OUTLAW GANGSTER VIP: THE FULL SIX-FILM SERIES. 1968. DIRECTED BY TOSHIO MASUDA. DISTRIBUTED BY NIKKATSU. STARRING TETSUYA WATARI AND CHIEKO MATSUBARA. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
These six films are the best yakuza films I've ever seen. They're even better than BATTLES WITHOUT HONOUR AND HUMANITY. That's really saying something, because I never thought I'd see anything that would top this excellent quintet of yakuza movies starring Japanese actor Bunta Sugawara. But OUTLAW GANGSTER VIP came along first and, in my ever-so-humble opinion, I think it tops the list of Best Yakuza Films Ever. I don't know if there is such a list. If there isn't, I think I've just created one...!
OUTLAW GANGSTER VIP is out on Blu-Ray at the moment, courtesy of ARROW VIDEO. A fabulous Limited Edition Boxset (just 3,000 copies) has been created for the delectation of movie fans everywhere. Well, for the ones who get there first, anyway! It's chock-full of delicious extras, it has fully updated English subtitles (that really helps...!) and, best of all, you get all six films in this truly magnificent series to keep forever and re-watch over and over and over again. There. That's the housekeeping taken care of, haha. Now, let's get down to the business of talking about why these films are so great.
OUTLAW GANGSTER VIP is based on the novel written by ex-gangster Goro Fujita. It spawned five sequels and, having watched all six movies back-to-back in an orgy of orgasmic yakuza love and appreciation, I can honestly say that these are amongst the best and most enjoyable films I've ever watched, irrespective of genre. I'll probably get some sort of film writer's award for that last sentence. Wasn't it great? Especially the bit where I said 'irrespective of genre?' Heh-heh-heh.
It's the central character, Goro Fujikawa, that makes the series so utterly outstanding. (If I run out of superlatives in a minute, can you please Fed-Ex me some? Cheers...!) He's a Japanese yakuza, or hitman, with a heart of gold underneath his tough, handsome exterior. Yes, naturally I noticed that he was handsome before I registered anything else. I'm female, ain't I? Anyway, he came from poverty and homelessness to become the yakuza's most feared weapon, Goro The Assassin. Yep, that there's his nickname all right.
He's in his late twenties, or at least the actor Tetsuya Watari was in his late twenties when he made the films. He's tall and dark with gorgeous chocolate-brown eyes and he has a fit, muscular body to die for. The scars and cuts and bruises in which he's constantly covered only serve to enhance his devastating attractiveness. Sigh...! Women love scars, haha.
Goro The Assassin always wears a battered old brown leather jacket. Well, mostly he just slings it over his shoulders in a sexy, casual sort of way. And he doesn't wear shoes. He wears white flip-flops that never fall off, even when he's kicking the living snot out of rival gangsters.
That's because he has toe power, see, the amazing power to hold on tightly with your big toe to your flip-flop even whilst in the midst of the most heated battle. They might have come off just once, now I think of it, but that wasn't Goro's fault. The ground was icy so, technically, it was the ground's fault. They were back on his feet again within seconds, though, never fear. Toe power, activate...!
Here's Goro's deal. He's something of a loner (control yourselves, women!) and a drifter and he travels around Japan looking for manual labour, like working in a lumber-yard or gravel-quarry, to keep himself away from a life of crime. Sooner or later, however, he meets an old yakuza friend who asks his help in dealing with trouble from a rival yakuza clan. Goro's well-developed sense of loyalty to old friends leads to his agreeing to help out. Then, before he knows it, he's up to his neck in savage, bloodthirsty fighting and finger-chopping-off again. Yep, that's the yakuza way...
All six films follow the same format, by the way, but it never gets old. In each new film, I was always excited to see which old friend Goro would encounter, even in the remotest villages of Japan. He meets a woman in every film as well, naturally! The gorgeous Goro is a real p***y-magnet, if I may be crude as hell for just one moment. Women are drawn to his good looks, but not only that. They feel safe with him. He loves to rescue damsels in distress.
That's kind of Goro's thing. He loves vulnerable, helpless women. The more vulnerable and helpless the better, in fact. Are you pregnant? Sick? Homeless? Terminally ill? Having trouble with family members or the local yakuza? Just call Goro The Assassin on 1800-SAVE-YOU and Bob's your uncle. I'm not kidding, by the way, just in case you think I am. That's how he likes 'em.
I was confused at first when I noticed that Goro's new girlfriend in each film looked exactly the same as his new girlfriend in the last film. Then I realised that the same beautiful young actress, Chieko Matsubara, was playing his different girlfriends in each film. Duh...
Every time he meets a new woman, he tries to put her off chasing after him because he feels that the yakuza life brings only misery and heartache to the wives and girlfriends of yakuza hitmen, but you know what women are like. The more you tell us to bugger off, the more we dig our heels in. And when Goro makes the mistake of saying to potential girlfriends:
'No good can come of loving me...!'
Well, you can practically see the women exploding in an orgasm (there's that word again) of undying love and perpetual loyalty to the G-man. Even threats of physical violence- and even occasional acts of violence- won't persuade 'em to beat it.
That's because Goro's innate humanity and good humour, not to mention his sexy-as-hell lopsided little grin, inspires that kind of devotion in everyone he meets, male friends and girlfriends alike. In his insistence on justice and fair treatment for the little guy (in fairness, no-one in the films even reaches up to his shoulder!) and the way he doles out painful come-uppances to the wrong-doers, he's a bit like a Japanese Robin Hood, or Homer Simpson when he's The Pie-Man. Goro's an unforgettable character and one I'm glad I was able to meet, if only on screen. Sigh. Why is it only ever on screen that guys like this exist?
My favourite scene has nothing to do with fighting at all, but rather it's an hilarious bit in the last film when he's buying underpants in a department store. It's just so funny. The five sequels, by the way, are called OUTLAW GANGSTER VIP 2, HEARTLESS, GORO THE ASSASSIN, BLACK DAGGER and KILL! Every single one of them is as good as the first. There's no dip in quality whatsoever as we work our way through the series.
Now, cue the sad walking-away music from THE INCREDIBLE HULK as both Goro The Assassin and my good self (I bloody well wish!) walk away together hand-in-hand across the snow and ice of Japan's loneliest villages. And remember, movie buffs, if the futon's a-rockin,' don't come a-knockin'...!
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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