Hideaki Nitani

A story about love triangle between mother and daughter relation...

4.8/10

The organization Mighty Jack is formed to combat the criminal syndicate known as "Q", and are given a large array of advanced weapons, chief among them being a high-tech submarine. Harold Hatari is abducted by Q, and Mighty Jack is dispatched to rescue him. Hatari is interrogated and threatened with blinding lights, but the Mighty Jack crew rescue him in the nick of time. Later, Q is discovered to be using "hot ice" (water that remains solid at room temperature) to create weapons and a secret ocean base disguised as an iceberg (though it's not precisely clear how hot ice could be a major world threat). Q then attempts to take over the Mighty Jack sub.

1.7/10

The man who lives in the past and the woman who abandoned a past. They were lovers 10 years ago, and had met again in Paris.

7.2/10

Adaptation of the novel by Toyoko Yamasaki.

7.3/10

Racked by earthquakes and volcanos, Japan is slowly sinking into the sea. A race against time and tide begins as Americans and Japanese work together to salvage some fraction of the disappearing Japan

5.5/10

A real all-star cast turns out for this modern yakuza yarn.

Mighty Jack was a tokusatsu SF/espionage/action TV series. Created by Japanese effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya, the show was produced by Tsuburaya Productions and was broadcast on Fuji TV from April 6, 1968 to June 29, 1968, with a total of 13 one-hour episodes. The music for the episodes was done by Isao Tomita and Kunio Miyauchi. Reportedly, Eiji Tsuburaya considered this series his masterwork because the focus was on the people rather than on the vehicles and special effects This focus on the people was similar to the works of Gerry Anderson, of which Eiji was a big fan. The Mighty Jack mecha/HQ featured in this series also has some similarities to Eiji's previous TV masterpiece, Ultra Seven. Even for the original series of 13 one hour-long episodes, the ratings were low. The follow-up series, Fight! Mighty Jack, fared better in the ratings, perhaps because of its inclusion of monsters and aliens rather than purely human evil-doers like Q.

3.5/10

Two years before they collaborated on the immortal Stray Cat Rock series, director Yasuharu Hasebe and soon-to-be-superstar Meiko Kaji teamed up for this potent gangster flick that also stars the great Joe Shishido (Branded to Kill) and Akira Kobayashi, who would shortly thereafter star in Kinji Fukasaku's epic yakuza series Battles Without Honor and Humanity. Emerging from a stint in prison, yakuza lieutenant Sumukawa (Kobayashi) discovers that his gang has disintegrated while he was in the pen. An ambitious type, he quickly hooks up with another gang (led by Shishido) who promise him a prominent position if he helps them deal with a rival family. But bonds are made to be broken, and pledges of loyalty soon give way to competition, betrayal and — naturally — retaliation. Tough, cynical and violent, Retaliation cheerfully overturns romanticized notions of underworld honour, paving the way for Fukusaku's revisionist yakuza pictures of the 1970s.

6.8/10

Goro (Tetsuya Watari) wants to put his dark past behind. He heads to Hirosaki City to offer his condolences to Yumeko and to reunite with Yukiko (Chieko Matsubara), but finds that Yumeko is fatally ill. Although Yukiko was taking care of her, she is pressed for money. Goro wants to help and knows that there is only one way to come up with fast money.

6.9/10

In 1943, critical developments in the Pacific War have placed Japan at a disadvantage, although the fiery breaths of war hadn't yet reached Okinawa Normal School for women. Nothing seemed the least bit out of the ordinary, as Kazuko and her friends enjoyed a day of sports. A year later the war takes a devastating turn, as US forces plan an amphibious attack known as "Operation Iceberg" on the Ryukyu island.

6.4/10

Kuroda (Jô Shishido) is a mob hitman who turns on his employers after being forced to execute his lover. Joining forces with his similarly wronged brothers, hot-headed Eiji (Tatsuya Fuji) and aspiring boxer Saburô (Jirô Okazaki), the trio escalate their mob retaliation to all-out turf war where no one will stop until one faction emerges victorious.

7/10

When Toru Sagara (Yujiro Ishihara) returns home from a foreign cargo route, he proposes to his beloved girlfriend Akiko (Ruriko Asaoka). She joyously agrees, promising a life together. On the day they were to be joined in matrimony, Akiko suddenly goes missing. Toru waits hours for her to show, but he is only greeted by the darkness of night. Four years later, his fiancée turns up at a night club in Yokohama with another man.

