"Ken is a relic, a leftover of another age, of another country."

Robert Mitchum vs. the Yakuza. When I heard that I thought it would be this action packed good time. Instead The Yakuza is a thoughtful, somber tale with some quick scenes of brutal violence. If it had turned out to that action packed movie in my mind, I don’t think it would have been as powerful as a film.

Robert Mitchum returns to the land of the rising sun after being stationed there during Japan’s occupation to rescue the daughter of an old war buddy. Once there he reunites with his old flame and more importantly, her brother, Ken (played terrifically by Ken Takakura). Ken holds a strange…

The 1970s Crime Season!

It seems amazing to me that The Killer Elite, which I reviewed last night and thought was an absolutely ridiculous film, was made a year after The Yakuza.

I would have liked to have thought that Sam Peckinpah would have watched this splendid film and actually gained something about how you can marry together the west and the east, not just in terms of culture but in terms of bringing together a highly impressive action film. There are no ninja assassins or stupidly sketched stereotypes here and any of the culture clash narrative that does result is respectful, interesting and even educational.

Then again, from what I've seen of their respective work, I would personally say…

Movie club - just pop by and say hello - we're all very friendly

I didn't really know what to expect going into Yakuza. A cursory glance at Google quickly showed it wasn't particularly well received on release. I was also under the preconceived notion that this would be one of those American in Japan films that would be less than flattering to the people of its setting. Fortunately I found the film to be far more enjoyable than its reputation and loved the lead character who had a real reverence for Japanese culture and its people.

Robert Mitchum’s Harry Kilmer by any rights should have be an iconic character who appeared in a string of movies. A turtleneck sweater,…

No doubt Paul Schrader's screenplay came into being off the back of America's growing fascination with Asia's martial arts, with Bruce Lee building himself into the icon of the scene. The film was shot mostly on location in Japan and the story builds itself around samurai tradition without weighing itself down with too much history.

Working with Schrader was Robert Towne, who had just written Chinatown and this film goes to show that consistency is just as hard to find holding the pen as anywhere else. This is certainly no classic but it does contain some solid action scenes built around a fully believable friendship between Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura who steals the show from the Hollywood veteran.

Mitchum…

There are two things Taxi Driver, Mishima and First Reformed screenwriter Paul Schrader seems to really love: lonely men as protagonists and Japan. Schrader expresses both of these interests in full detail in his script for Sydney Pollack’s The Yakuza, the first film Schrader ever participated in the writing of.

The Yakuza is a 1970’s crime drama following the exploits of Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum), a WWII vet who’s come to Japan to help out an old friend that’s gotten into some trouble with the Yakuza. Harry has to enlist the help of Tanaka Ken (Ken Takakura), a man he has a complicated and troubled history with, to assist  in the ordeal. Things become violent, difficult truths come forward and…

The Wolverine movie we really deserved.

All jokes aside Robert Mitchum made two of the best crime movies of all time with "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" in '73 and this the very next year (both feature Richard Jordan and scores by Dave Grusin) and both use Robert Mitchum about as well as he's ever been used in a movie. As a result both films have, at the center, a performance that is hard nosed, exhausted and earnest, but at the same time introspective and thoughtful. And the movies adopt those same qualities. They're the types of movie you watch and say they don't make 'em like that anymore, only to realize they never really did. But back to the…

I’m watching every Paul Schrader movie chronologically, and his first produced screenplay seemed the right place to start. 

The Yakuza is bogged down by a listless romance and slowness, which Schrader says director Sydney Pollack requested be fleshed out in rewrites from Robert Towne after Schrader was fired when he and Pollack didn’t get along. Still intact is a preoccupation with Japanese culture, and an analysis of the clashing of American and Japanese culture. And the last 30 minutes of this are phenomenal — leaving me wondering what this could have been had Pollack trusted Schrader. Pre-Taxi Driver, I can imagine the escalating violence seemed overwhelming. 

It is an extremely well directed film though. And, Robert Mitchum’s follow up to…

The film that put screenwriter Paul Schrader on the map, The Yakuza is a sensitive fusion of east and west, a stylish gangster noir with abrupt violent outbursts amongst an otherwise subdued, melancholic atmosphere with moments of tenderness.

Late career Robert Mitchum strikes again, he's back, meaner and wearier than ever. His drooping eyes and wrinkled face speak of a man who's seen and done it all, paired with veteran Japanese actor Ken Takakura they form a fascinating duo, a friendship built on trust, obligation and shared history. The love triangle that exists between them and Keiko Kishi, another familiar face from classic Japanese cinema forms the crux of the film, these three people share the same old fashioned ideals…