Zenji Yamada — Actor (15)
Danger Pays (1962) [Movie] NeoDB Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
危いことなら銭になる
director: Kō Nakahira actor: Joe Shishido / Hiroyuki Nagato
other title: 危いことなら銭になる / Les Apprentis faux-monnayeurs
Joe, Okita, and Serizawa hear of the armed robbery of a truck carrying one billion eighty million yen's worth of Mint paper. Knowing that the thugs will now need a counterfeiter to make the bogus bills, they each decide to cash in on it by selling them the idea that they need Sakamoto, the best counterfeiter in Japan. A seesaw game unfolds between the three men as each tries to outdo the other two in handing over Sakamoto for one million yen to Hijikata, the big boss, who intends to make counterfeit money with the stolen paper. A little belatedly, they realize it needs their combined forces to outwit Hijikata and they raid his place together. Outnumbered, however, they are thrown into a basement room and the gas is turned on. Certain death stares them in the face, but the three men are not ones to take things lying down....
Teenage Yakuza (1962) [Movie] TMDB
ハイティーンやくざ
director: Seijun Suzuki actor: Tamio Kawachi / Midori Tashiro
other title: ハイティーンやくざ
A high-school vigilante protects his community from the extortions of mobsters from a neighbouring city.
Eight Hours of Terror (1957) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
8時間の恐怖
director: Seijun Suzuki actor: Nobuo Kaneko / Harue Tone
other title: 8時間の恐怖 / La Terreur des 8 heures
A bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers.
Youth of the Beast (1963) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
野獣の青春
director: Seijun Suzuki actor: Jō Shishido / Misako Watanabe
other title: La giovinezza di una belva umana / 野獣の青春
When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.
Vendetta of a Samurai (1952) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
荒木又右衛門 決闘鍵屋の辻
director: Kazuo Mori actor: Toshirō Mifune / Yuriko Hamada
other title: 荒木又右衛門 決闘鍵屋の辻 / La Vendetta d'un samouraï : duel au coin de Kagiya
The famous showdown at Kagiya corner has been told many times, but never before with the realism and intensity of this version scripted by Kurosawa Akira and starring Mifune Toshiro as the famed swordsman who must face his best friend as they are forced to take opposite sides in a vendetta caused by the murder of a family member. Told mostly in flashback as the avengers await the arrival of their quarry, this film displays true heroism in the face of fear as most of the combatants, while of the samurai class are not skilled swordsmen. They contrast sharply with the true warriors involved in this battle. Araki Mataemon (Mifune), who was not only a direct student of Yagyu Munenori, but the founder of his own sword style under the Yagyu name is a powerful force ready to assist his brother-in-law against the murderer's allies that include not only another noted sword teacher, but the deadly spear of Katsumi no Hanbei.
Outlaw: Gangster VIP 2 (1968) [Movie] TMDB
大幹部 無頼
director: Keiichi Ozawa actor: Tetsuya Watari / Chieko Matsubara
other title: 大幹部 無頼
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.
Cruel Gun Story (1964) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData
拳銃残酷物語
director: Takumi Furukawa actor: Joe Shishido / Chieko Matsubara
other title: 拳銃残酷物語
Businessmen arrange the early release from prison of Togawa, serving time for taking revenge on the truck driver whose carelessness confined Togawa's sister, Rie, to a wheelchair. They want Togawa to hijack an armored truck loaded with 120 million yen; their leverage is to promise him money for surgery for Rie. Togawa consents and plans the heist with three others. The plan is solid, but it doesn't go smoothly. Togawa must improvise, there are traitors somewhere, and double-crosses mount. Can Togawa escape with enough money to help his sister and ensure a passage out of Japan?
Crazed Fruit (1956) [Movie] Douban IMDb TMDB
狂った果実
director: Kō Nakahira actor: Yūjirō Ishihara / Mie Kitahara
other title: La stagione del sole / 狂った果実
Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking.
Intimidation (1960) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
ある脅迫
director: Koreyoshi Kurahara actor: Jun Hamamura / Kō Nishimura
other title: ある脅迫
Koreyoshi Kurahara's ingeniously plotted, pocket-size noir concerns the intertwined fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his resentful but timid underling, passed over for a promotion. The marvelously moody Intimidation is an elegantly stripped-down and carefully paced crime drama.
Black Sun (1964) [Movie] TMDB WikiData IMDb Douban
黒い太陽
other title: 黒い太陽
Akira, a young, jazz-obsessed drifter, returns to his squat, a ruined church, and finds Gill, a wounded African-American GI, on the run after the death of a white GI. Despite terrible misunderstandings and culture clash, Akira agrees to help Gill escape towards the sea, dodging military police along the way.
A Colt Is My Passport (1967) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
拳銃は俺のパスポート
director: Takashi Nomura actor: Jō Shishido / Chitose Kobayashi
other title: 拳銃は俺のパスポート / A colt is my passport
A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.
Underworld Beauty (1958) [Movie] NeoDB Douban WikiData TMDB IMDb
暗黒街の美女
director: Seijun Suzuki actor: Michitarō Mizushima / Mari Shiraki
other title: 暗黒街の美女
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.
Crossroad (1956) [Movie] NeoDB IMDb Douban TMDB
死の十字路
director: Umetsugu Inoue actor: Rentaro Mikuni / Michiyo Aratama
other title: 死の十字路
Ise, a successful entrepreneur, accidentally murders his lunatic wife after he is spotted having an affair with his secretary, Harumi. In his attempt to perfect his crime, he drives to a remote quarry to bury his wife’s body, but along the way, he finds another dead body in the back of his car! Given no choice, Ise dumps both bodies. Meanwhile, Yoshie begins her search for her missing brother, Yoshihiko. After surprising twists and turns, Ise faces his fate.
Quick Draw Joe (1961) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
早射ち野郎
director: Takashi Nomura actor: Joe Shishido / Reiko Sasamori
other title: 早射ち野郎
One day, a lone horseman rides into town with a wounded man strapped behind him. Joe, the Ace, had captured one of the bandits who had held up the armored payroll car headed for the dam construction site, takes the wounded man to the police and claims the reward offered. He is told to wait until the driver of the armored car returns to identify the bandit and goes over to the Blue Star where he is introduced to Mishima, the owner of the cabaret, who is highly respected in the town. Joe then meets Saburo, while fishing, and his lovely sister, who seem to sense the real man beneath the rough appearance and take him into their home. Word reaches Joe that the bandit he'd captured had been shot and he hurries over to the hospital.
Suzaki Paradise: Red Light District (1956) [Movie] IMDb WikiData TMDB
洲崎パラダイス 赤信号
director: Yūzō Kawashima actor: Michiyo Aratama / Yukiko Todoroki
other title: Susaki Paradise - Red Light District / Le Paradis de Suzaki
A jobless young couple, Yoshigi and Tsutue, wind up at the outskirts of the Suzaki red-light district in Tokyo. Tsutue talks her way into a job pouring sake for male customers at a small bar run by a sympathetic older woman, while Yoshigi is shunted off into a nearby noodle shop, where he gets a job delivering noodles. Tsutue charms and runs off with one of her clients. Yoshigi, ignoring the attentions of a sweet co-worker, pursues Tsutue.