20 Why Don’t You Play In Hell? (地獄でなぜ悪い | Jigoku de naze warui), 2013

In Japan, gonzo filmmakers hatch a three-pronged plan to save an actress’s career, end a yakuza war and make a hit movie.

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19 Ichi the Killer (殺し屋1 | Koroshiya 1), 2001

As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.

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18 Gozu (極道恐怖大劇場　牛頭　ＧＯＺＵ | Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu), 2003

A yakuza enforcer is ordered to secretly drive his beloved colleague to be assassinated. But when the colleague unceremoniously disappears en route, the trip that follows is a twisted, surreal and horrifying experience.

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17 Graveyard of Honor (仁義の墓場 | Jingi no hakaba), 1975

A look at the life of renegade yakuza, Rikio Ishikawa, particularly the years from 1946 to 1950 when his violent antics get him in trouble with his own clan, Kawada, and then with the clan of his protector, Kozaburo Imai. In these years, he can rely on Chieko, a young Tokyo courtesan who gives him shelter. He’s banished to Osaka, where he picks up a drug habit. Through it all, he keeps his friends and enemies off balance with unpredictable behavior — and he seems indestructible.

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16 Under the Open Sky (すばらしき世界 | Subarashiki Sekai), 2020

A middle-aged former yakuza is released from prison after thirteen years where he was placed for murder. He is struggling to adapt to society and freedom, find a job and communicate normally, but he is also preoccupied by the quest for his mother from whom he was separated as a child. He finds allies in his search for his parent and a place in mainstream society, but the process is not seamless or smooth.

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15 Minbo (ミンボーの女 | Minbo no onna), 1992

A grand old Japanese hotel is trying to get a prestigious contract as the site of a summit meeting of important foreign officials. Unfortunately, this hotel is quite popular with the Yakuza and is a favorite target of theirs for extortion. They employ a variety of schemes to con the hotel out of ‘hush-money.’ The hotel needs to rid itself of the Yakuza and finally begins to fight back by hiring Mahiru Inoue, a lawyer who is an expert at dealing with these criminals on their own terms. This film by Juzo Itami combines action with farce, as an all-out war ensues.

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14 Beyond Outrage (アウトレイジ ビヨンド | Autoreiji: Biyondo), 2012

As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West.

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13 Crying Freeman, 1995

A lethal assassin for a secret Chinese organisation, who sheds tears of regret each time he kills, is seen swiftly and mercilessly executing three Yakuza gangsters by a beautiful artist. She is captivated by the grace of his kill and later falls in love with him. An intense power struggle for the leadership of the Yakuza Clans ensues as they seek vengeance for the death of their leader. They soon realise the fatal mistake of underestimating the deadly skills of the Crying Freeman.

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12 Outrage (アウトレイジ | Autoreiji), 2010

The plot concerns a struggle for power amongst Tokyo’s Yakuza clans, today just as likely to be playing the stock market as shaking down pachinko parlors, over which the Sanmo-kai clan holds sway in the face of constant betrayal and ever-changing allegiances. The Sanmo-kai chairman learns that his henchman Ikemoto has struck an alliance with the drug-dealing Murase family, and is not best pleased, to say the least. The ensuing retaliation triggers an orgy of killings, territorial invasions and score settling while law enforcement officers are too corrupt to intervene.

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11 The Yakuza, 1974

American private-eye Harry Kilmer returns to Japan to rescue a friend’s kidnapped daughter from the clutches of the Yakuza.

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