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Japanese films from the 1970s
The best 100 of 285
- 1
The Castle of Cagliostro
After a successful robbery leaves famed thief Lupin the Third and his partner Jigen with nothing but a large amount of expertly crafted counterfeit bills, he decides to track down the forgers responsible—and steal any other treasures he may
- 2
House
Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip with her friends to visit her aunt's ancestral house in the countryside. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.
- 3
Lady Snowblood
Yuki's family is nearly wiped out before she is born due to the machinations of a band of criminals. These criminals kidnap and brutalize her mother but leave her alive. Later her mother ends up in prison with only revenge to keep her alive
- 4
Belladonna of Sadness
An evil feudal lord rapes a village girl on her wedding night and proceeds to ruin her and her husband's lives. After she's eventually banished from her village, the girl makes a pact with the devil to gain magical ability and take revenge.
- 5
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.
- 6
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx
Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must eliminate a traitor who plans to sell his clan's secrets to the Shogunate.
- 7
Vengeance Is Mine
A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police.
- 8
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril
Ogami Itto is hired to kill a tattooed female assassin and battles Retsudo, head of the Yagyu clan, and his son Gunbei.
- 9
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons
Ogami Itto is challenged by a quintet of warriors, each armed with one fifth of Ogami's assassin fee and one fifth of the information he needs to complete his assignment.
- 10
Pastoral: To Die in the Country
A director faces creative block while working on his latest film – a reimagination of his adolescence growing up in a mountain village in rural Japan.
- 11
Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion
After being cruelly set up and deceived by Sugimi, a detective in cahoots with the mob with whom she was whole-heartedly in love, Matsushima’s desire for revenge knows no bounds.
- 12
Demons
Gengobe Satsuma, an exiled samurai cast out as an Asano clan retainer, is given a second chance to join his brothers in arms to become the 48th Ronin against the Shogunate. His faithful servant gathers the 100 ryo required for his acceptanc
- 13
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades
Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza in order to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.
- 14
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
- 15
Dodes'ka-den
On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints
- 16
In the Realm of the Senses
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
- 17
Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell
With most of his family already dead at Ogami Itto's hands, Retsudo launches one final plot to destroy him, and when that fails, unleashes the fury of every remaining member of the Yagyu clan.
- 18
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
An ever evolving alien life-form arrives on a comet from the Dark Gaseous Nebula and proceeds to consume pollution. Spewing mists of sulfuric acid and corrosive sludge, neither humanity nor Godzilla may be able to defeat this toxic menace.
- 19
Terror of Mechagodzilla
A submarine expedition to salvage the remains of Mechagodzilla is thwarted by a massive dinosaur named Titanosaurus. An Interpol investigation leads biologist Ichinose to uncover the work of Dr. Mafune and his mysterious daughter Katsura. A
- 20
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
After being used and betrayed by the detective she had fallen in love with, young Matsu is sent to a female prison full of sadistic guards and disobedient prisoners.
- 21
Mazinger Z vs The Great Dark General
Kouji and his friends have defeated Dr. Hell and are now enjoying a break, but suddenly a strange prophet appears and warns everyone of an oncoming danger, mechanical beasts never seen before start appearing all around the world wrecking ha
- 22
Lupin the Third: The Mystery of Mamo
While attempting to win the affections of a beautiful rival, a master thief risks death to learn the secret intentions of a wealthy and seemingly immortal, but certainly ruthless, recluse.
- 23
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our
- 24
Empire of Passion
In a small Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, a rickshaw driver's wife takes on a much younger lover and the two conspire to murder him.
- 25
Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets
An experimental, psychedelic odyssey through Japanese subculture experienced via the eyes of a disillusioned young man, who must contend with intense familial dysfunction, psychosexual alienation, and existentialist malaise.
- 26
The Castle of Sand
Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.
- 27
The Street Fighter
Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.
