The Hoodlum Priest (1967)
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.
Released: Nov 15, 1967
Runtime: 84 minutes
Stars: Shintarō Katsu, Mayumi Ogawa, Mikio Narita, Kayo Mikimoto, Naoko Kubo, Jun Tatara
Crew: Kimiyoshi Yasuda (Director), Shigeru Katô (Art Direction), Hajime Takaiwa (Screenplay), Fujio Morita (Director of Photography), Tsuchitarô Hayashi (Sound Recordist), Hiroshi Yamada (Editor)