Prison Break

1969 ‘Musho Yaburi’ Directed by Kazuo Ikehiro

Set up to be the patsy by a rival gang, Furuta Makoto attacks the yakuza boss he thinks is responsible for his father’s murder. He then learns it was all a plot to take over his father’s turf and he seeks vengeance against the puppet master behind the entire conspiracy. His quest for justice leads him to prison where he must fend off the attack of a master assassin before he can make his escape and go after the true killer!

Hiroki Matsukata Takahiro Tamura Shiho Fujimura Naoko Kubo Rinichi Yamamoto Asao Uchida Ryuji Kita Akiji Kobayashi Ryûtarô Gomi Yûzô Hayakawa Eizô Kitamura Gen Kimura Manabu Morita Yasuhiro Minakami Hachirô Oka Ikuko Môri Shôsaku Sugiyama Shintarō Nanjō Tokio Oki Ikkei Tamaki Gen Kuroki Takuya Kitano Yukio Horikita Hajime Koshikawa Hinode Nishikawa Tadashi Iwata Junjiro Niizeki Yoshitaka Ito Yûtarô Ban Show All…

86 mins More details at TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Nathan Stuart ★★★★ 6

Excellent Yakuza/Revenge thriller originally scripted for Raizo Ichikawa but with Hiroki Matsukata brought in as replacement.
Story-wise it's your classic Stoic Yakuza vs Bad Yakuza tale, with all the expected tropes and themes from the genre, ranging from furious one man office raids, to pinky cutting to melodramatic brotherhood scenes and even throws in some prison drama. But its all handled perfectly, features a very surprising amount of grim, bloody violence (particularly for its year) and as usual when given the chance to lead, Matsukata shines.
If you're in the mood for a quick and dirty Yakuza film that ticks all the boxes and more than meets its quota in the action department then this is essential.

Recent reviews

Review by Pablo Knote ★★★½

Starker, trotz archetypischer Handlung ziemlich ungewöhnlicher Hybrid aus ninkyo eiga und chanbara. Hauptdarsteller Hiroki Matsukata tritt hier als Archetyp des entwurzelten Ronin in die streng hierarchische Welt des Ninkyo-Gangstertums.
Anders als die Heldenfiguren eines Koji Tsuruta oder Ken Takakuras steht sein Protagonist abseits der Codes und des Regelwerks des ehrenvollen Yakuza und greift deshalb da zum Schwert, wo der konventionelle Ninkyo-Held erst noch bis zum Äußersten getrieben werden muss.
Dies erlaubt Regisseur Kazuo Ikehiro sich auf die Action zu konzentrieren. In "Prison Break" folgt eine flamboyant inszenierte Actionszene der Nächsten, es wird eifrig aus Genrekollegen zitiert (etwa das berühmte "Schwert-aus-der-Hand-brechen" aus Tokuzo Tanakas "The Betrayal"), während Blutfontänen in bislang selten gesehenen Ausmaßen aus den Körpern der Feinde spritzen.
"Prison Break" bietet kaum Charakterentwicklung, die über altbekannte Plot-Notwendigkeiten hinausgeht, aber es ist ein frühes Paradebeispiel für die pathosgeladenen Actionfilme der 1970er Jahre und ein kleines Juwel innerhalb seines Genres.
Review by Nathan Stuart ★★★★ 6

Excellent Yakuza/Revenge thriller originally scripted for Raizo Ichikawa but with Hiroki Matsukata brought in as replacement.
Story-wise it's your classic Stoic Yakuza vs Bad Yakuza tale, with all the expected tropes and themes from the genre, ranging from furious one man office raids, to pinky cutting to melodramatic brotherhood scenes and even throws in some prison drama. But its all handled perfectly, features a very surprising amount of grim, bloody violence (particularly for its year) and as usual when given the chance to lead, Matsukata shines.
If you're in the mood for a quick and dirty Yakuza film that ticks all the boxes and more than meets its quota in the action department then this is essential.