Red Peony Gambler is a 1968 Japanese film that's known as Hibotan bakuto over there. The film translates the Japanese characters as Lady Yakuza: The Red Peony Gambler. It's the first of 8 films about a lady gambler's journey around Japan. Kind of reminiscent of the Zatoichi films. The script is by Norifumi Suzuki and the director is Kôsaku Yamashita.
Sumiko Fuji plays Ryuko, raised in the Yano yakuza family, her father is killed when she's 18, she disbands the family and goes on a search for her father's killer. She has a wallet left at the scene of the crime and 5 years later she's still on the same mission.
She now calls herself Red Peony Oryu, she has read peonies tattooed on her shoulder. In a gambling den Oryu defends a man who calls the dealer a cheat. She proves the man right and saves his life. The big boss looses face and forces the dealer to cut off the end of his little finger as punishment. The angry dealer comes after Oryu with some thugs.
Ken Takakura plays Katagiri, he comes to Oryu's aid when the dealer and his scummy pals attack her. They go their own way but eventually wind up in the same town. Katagiri's brother is a local crime boss, a greedy sort of prick that eventually comes to a sticky end.
Tomisaburô Wakayama plays a comical character who's the boss of a small yakuza family. Way different from his later role as Ogami Ito in the Lone Wolf And Cub series. He'll be back into Oryu's life in 3 of the sequels. Katagiri plays a big part in finding the murderer of Oryu's father. He'll also return in the third film in the series.
I found the story kept me interested, there's a nice mix of drama and humor, I liked a bunch of the characters. There's plenty of nice scenery and sets. There's a fair bit of action during the film and biggish battle at the end. Definitely way better than average and I thought well worth the look. You can check it out on this blog. There are French DVDs available but they don't have any English subtitles, so they are useless to me.
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