiri Prison, to the not so glamorous cities of Hokkaido-District. There is also a change of tone in the story, which took a turn to broader humour. Something, that would be changed again in Part 3 (Abashiri Prison: Return to the wharf), that has a more melodramatic approach.
Abashiri Prison: Continuation should carry the subtitle “who’s got the loot?”, because the whole story concentrates on some diamonds stolen from a bank safe and smuggled in a replica algae. By mistake Shin’Ichi (Ken Takakura) gets his hands on a part of the loot, but somehow the Police seem to believe he has something to do with the robbery and the involved murder of a Policeman (which of course he hasn’t), what doesn’t make it easy for him to return the diamonds. Together with his bumbling Underling and a female Pickpocket, Jumi, he tries to get the man who is responsible for the Robbery and the Murders (besides the Policeman, a thief involved in the robbery and a woman working as a smuggler got murdered by the scrupulous Killer). To get things a little complicated a bunch of Strippers gets pulled into the story as well, which leads to even more confusion to all the parties involved. On his way to find out who pulled the strings behind the robbery, Shin’Ichi gets unexpected help from Onitora (Kanjuro Arashi), an Oyabun whom he already had met in Abashiri Prison and though Onitora (or Tora as friends call him) may be old, he still knows how to throw a good punch. But Onitora is not the only familiar face Shin’Ichi meets. As it turns out, the man behind it all is Yoda (Toru Abe), the evil Yakuza, who already had tried to break Shin’Ichi in Abashiri Prison. When Yoda captures Jumi, he tries to exchange her for the diamonds that are in Shin’Ichi’s care. And although Shin’Ichi is ready to put his own life on risk for her, the story takes another unexpected turn when a stranger comes to the rescue, which leads to a crazy rugby-like chase after the replica algae in the midst of a fire festival and ends in a mud fight between Shin’Ichi and Yoda.
The Abashiri Prison-Series hasn’t yet managed to spark the fire in me. But to be honest, Part 2 had me entertained non-stop. Probably my expectations were so low, that it couldn’t have disappointed me any more. And this charming little story about some stolen diamonds and the ensuing chaos reminded me of some of the better Gangster B-Movies from sixties I liked to watch on Sunday afternoons. And there were some scenes that really had some visual flair or at least interesting ideas behind them. Probably I’m too good to this movie, because the Plot had more holes, than the socks I wore when I still was a bachelor and there was some very bad acting. Not one for the Fukasaku-Crew and not necessary mandatory viewing, but if you don’t know what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon, give this bugger a chance.
3 1/2 Katanas
Abashiri Prison aka Walls of Abashiri (1965) (Pt. 1)
Production: Toei
Color / Length: b/w, 92 minutes
Director: Teruo Ishii
Actors: Ken Takakura, Tetsuro Tanba, Toru Abe, Kanjuro Arashi
Review:
Abashiri Bangaichi/Abashiri Prison (also known as Walls of Abashiri) was the breakthrough role for Ken Takakura and the first Part of a long lasting series. Ken Takakura had already starred in a few movies that could be considered Yakuza-Eiga, but with Abashiri Prison he hit Gold. With the “Showa Zankyo-Den”-Series and the “Chivalrous Story of Japan”-Series he would later cement his status as leading man of Yakuza-Eiga.
The man behind the first batch of the Abshiri-Series was none other than Teruo Ishii, known in the west more for his Erotic-Grotesque movies, he made in the late sixties and early seventies. In the sixties, he was one of the leading directors if it came to Yakuza-Eiga, working with such talent as Takakura and Tsuruta regularly.
Ken Takakura plays a lone Wolf Yakuza who hasn’t yet given in to an absolute cynical view of life, values like honour and friendship still rank high with him and he lives for this code as he would die for it. In the first Part we meet Shin’Ichi (Ken Takakura) as he starts serving his prison sentence in the famous title-giving Abashiri Prison. The Abashiri Prison (which actually exists) lies deep in Hokkaido a part of Japan also known as the Japanese Siberia. But the cold weather is not the only problem, Shin’Ichi has to face. There are some shifty characters, who try to corrupt the rather serious and good hearted Shin’Ichi. Especially Gonda, a blueprint of a despicable ganster shit, who is chained to Shin’Ichi when they’re on outdoor labour, tries to provoke him every time he gets the chance to. But not all are bad in Abashiri. There is a wise old Oyabun (Kanjuro Arashi), who keeps to himself until he has to break into action and show the young ones, that he still can be a mean bastard, even in his old age. When Gonda makes for an escape, Shin’Ichi reluctantly has to join him, as he is still chained to the miserable psycho. The escape comes halfway through the movie and what was a male version of “Female Convict Scorpion” first, turns into a Japanese rip-off of “The defiant ones” (Tony Curtis/Sidney Portier).
