Cops vs. Thugs (1975)

Better known in America for his campy cult classics like Black Lizard, director Kinji Fukasaku made over sixty films spanning forty years, and until now only a handful have been available on DVD. Kino’s re-release of Fukasaku’s earlier yakuza films, such as Cops Vs. Thugs and Yakuza Graveyard, give viewers a chance to witness Japanese gangster violence in all of its seedy and futile glory. Kurashima City in Western Japan, 1963, has been overtaken by the mob. The Tomoyasu family is feuding with the Ohara/Kawades over a lucrative land deal, and the police force is satiated by yakuza bribes of sake and geishas. Even Detective Kuno (Bunta Sugawara), the police team’s most yakuza-savvy member, is loyal to Kenji Hirotani, slated to become boss of the Oharas. When severe violent upheaval, such as a gruesome beheading in the subway station, begins to affect the public sector, Lieutenant Shoichi Kaida (Seizo Fukumoto) is transferred in to take out the trash. He and Kuno butt heads over how to get the feuding under control, until utter tragedy befalls the gangsters as well as the law enforcement. Fukasaku maximizes fight scenes by using a handheld camera to get close-ups of the action. Bodies fly in front of the camera, and blood pools on the floors where the men slaughter each other. Cops Vs. Thugs lurks in the shadows of the great samurai films (in fact it was released by samurai-movie makers TOEI Productions) but the yakuza code is less chivalrous than that of samurais. Moreover, cops and yakuza are equally weak, proving post-WWII Japan to be a place void of honor. Also in the tradition of Tokyo Drifter, Cops Vs. Thugs is a noir classic filmed in color, ripe with great battle scenes and vibrant characters. --Trinie Dalton Amazon.com

What's a tough cop to do?

In at least 6 movies by director Kinji Fukasaku, Bunta Sugawara played a yakuza thug. This time, he carries a badge but his character hasn't lost his distaste for double-dealing bosses and authority figures who are out to cover their own butts.

Detective Kuno is balanced between the law and pragmatism. Cops didn't enforce the law to the point of pushing gangsters over the edge. In return, the gangsters mostly stayed out of the public eye. Some of them even became friends with cops, sharing a mutual desire to keep-down trade unions and leftists. When that balance is upset, Kuno has to decide where his loyalties lie. In this gray world, cops aren't always good and gangsters are thoroughly bad.. although there's no reward for good men who drink from the cup of corruption.

"Cops Versus Thugs" has that trademark Fukasaku camera-work.. constantly moving, zooming, and putting you right in the middle of the action, changing loyalties and political maneuvering between cops and criminals.

Oh yeah, it was shot and takes place in the 1970's.. so dig that righteous polyester! April 25, 2008

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