The Hard Core Criminal (1973) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
In the 20th century, the Japanese government exploits prisoners as expendable slave laborers in a coal mine, which results in conflict between the prisoners and the warden to escalate.
Cast
Popular reviews
A grimy, vicious little prison movie that features an absurd amount of shirtless, sweaty men as well as Jo Shishido without his cheeks and Koji Tsurata without his eyebrows.
One of my biggest blind spots as a Toei fanatic (or masochist as they call themselves on Letterboxd) are their prison movies. I'm not a big fan of prison movies because watching them often feels like well...being in prison.
This one had some nice mean spirited, exploitative elements and violence that helped it be more entertaining. Still, I doubt I'll return to it.
I think I've said it before but it's a shame that in the west all Shigehiro Ozawa is really known for is Street Fighter. While I understand that movie made a cultural impact in a cult way if you really access it...it's not that great of a film, but I still dig it 🙇🏻♂️. He's made many movies that are MUCH better and Criminal is one of them.
1904. North Sea-Tsune (Koji Tsuruta) is transferred to the notoriously brutal 'Three Lakes Prison' after inciting a riot and escaping a facility in Hokkaido. A murderer and serial escapee with the deaths of 28 guards and inmates to his name, he is soon embroiled in a scheme wherein the ruthless, corrupt regime want him to kill Mine leader Gunji (Jo Shishido), a yakuza serving a life sentence who has the respect of the inmates, but is hated by the guards as he campaigns for better working conditions.
Another rewatch and a film that I like more on every viewing. Three Lakes Prison is a literal hell. A filthy, sweaty, claustrophobic nightmare where prisoners are forced to mine in the most…
Nice prison drama by Shigehiro Ozawa which is much more violent than his entries into the Ninkyo genre that features an all star cast (at least in my book) including two of my favourite Toei bad guys Bin Amatsu and Tatsuo Endô (who sadly hasn't much on screen time). Bin Amatsu is a pleasure to watch as he is as sleazy and sadistic as ever. Man, I love to hate him in most of the late 60s and early 70s Toei flicks!
It's also nice to see Jô Shishido in one of his first Toei starring roles that differs a lot from his Nikkatsu ones.
Kôji Tsuruta is impressive as he plays a character that is much more violent then we are used to even though it was a little weird to watch him with shaved eyebrows, lol.
Hardened criminals and imprisoned yakuza endure extreme conditions and brutal guards mining coal in the Miike Shuji Prison in Fukuoka at the breakout out of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904.
Based on the actual Mitsui Miike Coal Mine Shūchikan that still operated until 1997 and where a museum stands today the movie really shows the harsh conditions and in particular the brutality of the prison guards and mine wardens. The cast is absolutely stacked it is the convergence of the old 60s Toei stock company and just about everyone that would make up the Piranha Corps of the 70s, it would be easier to mention the faces that do not appear! Even Asao Koike does the brief narration at the…
One of the most unpleasant setting in a toei film. All you've got is near-naked, sweaty, dirty inmates in a cave for 90 minutes. And was this impressive! Unapologetically nihilist, bloody violent, with a superb funk soundtrack and a fantastic ending that comes back a bit to Tsuruta's favourite territory: Ninkyo.
Koji Tsuruta is a stone cold killer with 28 murders and multiple escapes to his name, while Jo Shishido is the stoic Yakuza trying to do his time and get home to his family in this violent prison drama that sees the two team up to take on the brutal prison regime who enjoy killing their wards and working them to death in the coal mines.
This was excellent. Both leads are on form and are helped along by all the regular Toei faces, from Bin Amatsu to Goro Ibuki, the whole gang are here at one point or another. The sets, whilst small scale for the most part, are impressive with the mines themselves looking like a sweaty, filthy nightmare to film in and as per the norm with any good prison film you get a healthy amount of bloody murders,riots and escapes. I had a blast with this, definitely a high recommend.
Oh hell yeah. Bunch of prisoners get bloody & grimy in a cave set to a funky 70s soundtrack. Jordy like.
A very unusual film in the true account yakuza genre in that it is set during the Meiji period in 1904 just before Japan would fight Russia in a naval war and it is also set in a prison. Actually, most of the action is set in the coal mines where the prisoners doing a 12 year to life sentence are made to dig coal in horrific conditions and are regularly brutalized by the military style prison guards.
They actually murder the prisoners.
Brutalized they are as this is one of the most violent films of its nature and just as nasty or more brutal than any of the more ridiculous entries from Toei like Okinawan Yakuza War or some…
極悪眉なし鶴田浩二が釧路集治監から三池集治監に送られてくる話。
序中盤はやや停滞感を感じるものの、鶴田浩二が脱獄を企てたあたりからの熱量が凄まじい。泥と汗と血が飛び交う不潔環境の中、理不尽な体制に鶴田浩二が吠え、宍戸錠が怒鳴る。
行き着く果てにはスプラッタホラーに見紛うぐらいの顔面破壊。
作中のボルテージが最高潮になった所でバツンと終わる気持ち良さも好き。
超面白い！
Dirty, violent prison drama. The life of the convict is not easy here; being forced to slave in coal mines and harassed by brutal guards. Koji Tsuruta is the titular hard core criminal who gets transferred to the prison, causing issues as he's seen as a threat by the other inmates. Naturally there's also a lot of tension between convicts and guards and it eventually boils over. The atmosphere is done well, the soundtrack is pretty banger at times and the cast is good.
I mean it wasn't bad. I was excited to find a new Jo Shishido film and I got this. An exploitation flick that was so very 1970s. Bloody for the sake of being bloody, violent for the sake of being violent, etc. And very 1970s music. Three stars because of Shishido.