Shot in b/w, the stark landscape of Hokkaido and the deep snow everywhere, seem like a nightmare of an arctic hell. Whoever built the Abashiri Prison there knew what effect the surrounding would have on the inmates. Strange, that a movie, that had such an unfriendly décor would be such a big hit (in Japan). But it works good for the movie, especially for the second part, when Shin’Ichi and Gonda are on the run. Though one can not really speak of running, as they more or less have to wade through the white stuff. And when they find other means of transport, it is by railway (watch for an extraordinary chase on the railways).
Half Prison drama, half Escape movie, Abashiri Prison is a hodgepodge of genres and in my opinion it doesn’t always work for its favour. Ishii’s direction is as always straight forward; you cant expect any visual gimmicks from him. So it’s down to the actors and here you really get the goods. Takakura gives a performance that would stick with him for the next decade, good hearted and calm but still rough enough if he would have to. Tetsuro Tanba (as a lawyer who puts his trust into Shin’Ichi) for once isn’t as stiff as in other movies and gives a believable portrayal of a man pushed into extremes, while Hiroshi Nanbara (as Gonda) is a perfect (if sometimes a little OTT) evil slime ball who rapes for fun and knows no boundaries for his immorality. Oh, and of course there’s good old “funny face” Kunie Tanake, who graced many a Yakuza-Eiga in the sixties and seventies by his presence.Over all not really a masterpiece, even though it has this iconic status, but a MUST for the Yakuza-Eiga enthusiast.
4 Katanas
Color / Length: b/w, 92 minutes
Director: Teruo Ishii
Actors: Ken Takakura, Tetsuro Tanba, Toru Abe, Kanjuro Arashi
Review:
Abashiri Bangaichi/Abashiri Prison (also known as Walls of Abashiri) was the breakthrough role for Ken Takakura and the first Part of a long lasting series. Ken Takakura had already starred in a few movies that could be considered Yakuza-Eiga, but with Abashiri Prison he hit Gold. With the “Showa Zankyo-Den”-Series and the “Chivalrous Story of Japan”-Series he would later cement his status as leading man of Yakuza-Eiga.
The man behind the first batch of the Abshiri-Series was none other than Teruo Ishii, known in the west more for his Erotic-Grotesque movies, he made in the late sixties and early seventies. In the sixties, he was one of the leading directors if it came to Yakuza-Eiga, working with such talent as Takakura and Tsuruta regularly.
Ken Takakura plays a lone Wolf Yakuza who hasn’t yet given in to an absolute cynical view of life, values like honour and friendship still rank high with him and he lives for this code as he would die for it. In the first Part we meet Shin’Ichi (Ken Takakura) as he starts serving his prison sentence in the famous title-giving Abashiri Prison. The Abashiri Prison (which actually exists) lies deep in Hokkaido a part of Japan also known as the Japanese Siberia. But the cold weather is not the only problem, Shin’Ichi has to face. There are some shifty characters, who try to corrupt the rather serious and good hearted Shin’Ichi. Especially Gonda, a blueprint of a despicable ganster shit, who is chained to Shin’Ichi when they’re on outdoor labour, tries to provoke him every time he gets the chance to. But not all are bad in Abashiri. There is a wise old Oyabun (Kanjuro Arashi), who keeps to himself until he has to break into action and show the young ones, that he still can be a mean bastard, even in his old age. When Gonda makes for an escape, Shin’Ichi reluctantly has to join him, as he is still chained to the miserable psycho. The escape comes halfway through the movie and what was a male version of “Female Convict Scorpion” first, turns into a Japanese rip-off of “The defiant ones” (Tony Curtis/Sidney Portier).
Shot in b/w, the stark landscape of Hokkaido and the deep snow everywhere, seem like a nightmare of an arctic hell. Whoever built the Abashiri Prison there knew what effect the surrounding would have on the inmates. Strange, that a movie, that had such an unfriendly décor would be such a big hit (in Japan). But it works good for the movie, especially for the second part, when Shin’Ichi and Gonda are on the run. Though one can not really speak of running, as they more or less have to wade through the white stuff. And when they find other means of transport, it is by railway (watch for an extraordinary chase on the railways).
Half Prison drama, half Escape movie, Abashiri Prison is a hodgepodge of genres and in my opinion it doesn’t always work for its favour. Ishii’s direction is as always straight forward; you cant expect any visual gimmicks from him. So it’s down to the actors and here you really get the goods. Takakura gives a performance that would stick with him for the next decade, good hearted and calm but still rough enough if he would have to. Tetsuro Tanba (as a lawyer who puts his trust into Shin’Ichi) for once isn’t as stiff as in other movies and gives a believable portrayal of a man pushed into extremes, while Hiroshi Nanbara (as Gonda) is a perfect (if sometimes a little OTT) evil slime ball who rapes for fun and knows no boundaries for his immorality. Oh, and of course there’s good old “funny face” Kunie Tanake, who graced many a Yakuza-Eiga in the sixties and seventies by his presence.Over all not really a masterpiece, even though it has this iconic status, but a MUST for the Yakuza-Eiga enthusiast.
4 Katanas
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