The Yakuza

The Yakuza. 1975 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Brian Keith, Herb Edelman, Richard Jordan, Keiko Kishi, Eiki Okada, Kishi Keiko
Director: Sydney Pollack
Buy The Yakuza from Amazon as a single DVD, or part of Robert Mitchum: The Signature Collection.

Robert Mitchum is Harry Kilmer, a retired detective called up by his old friend George Tanner (Keith). Tanner's been doing business with a yakuza gangster named Tono (Kishi), who has taken Tanner's daughter and her boyfriend hostage to apply pressure to a business deal. Tanner is hoping that Kilmer's Japanese contacts can help him rescue his daughter.

Tanner and Kilmer had served as Marine MPs in Tokyo after the war, and Harry had fallen in love with a woman named Eiki (Keiko), who operated on the black market. Kilmer also helped Eiko find penicillin for her daughter after she became ill, saving her life. However, when Eiko's brother Ken (Takakura) returned from an island where he had been stranded during combat, he was outraged that his sister was living with an American soldier, but still deeply indebted for saving the lives of his remaining family members. Ken disappeared into the yakuza underworld, refusing to have anything to do with his sister. Harry and Eiko soon split up, since she did not want to offend Ken any further, and Kilmer bought her a bar as a parting gift. Neither have married since that time. Tanner hopes that Kilmer can get in touch with Ken and use his connections to help out.

Ken is no longer a yakuza, but he still resents Kilmer. Regardless, due to his giri (definition) to Kilmer, he agrees to assist finding Tanner's daughter and her beau. Ken and Harry free both of them, but Ken injures one of Tono's men, and is discovered by one of the gangster's henchmen. Contracts on their lives are issued. It soon becomes apparent that the only way out is for one of them to kill Tono. Things become more dangerous after Tanner takes the contract on Kilmer's life (Tanner and Tono aren't sworn enemies despite appearances), and we also learn that the relationship between Ken and Eiko is more than Kilmer had ever known before. Also, how will Ken's nephew, who has aligned himself with Tono's organization, affect the final income?

Pretty good movie, I felt. Recommended.