Movies by Akira Kobayashi

A Legend of Turmoil

A Legend of Turmoil

A story about the development of a bright and strong yakuza. Otaki is an old-fashioned respectful yakuza who tries to protect his small yakuza family. When his boss gets shot, he decides to go after the plotters.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode

While Hirono is in prison, his rival Takeda turns his own crime organization into a political party, whose two executives stir up new tensions in their thirst for power.

The Rambler under the Southern Cross

The Rambler under the Southern Cross

In the nine part Wataridori series (1959-1962), Kobayashi played a wanderer on Japan’s back roads with most of the accoutrements of a Western hero, from a horse to fringes, guitar and even a trusty bullwhip.

The Elder Sister

The Elder Sister

Follows the struggles of a yakuza wife after his husband gets hurt in a knife fight.

Women's Police

Women's Police

Around Ginza there is a night-city of bars and cabarets, hostesses, customers. Assisting to keep order here is Kagari (Akira Kobayashi) who specializes in the women, their problems and troubles. He has saved many a girl from blandishments of pimps, makes customers pay up and women play straight. So he is called 'the woman's police-man' and he takes his job seriously. One day, Chiyoko (Yukiyo Toake), a former hostess, comes to him. Her husband has been murdered and she wants help. The man had been a college classmate and Kagari decides to do...

Traveling Alone with a Guitar

Traveling Alone with a Guitar

Kobayashi Akira stars as a wandering musician, who lost his brother and lover to dishonest rival Henmi. The third work in Nikkatsu's "Gambler" series.

Immortal Guy

Immortal Guy

Kosuke Suzuki was presumed dead after boss Toseikai Setouchi lynched him and threw him into the sea off the coast of Kobe. However, three months later, Kosuke suddenly appears in Kagoshima and reunites with his partner, the vagrant Kumagoro. However, Kosuke's relief does not last long, he learns from Kumagoro that Toseikai are acting ruthlessly here too.

Fearless Comrades

Fearless Comrades

The first film in the Fearless Guy series. Kosuke was part of a huge organized crime group, but decided to leave after his best friend died a brutal death at the hands of the gang leader. He goes on a trip with a guitar in his hand and ends up in Yokohama. The guitar he plays at the bar in the evening was given to him by his late best friend. At the bar, Kosuke meets Kumagoro. Kosuke saves Kumagoro from bandits. Kumagoro is a funny man, he came to this city to reunite with the woman he swore to marry. Kosuke decides to settle in this city an...

The Singing Gunman

The Singing Gunman

Fourth film in the Aitsu series. The outlaw-cum-travelling guitarist discovers that his friend has been killed by the gangsters who held up the bullion transport.

Tale on Tokai Chivalry

Tale on Tokai Chivalry

The film is set in Fukagawa in the early Showa period and depicts a fateful confrontation between two men who rise and fall in a black stream, trying to live a real human life, violating the cruel laws of the passing generation.

The Reckless One

The Reckless One

Kosuke Suzuki returns to Hakata's hometown after learning that his best friend Takehara has disappeared. Kosuke is persistently hindered by Hasebe from Omura Sangyo. Kosuke's partner Kumagoro investigates and finds out that Hasebe, who killed the head of the Muraoka clan, made Takehara disappear in order to keep him silent. The third film in the series.

The Rambling Guitarist

The Rambling Guitarist

Arriving in the town of Hakodate, a wandering musician, Shinji Taki, is soon recruited by the local gang as a hired hand. However, with the arrival of a sinister gunman, Taki's mysterious past catches up with him.

Exiled to Hell

Exiled to Hell

It is the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926), and at the Hanazuki-tei theatre in Asakusa, the famous performance of storyteller Koiso Kikuji and performer Kataoka Koshin is reaching its climax when the Tawaraya family interferes... This is an entertaining action film bursting with righteousness and humanity, centred on men who try to live righteously against a corrupt boss who preys on the performers.

The Yakuza Code Still Lives

The Yakuza Code Still Lives

After spending eight years in prison for murder, Hiroshi leaves his yakuza family to start a new life as a labor racketeer.

Three Rogues

Three Rogues

Two lone wolf yakuza (Hideki Takahashi and Kunie Tanaka) rob a gambling den, then split up when pursued by the angry gang. They eventually meet again at Tanaka's mother's rural farmhouse. By then, one-eyed Kobayashi has wrangled his way into the scenario, intending to get a split of the proceeds (since he had helped them get away). Although there is some dissension amongst the three, they eventually close ranks to fend off their stubborn, relentless pursuers. Unhappily, Tanaka’s mother (Chieko Naniwa) is killed in the process. There are also...

Duel in the Storm

Duel in the Storm

It is the Taisho era in Japan. A man has quit the Yakuza after five years and returned to Shikoku in order to begin his life anew as a ferryman. His boss, however, became ill and the boat is taken due to unpaid debts to the local thugs. His new life has not begun well and he is determined to rebuild the shattered business. The Yakuza, however, have added the ferry business to the rest of their portfolio of local concerns.

Retaliation

Retaliation

Emerging from a stint in prison, yakuza lieutenant Sumukawa discovers that his gang has disintegrated. An ambitious type, he quickly hooks up with another gang who promise him a prominent position if he helps them deal with a rival family. But bonds are made to be broken, and pledges of loyalty soon give way to competition, betrayal and — naturally — retaliation.

Punishment of a Lawless Villian

Punishment of a Lawless Villian

In the early Meiji era, two contrasting craftsmen, who had been bound by a ten-year strong friendship, suddenly hated each other and face many obstacles. Adapted from Shugoro Yamamoto novel.

Family Crest: Loyalty Offering Hell

Family Crest: Loyalty Offering Hell

Nonaka Tetsugoro, a substitute for the Aoi group, held a flower party to celebrate the complete recovery of his boss. However, three rival bosses, trying to steal the Aoi's territory, made take-over plans in the shadows. The second in the two part Daimon series movies.

Operation Plazma in Osaka

Operation Plazma in Osaka

Amidst Japan's postwar economic boom, yakuza factions in Osaka fight for survival when Japan's largest crime syndicate plans a hostile takeover.