The Yakuza
Directed by SydneyPollack
Written by Paul Schrader, Robert Towne, and Lawrence Schrader
1974/Japan/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rent
There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain. — Plato
Robert Mitchum is miscast as an action hero in this guns vs. swords thriller.
Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum) spent many years in Japan after WWII. He fell in love with war widow Eiko. She mysteriously refused to marry him and he went back to the west where he found work as a police officer and then a private investigator.
Harry’s friend Tanner (Brian Keith) is an arms dealer. He made the mistake of taking the Yakuza’s (Japanese organized crime) money and not coming through with the goods. Now Tanner’s daughter has been kidnapped and he asks Harry for help. On his return to Japan, Harry becomes reacquainted with Eiko and her brother Ken, a swords master . It will be Harry and Ken against the entire Yakuza family.
The rest of the movie is made up of several sword fights and gun battles. Harry also discovers a shocking secret and goes to drastic lengths to atone for his part in it.
I was disappointed by this after having enjoyed Mitchum in The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) so much. He’s not bad just miscast. Otherwise I thought this was your standard thriller and one that I didn’t feel like got Japanese culture quite right.