- 28
Galaxy Express 999: The Movie
In the future, one can achieve immortality by obtaining a mechanized body. Orphaned, young Tetsuro hitches a ride on the space train Galaxy Express 999 in the hope of obtaining a cyborg body to avenge his mother's death. Along the way, he m
- 29
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun
A war widow determined to clear the name of her disgraced husband, who was court-martialed for desertion and executed. Official records have been destroyed, and the ministry that distributes benefits continues to deny her a pension. Twenty-
- 30
The Man Who Stole the Sun
A high school science teacher is the butt of all his students' jokes, until their bus is hijacked on a school trip. But something more sinister lurks beneath the surface: he's building an atomic bomb in his apartment.
- 31
The Bullet Train
A Japanese bullet train is threatened with a bomb that will explode automatically if the train slows below 80 km/h, unless a ransom is paid. Police race to find the bombers so the train crew can learn how to defuse the bomb.
- 32
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War
Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.
- 33
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable
Following her successful prison break, Scorpion begins this third episode in the series hiding out in a brothel. Her prostitute friend tries to keep her identity secret, but the brothel's madam discovers that Scorpion is the ex-girlfriend o
- 34
Silence
In the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.
- 35
The Vampire Doll
A young man goes missing after visiting his girlfriend's isolated country home. His sister and her boyfriend trace him to the creepy mansion, but their search becomes perilous when they uncover a gruesome family history.
- 36
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics
As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.
- 37
Sympathy for the Underdog
A yakuza gang gets driven out of Yokohama by a big gang from Tokyo. They relocate to Okinawa to violently start over.
- 38
Shogun's Samurai
Following the death of the second Tokugawa shogun, it is revealed that he was poisoned by retainers of his son Iemitsu in hopes of gaining him the shogunate despite the stammer and birthmark which undermine his respect. Iemitsu and his brother Tadanaga become bitter rivals for the shogunate, and the land is split into factions, eventually erupting into warfare. Iemitsu's mentor, his fencing instructor Yagyu, is fixated upon securing Iemitsu the shogunate and ends up betraying everyone, even his own family, in pursuit of the goal.
- 39
Sandakan No. 8
A young journalist interviews an elderly woman about being forced into prostitution in Borneo at a brothel called Sandakan No. 8.
- 40
Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees
A mountain bandit abducts a woman who demands he kill his other wives to please her, leading to a cycle of violence and madness fueled by superstition and obsession.
- 41
The Wolves
After going to prison for killing the boss of the Kanno gang, Seji Iwahashi gets released early -- only to find that his former gang has merged with the Kannos. But with bitter resentments lingering on both sides, how long will it be before
- 42
Proof of the Man
When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime.
- 43
The Yellow Handkerchief
A convict, newly released from prison for murder, joins two strangers on a road trip through Hokkaido to visit his ex-wife, whom he hasn't seen in four years, knowing that if she puts a yellow handkerchief on the window, it would mean that
- 44
Heroic Purgatory
Rikiya Shoda is an engineer working for the Atomic Agency in Japan. One day, his wife Nanako returns home with a lost teenager called Ayu. A man, pretending to be the father, comes to get her back; Ayu keeps telling him that Rikiya and Nanako are her parents. Through this disruption, Rikiya suddenly starts remembering his youth as a revolutionary.
- 45
The Inugami Family
When a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood.
- 46
The Battle of Okinawa
The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources an
- 47
Lake of Dracula
A young girl suffers a terrifying nightmare of a vampire with blazing golden eyes. Eighteen years later, it is revealed to be a hellish prophecy when a strange package containing an empty coffin mysteriously turns up at a nearby lake.
- 48
Street Mobster
After serving time, a defiant street thug is incensed to find his town overrun by two yakuza factions. He gathers his crew and takes them on.
- 49
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2: Head of the Boss
The seventh in the shocking "Jingi Naki Tatakai" movie series, which exposes the true lives of the yakuza that is hidden by a mask of "jingi". The next stage of this continuing drama is the Kanmon Channel where the Owada and the Kyoei group
- 50
Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman
Zatoichi is a blind massage therapist and swordsman who finds out that something troubling is taking place on the outskirts of town. After discovering who the guilty parties are -- an accomplished Chinese martial artist named Wang Kang and
- 51
Evil of Dracula
A professor takes up a new post at an all-girls school only to discover the principal concealing a dark secret.
