Shin jingi naki tatakai: Kumicho no kubi

This seventh film in the Battles Without Honour and Humanity series was a notable improvement over the sixth. The whole series is the gold standard for Japanese yakuza movies, thanks to their fast pacing, complex plots full of gang politics and betrayal, brutal violence, and chaotic camerawork.

On the topic of complex plots, I do often get lost watching these movies because of how many characters there are, but The Boss' Head was surprisingly simple, comparatively. Most of the conflict is internal (within one crime family), which means there's less of a need to keep track of which character belongs to which gang, which gets pretty difficult with some of the other films.

The plot involves a loose associate/lone wolf gangster becoming wrapped up in the main family, and the consequences that come from him involving himself with them. If you've seen other yakuza movies before (or even just other gangster movies before), it's the kind of stuff you'd expect, but it's executed well here.

They churned most of these movies out within a matter of years, and I'm impressed with the overall quality of the series. While this film wasn't a high point, I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous one I watched. Also, seeing as there's only one more film to go for this series (at least the ones that came out in the 1970s), I feel I can safely say - even if I don't end up liking the eighth much - that it's overall a very good series of frantic, gritty, bloody crime-thrillers.

Sugawara is Kuroda, an itinerant gambler who steps in when a hit by drug-addicted assassin Kusunoki goes wrong, and takes the fall on behalf of the Owada family, but when the gang fails to make good on financial promises to him, Kuroda targets the family bosses with a ruthless vengeance.

Crafting the script this time are Susumu Saji, perhaps best known for writing "Voice Without a Shadow" (1958) for Nikkatsu; and Kôji Takada, who wrote "The Street Fighter" (1974) with Sonny Chiba. The general concept details some of the conflicts between the Owada family and the Kyoei Group over the control of the Kanmon Straits.

This is a very smart location choice. Much like how the American mob infiltrated the docks, it makes sense to have the yakuza try to control the Straits, which is a necessary passageway for boats coming from Korea and China. Whether it be drugs or something legal, whomever controls the passageway can very effectively put their dominance on the commercial world of Japan.

Even better, this time we add Meiko Kaji to the mix. Though best known as the assassin Lady Snowblood, or perhaps the murderous Sasori from the "Female Convict 701: Scorpion" series, she is no less menacing here.