Two Lives, Two Yakuza

Two Lives, Two Yakuza

99 mins | Drama, Crime | Sept. 23, 1964

An early ninkyo film from before the genre had truly established its form. Koji Tsuruta plays an honourable outlaw who saves an older man from an ambush. It turns out the man is the head of a hard working clan appointed to a railway construction project. A ruthless yakuza gang is also trying to get their share of the project and attempts to sabotage the work. After the old man dies, his son (Sonny Chiba) and daughter (Junko Fuji) try to complete the project. Tsuruta joins them while also falling in love with a local woman working in a bar (after all, Tsuruta always was more of a lover than his stoic colleague Takakura).

Two Lives, Two Yakuza

99 mins | Drama, Crime | Sept. 23, 1964

Two Lives, Two Yakuza
An early ninkyo film from before the genre had truly established its form. Koji Tsuruta plays an honourable outlaw who saves an older man from an ambush. It turns out the man is the head of a hard working clan appointed to a railway construction project. A ruthless yakuza gang is also trying to get their share of the project and attempts to sabotage the work. After the old man dies, his son (Sonny Chiba) and daughter (Junko Fuji) try to complete the project. Tsuruta joins them while also falling in love with a local woman working in a bar (after all, Tsuruta always was more of a lover than his stoic colleague Takakura).
Producers Toei Company, Ltd.
Original title 竜虎一代
Directors
Writers Akira Murao, Shunsaku Iwashita

Cast

Koji Tsuruta

as Shinjiro Kusakari

Sumiko Fuji

as Yukiko Matsuhashi

Shigeru Amachi

as Seiji Nawate

Takeshi Katō

as Makoto Misugi

Eijirō Yanagi

as Genichiro Matsuhashi

Shin'ichi Chiba

as Shinichi Matsuhashi

Yoshiko Sakuma

as Kumi Kitajima