It had been a year and four months since Mitsuo was last on a movie set. Welcomed back by director Ishizaki and his film crew, Mitsuo is excited to star as the lead in "My Sweetheart". One day, half way through production, he meets his friends from a popular rock group, "The Spiders". Through their discussion regarding the climax scene, they criticize that the script is too grim. In a notion to protect their friend's career, they decide to pay the scriptwriter a little visit.

After yakuza boss Kurata dissolves his own criminal empire, a rival kingpin offers a position to Kurata's top operative, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo. When the fiercely loyal Tetsu declines, Otsuka taps unstoppable Tatsuzo the "Viper", a ruthless gun-for-hire, to assassinate him. As the Viper trails his target through the countryside, the agile Phoenix Tetsu grows concerned that one of his former associates has betrayed him.

7.2/10
9.2%

International spy thriller featuring Joe Shishido and Hideaki Nitani.

6.2/10

The black gambler must fight a foreign gangster.

6.9/10

During WWII, a human heart taken from Dr. Frankenstein's lab and is kept in Japan where it gets exposed to the radiation of the bombing of Hiroshima. The heart grows in size, mutates and eventually becomes an indestuctable humanoid. Later, a reptilian monster goes on a rampage. Eventually the Frankenstein creature and the reptile face off in a terrible battle.

5.5/10

Arikawa runs a transport company. But this is only a front for his gambling house. Yuriko is a regular on the scene, and she is fascinated by the dice and the one who throws them. A year before, Yuriko's father died in mysterious circumstances; she decides to go in search of the truth.

6.9/10

When a US army sergeant is found drowned in Tokyo Bay, an investigation is launched to determine how and why he lost his life. The investigation uncovers a black market scheme involving counterfeit money, murder, and conspiracy.

5.6/10

1884. The samurai days have come to an end. Capitalism and democracy flourished across Japan. But in Chichibu, an area just north of Tokyo, samurai spirits still lived. Out of the many schools that taught Japanese swordsmanship, the school of Ono and Kogen were most dominant. Every year, they each selected a master swordsman to fight a dedicatory match held at the Chichibu Shrine. Gengo (Hideki Takahashi) represented the school of Ono. His opponent Danhichiro of the Kogen school was feared by many as the "Devil".

6.2/10

Mourning the death of her boyfriend, Yukiko wanders aimlessly from one city to another. During her mourning, she becomes addicted to gambling. One day, a man that resembles her deceased lover asks for help. He's being pursued by a dangerous gang of yakuza.

6.4/10

A hot-shot detective in Yokohama kills a witness during a drug investigation. He flees to the countryside and evades his past for several years, only to return to find the woman he loved married to his former partner. He searches for answers to his troubled past, knowing that his inevitable doomed fate is more or less sealed.

6.9/10

It is 1922 and Fumiko is a high school student. Her family is poor but she loves to study literature. Her father, a peddler, does not return home and Fumiko finds herself in financial trouble, not being able to pay for her schooling and her school excursion trip. Still, she gets a temporary job at a factory and tries to make ends meet. A film about bright side of youth adapted from the television serial of the same name.

A group of pirates sail the treacherous Pacific ocean in search for wealth.

Shinko Terasawa was always considered to be the odd ball of the bunch. At a time when romance was against school regulations, Shinko was the first to take a bite out of the forbidden fruit. Expelled from her former school, she finds herself in an all-girls school in Jokamachi, where rumors fly. One day, Shinko delivers an anonymous love letter addressed to her English teacher, Ms. Shimazaki. Convinced that the students are playing a prank, Ms. Shimazaki is adamant about getting to the bottom of this "problem”.

6.2/10

A youth drama directed by Kiyoshi Horiike, who was adapted from "Young Tokyo no Yane" by Akira Saiga from "Oka wa Hanazakari" based on Yojiro Ishizaka. Miwako Kazuki left the English literature department and joined Toyo Critics. She was attracted by Noro, the editor-in-chief, whose wife died a few years ago and was now living with her two orphans and her old mother....

