Wicked Priest (1968)
During the Taisho Period (early 1920's) a monastery of warrior monks was split apart between two factions. One of these factions was led by the Chief Abbot and his protege, Shinkai. When Shinkai intercedes in a fight between a rival priest and some ruffians it leads to his expulsion from the order. This story introduced us to the character of Shinkai, a "Karate Priest" and his long running feud with Ryotatsu, his greatest rival. There are touches of humor as Shinkai breaks all the commandments of a priest, including fighting, gambling, and running after women. All this leads to an awesome conclusion as he must destroy a gang of yakuza aided by corrupt priests. The fighting is fast and furious as Ryotatsu waits to see if Shinkai can live long enough to face him in the ultimate test! /Winterheart of CG
Released: Aug 14, 1968
Runtime: 90 minutes
Genre: Drama
Stars: Tomisaburō Wakayama, Bunta Sugawara, Kenjirō Ishiyama, Hōsei Komatsu, Masumi Tachibana, Mari Shiraki
Crew: Eimei Yamamoto (Screenplay), Tsuneo Daimon (Art Direction), Kiyoshi Saeki (Screenplay), Teruhiko Arakawa (Sound Recordist), Kiyoshi Saeki (Director), Shunsuke Kikuchi (Original Music Composer)