The Hoodlum Priest (1967)
Overview
The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.
Cast
Shintarō Katsu
Ryuzen
Mayumi Ogawa
Otatsu
Mikio Narita
Kashiwa Shinjuro
Naoko Kubo
Oen
Jun Tatara
Gonroku
Hōsei Komatsu
Daihachi
Ryūtarō Gomi
Toramatsu
Yoshio Kaneuchi
Fumio Watanabe
Shōsaku Sugiyama
Ikkei Tamaki
Yukio Horikita
Jun Katsumura
Jun Fujikawa
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