Three years had passed since Ichiro Takeo left Japan. He was a young physician with a promising future, until his medical error caused the death of a big-shot politician. He was discharged from the hospital and had since sailed around the world as an on-board doctor. As he was about to reach the Taiwanese piers of Kinmon Island, thoughts of his days in Japan crossed his mind - he reminisced about the Taiwanese girl, Yan, who had scooped him out of his misery during the time of the medical accident. At times of war, the two rekindle an old flame.

Nitani is an undercover drug enforcement agent in Kobe who not only busts two rival drug gangs but also helps one of the more decent hoodlums find the killer of the hood's brother.

Released in the UK as Hotbed of Crime

Tsuiseki is a 1961 crime film.

A marine security officer stranded on the ocean in a small boat is rescued by a crew of buccaneers.

6.4/10

Ryoji, a wanderer, arrives in a remote mountain town, carrying a shotgun and claiming to be a hunter. He quickly becomes embroiled in a web of trouble surrounding the town's mill.

6.5/10

Sadao, is saved from death at the hands of Goro, a killer belonging to a rival gang by Joji just released from prison who has resolved to turn over a new leaf. He has returned, however, because of Keiko, his sweetheart, who he now finds is engaged to Noboru, a detective and son of Jinsaku, boss of the Otsu gang. That night at the night club, headquarters of the Highlight Group - which Noboru is investigating, Majima meets Joji who knows of his attempt to kill Jinsaku, and resolves to kill him.

Two men perform a robbery on an airplane before parachuting to safety, and a newspaper reporter attempts to solve the crime.

Kensaku Muro and his father manage a farm in Sakudaira at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains. One day Kensuke saves a suicidal woman, Fukiko Uzu, who jumps into a waterfall. Having injured his eyes in the process, he is brought to Tokyo for medical treatment. In Tokyo, Kensaku visits his mother Kaneko who left her son years ago. She now owns an exclusive club and has a son, Isao, with the president of Kobe Concern. Isao plots to steal Kensuke's farm as part of a land development scheme with Fukiko's husband. Without knowing they are blood related, their conflict over the farm intensifies.

The moment he's released from prison, the honorable gangster Miyamoto recovers the stolen diamonds he had stashed before getting pinched. When he returns to his haunt to make good by friend who took a bullet for him, he is diverted by the greedy boss Oyane and his insatiable taste for Miyamoto's precious stones. Replete with film noir style, "Underworld Beauty" is one of Suzuki's best nods to the American gangster genre.

6.9/10

Shortly after arriving in Kobe, "Jiro the Lefty", a killer with a natural talent, witnesses a man die in a crane accident which turns out to be a cover-up for a murder. Jiro soon finds himself on the run, tailed by a determined cop.

7/10

Asako, a former telephone operator once heard the voice of a murder suspect which has continued to haunt her. Years later her husband invites his boss, Hamazaki, over for dinner and she realises his voice is suspiciously like that of the killer. Before she can investigate further, Hamazaki is found dead and her husband becomes the prime suspect…

6.6/10

Singer Akira Kobayashi stars as an alienated teenager named Yoshi in this juvenile-delinquent film from acclaimed director Seijun Suzuki. Yoshi falls in love with his social worker, leading to the expected complications. Sachiko Hidari and Hideaki Nitani co-star in this effort, which led to a sequel, Fumihazushita Haru: Aoi Chibusa II the following year.

7.2/10

Nobuo is a hot-headed hoodlum fresh out of reform school who struggles to make a clean break with his tearaway past.

6.4/10

Jôji is a boxer barred from the ring; Saeko is a singer whose voice is gone. Lost souls, they meet one night by a quay; she may be thinking of suicide. He invites her to his café, and perhaps he will rescue her from the cabaret where she's under contract to a vicious mob leader. When the boss insists on her return, Jôji is bitter. He also despairs over lost dreams. His brother has gone to Brazil to purchase a farm; Jôji planned to join him but now believes his brother abandoned him. When Jôji discovers a clue about his brother, he needs Saeko's help. Like a fighter in the ring, he pursues the truth relentlessly, without regard for his own safety. Will it cost his life?

7/10

A bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers.

6.7/10

Saheji, a man-about-town, gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can’t pay the bill. He makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate—but always by making sure to get a “commission” for his troubles.

7.3/10