- 52
The Izu Dancer
While vacationing in the Izu peninsula, a high school student Kawashima becomes intrigued by Kaoru, a pretty young dancer in a troupe of travelling performers, and he tags along with them on their journeys.
- 53
Akio Jissoji's Ultraman
Akio Jissoji's Ultraman is a 1979 Japanese tokusatsu kaiju film directed by Akio Jissoji. It is a compilation film made up of scenes from Jissoji's episodes of the original Ultraman TV series.
- 54
Graveyard of Honor
A self-destructive man becomes a powerful member of the yakuza but quickly loses his self-control. Based on the true story of Rikio Ishikawa.
- 55
Ballad of Orin
Expelled from her group for losing her virginity, blind travelling musician Orin endures a life of hardship, abuse, and poverty while wandering the countryside, finding brief companionship with an army deserter, and struggling against a soc
- 56
Wandering Ginza Butterfly: She-Cat Gambler
Meiko Kaji reprises her role as Nami, a vengeful female gang leader, in the second installment of this high-action series that casts a new actor -- martial arts legend Sonny Chiba -- in the role of Nami's loyal friend Ryuji. This time around, Nami is looking for Hoshiden, the man who murdered her father and shattered her once-hopeful childhood. But living under an assumed name, Hoshiden could stay hidden forever.
- 57
Submersion of Japan
A team of geophysicists investigating seismic activity on the seafloor discover that the islands of Japan, after suffering from massive volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, will be pulled into the ocean, killing millions.
- 58
Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid
The story of a beautiful mermaid who gave up a kingdom for her beloved prince.
- 59
The Killing Game
The second movie of Tôru Murakawa's "Game" trilogy. After making a sensational hit, a hitman has gone into hiding for five years. When he comes back he bumps into two women that he has spared five years ago. Two rival yakuza bosses hire Narumi to kill the other. Will Narumi's sense of chivalry entrap him again?
- 60
Sister Street Fighter
Li Mansei is a martial-arts champion turned undercover agent. When he is captured by a drug lord, his sister Li Koryu turns to his former martial-arts school, including the powerful Sonny Kawasaka, for help in the inevitable battle royale.
- 61
The Fall of Ako Castle
This is the story of "The Forty-Seven Ronin." Based on historical events in 1701-2, the movie tells the tale of the Asano clan's downfall and the revenge of its former samurai on the perpetrator of the catastrophe. Lord Asano was goaded, or
- 62
The Execution Game
The third movie in Tōru Murakawa's Game trilogy about a hitman. Narumi is set up by a mysterious woman. Abducted and tortured, Narumi is forced to take on a difficult job. The target is a veteran killer as good as him.
- 63
Himitsu Sentai Gorenger: The Bomb Hurricane!
The Gorenger head for Matsuyama to prevent the Black Cross from firing a missile to destroy Japan. Himitsu Sentai Gorenger: The Bomb Hurricane is a theatrical film based on the Himitsu Sentai Gorenger television series. It was originally sh
- 64
Miyamoto Musashi
In Part I we see the young would-be swordsman setting out to achieve greatness in war, achieving nothing because fighting on the losing side, & then beginning his long period of wandering & training, with the goal always in mind of his duel
- 65
Jeans Blues: No Future
Hijiriko makes off from the bar she works at with money and a car that isn't hers. Meanwhile, Jiro Katagiri is up to no good with his gangster friends and ends up making off with all their ill-gotten gains, much to their disapproval. The two misfits end up meeting after a car crash and soon end up on the road together in (another) stolen car. It's not long before the police take an interest in the crimes, and of course the gangsters are hot on Jiri's heels; meaning the two must scarper across Japan by any means necessary.
- 66
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 3: Last Days of the Boss
The eighth sequel of the series by the successful “Fukasaku and Bunta” collaboration revolves around the men of a lesser organization that are constantly bullied by the upper organization and “bleed in vain” in gang wars.
- 67
Tora-san Meets the Songstress Again
Tora-san visits Hokkaido and is reunited with Lily. Now divorced, she plans to resume her singing career and renews her unusual relationship with Tora-san.
