The Yakuza (1974)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Yakuza (1974) – S. Pollack

Paul Schrader’s first produced screenplay (with Robert Towne) probably should have been directed by someone other than Sydney Pollack (coming off The Way We Were, starring Streisand and Redford).  The noir edge of the film gets softened a bit by the pacing and music that signal something different, more romantic.  Of course, the presence of Robert Mitchum, returning to Japan having earlier been a postwar military policeman there (and later detective back in the States), looking weary in his late fifties, adds some requisite moodiness, just right for the downbeat 1970s.  Mitchum has been persuaded by old friend George Tanner (Brian Keith) to intervene in a dispute that he has with a local Yakuza boss (who has kidnapped Tanner’s daughter).  To assist him, Mitchum reaches out to his former girlfriend’s brother, Ken Tanaka (Ken Takakura, the veteran Japanese star) who was previously a Yakuza, for assistance.  He also hopes to rekindle his romance with Eiko Tanaka (Keiko Kishi) to no avail.  The plot churns as the various dynamics work themselves out.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say it felt like a Seventies TV show at times – but the Japanese locations and culture do add some uniqueness.  And slowly, slowly, the plot strands come together with some bursts of startling violence and your cynical suspicions are more or less vindicated. Except that Takakura and Mitchum demonstrate that they live by a code of honour and that may be enough to retain some faith in the world.  If only the direction were tighter...