Sympathy for the Underdog (1971) on Netflix
An honorable old-school yakuza boss, Masuo Gunji, loses his Yokohama gang to Daito-kai, a Tokyo rival. Ten years in prison follow, then he rejoins his loyal men and relocates to Okinawa.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.3/101,413 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
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Plot summary
Masuo Gunji, an old-school yakuza boss known for his honor, holds Yokohama territory until Daito-kai, a powerful organization from Tokyo, forces his gang out. Daito-kai is also the family behind his ten years in prison. After his release he gathers the small group of men who stayed faithful and sets out to rebuild. The effort takes them to Okinawa, still under American administration at the time, where mainland gangsters have been arriving since the late 1960s in expectation of new business once US forces withdraw. Gunji and his men intend to start over there, violently if necessary.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Sympathy for the Underdog (1971)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was set and shot in Okinawa, and it drew on real events there: America handed control of Okinawa back to Japan only months after its release. Yakuza had already fled to the prefecture for the business opportunities the US withdrawal promised, touching off a ten-year war led by the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest criminal organization.
- Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane said the film was first developed as a sequel to Japan Organized Crime Boss, Fukasaku's 1969 film starring Kōji Tsuruta and Noboru Ando, until the director saw The Battle of Algiers. He then decided to make a yakuza film about foreigners and resistance groups.
- Inspired by movies about the French Foreign Legion and stories of people who cross national borders to fight in foreign wars, Fukasaku originally wanted to make a film about yakuza who end up in Vietnam, but he said that proved impossible.
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