- 68
Violent Streets
With a Kansai syndicate setting their sights on Tokyo, a former yakuza boss gets dragged back into a world of violence.
- 69
Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter
Mako and her girl friends enter a dispute with rival street gangsters The Eagles, a band of racist macho pigs led by the evil Baron, who hate half-breeds. When one of the girls start dating a half-breed, they start a terror campaign to take all of them out of town. Mako and her gang fight back, helping their new friend Kazuma find his long gone sister.
- 70
Yakuza Graveyard
A police investigator cracks down on yakuza business, but once he realizes the police are in negotiations with certain factions, he sides with his own syndicate of choice.
- 71
Professional Killers
Two assassins are hired to carry out a hit on the second wife of a candle merchant, but someone is watching...
- 72
The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan
An outlaw pushes the residents of Edo's red light district to rebel against a growing number of stifling, moralistic laws.
- 73
Zatoichi in Desperation
After accidentally causing the death of an old lady, Zatoichi tries to do right by buying the lady’s daughter’s freedom from a brothel - but this causes more problems than solves them.
- 74
Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight
A Ronin with a death wish reluctantly joins the Clan of the Forgotten Eight, a nasty crew of ronin who are wrapped up in a clan war over local prostitution.
- 75
The Transgressor
18 years after the mysterious death of her mother, Maya takes religious vows to find out what terrible things happened to her mother inside the Sacred Heart Convent. As soon as the door closes to the nunnery, the nuns start torturing her. She also has to deal with a lecherous archbishops and a lesbian mother superior.
- 76
The Decisive Power of Aikido
It is about the life of Ueshiba - the founder of aikido. We can see how he decided to develop aikido and how he did it. We can see why he developed aikido and where he has learned martial arts.
- 77
The Homeless
Two inmates are simultaneously released from jail, but go their separate ways, only to cross paths again in the nearest brothel. There they make the acquaintance of a would-be prostitute. They help her escape and decide to guide her on her quest for sunken contraband somewhere off the coast.
- 78
Poem
A rigidly devoted young servant lives in a decaying aristocratic household as its members drift toward modernity, hedonism, and financial collapse. While the family quarrels over the fate of their estate, he clings to tradition and ritual,
- 79
Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs
Agent Zero is a cop that uses her own methods for dealing with criminals. After she unlawfully kills a rapist in a violent fashion, she is sent to prison and stripped of her badge. But very soon after, a rich politician's daughter is kidnap
- 80
Undersea Super Train: Marine Express
The plot of Marine Express can be described in two parts. The first part focuses on the people boarding the train and the problems they encounter on it. The second part takes place after the train has stopped at its half-way point, an islan
- 81
Withered Tree, the Adventures of Monjiro
Kogarashi Monjiro is a lone samurai who agrees to take responsibility for a murder that his friend committed so that he can stay with his dying mother, with the expectation that his friend will confess and get him pardoned once she dies. Mo
- 82
The Executioner
Three men, the skilled ninja Ryuichi Koga, the deadly assassin and former drug detective Takeshi Hayato, and the criminal mastermind Ichiro Sakura work together to take out an infamous drug dealer.
- 83
The Inferno
Hell manifests itself through the sins, shame and desires of an upper class rural family and a mother's grief from beyond the grave.
- 84
Village of Eight Gravestones
The heir to a family fortune discovers that a curse has been placed on it, put there centuries before by a band of samurai warriors. Adaptation of novel by Seishi Yokomizo
- 85
Wandering Ginza Butterfly
Gang leader Nami (cult film legend Meiko Kaji) kills a member of a yakuza group and goes away to prison. Upon her release three years later, she’s a shamed woman confined to living in the shadowy world of sex clubs and street gangs. She returns to the city to live with her uncle, a billiard-hall owner, and after befriending pimp and ne’er-do-well Ryuji (Tsunehiko Watase), she gets a job working at a hostess club in the chic Ginza neighborhood, where the expensive shops and neon lights conceal a dark world of crime and sexual slavery. But when a rival gang attempts to muscle in on the club, Nami becomes enmeshed in a violent struggle that forces her to wield a skilled pool cue to defend her uncle’s business, and eventually a short sword to wreak bloody vengeance upon her enemies.
- 86
Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974
When his wife, the outspoken feminist Miyuki Takeda, announced that she was leaving him in order to find herself, Kazuo Hara began this raw, intensely personal documentary as a way to both maintain a connection to the woman he still cared f
- 87
Criminal Woman: Killing Melody
Reiko Ike stars as the daughter of a man who has been pushed into drug dealing by the local Yakuza mob. Having outlived his usefulness to the gang he is murdered and Reiko is gang raped, leading her to attempt a knife attack on the Yakuza boss (Ryoji Hayama) at a swank nightclub. Failing to kill him she ends up in prison, where she befriends a crew of other malcontents (including Yumiko Katayama and Chiyoko Kazama) and meets the Yakuza boss's girlfriend (Miki Sugimoto). Upon release Reiko reassembles her mob and launches a Machiavellian scheme to engineer a gang war between Hayama's Oba Industries and the formerly dominant Hamayasu Clan. The rival gangs begin killing each other off and Reiko works her way closer to her ultimate vengeance.
- 88
Karate Bear Fighter
Masutatsu Oyama is recruited by his former Army friend to work for a crew of gangsters, but when they kill both his girlfriend and his best friend, Oyama flees away to a small town where he both learns lessons in martial arts philosophy fro
- 89
The Last Song
Junkichi is the son of a rich landlord, while Koyuki is the daughter of a poor lumber worker. The mismatched pair soon finds love, and against his father's wishes, Junkichi decides to run away with Koyuki to start a new life. But when Junkichi is called off to war, they make a pledge to sing the song of engagement everyday until they are able to reunite
- 90
- 91
Love in the Mud
This is a story of love between a society girl and a yakuza boy. Mami lives an ordinary life in Tokyo, being with her friends and studying. Her biggest interest is ladies hats. She is rather well off, as her father is the ambassador of Japan in Spain. One day when she is out driving, she is attacked by a group of yakuza, but is saved by the honorable yakuza Jiro. This will change her life forever.
- 92
The Demon
When Sokichi stops providing his long-time lover Kikuyo enough money to pay for the care of their three young children, Kikuyo leaves the children with Sokichi - and his very surprised and angry wife Oume - and disappears.
- 93
Karate Bullfighter
Sonny Chiba plays Kyokushin Karate founder Masutatsu Oyama, who unexpectedly arrives at a karate tournament in rags, but wins the tournament. After turning down the chance to fight at future tournaments he returns to his simple village life. He reluctantly returns to karate for a final showdown against the students of a rival school.
- 94
Demon Pond
When a lone traveller stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akir
- 95
The Boxer
In the midst of a match, Hayato, a successful boxer, has had enough of the sport. He lets himself get knocked out, and quits boxing, leaving his wife and living alone with his mangy dog. One day a young mediocre boxer knocks at the door and wants to be Hayato's apprentice.
- 96
The Red Silk Gambler
With her first love that unfolded in the battlefield in her heart, and with a short sword and a pillbox as her weapons, female gambler Okatsu the Tiger Lily travels from gambling site to gambling site. Surrounding her are Omon, an outlaw st
- 97
Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams
Rika is released from girls detention school and then winds up at a lounge bar where she finds her other classmates working. This lounge bar is run by Junko Miyazono.
- 98
Outlaw Killers: Three Mad Dog Brothers
The great Bunta stars as a gangster who is sent to jail for the sake of his gang, but when he’s released he finds everything completely changed and his gang has swept him aside for being too violent. He tries to start a new life with his two ”brothers” but can’t seem to escape old affiliations
- 99
Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell
Takeshi Hongo and FBI agent Kazuya Taki fake their deaths when they are attacked by Shocker soldiers during a motocross race. They disguise themselves as Shocker soldiers and infiltrate the main headquarters, but it doesn't take too long fo
- 100
Nutcracker Fantasy
Based off of the novel, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and the ballet, "The Nutcracker", Sanrio shows their take on the classic story in a stop-motion animated film.