The Hoodlum Priest (1967)
The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.
Director:
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Writer:
Hajime Takaiwa
![]() |
Shintarō Katsu as Ryuzen |
![]() |
Mayumi Ogawa as Otatsu |
![]() |
Mikio Narita as Kashiwa Shinjuro |
![]() |
Kayo Mikimoto as Otsuru |
![]() |
Naoko Kubo as Oen |
![]() |
Jun Tatara as Gonroku |
![]() |
Hōsei Komatsu as Daihachi |
![]() |
Ryūtarō Gomi as Toramatsu |
![]() |
Yoshio Kaneuchi as |
![]() |
Fumio Watanabe as |
![]() |
Shōsaku Sugiyama as |
![]() |
Ikkei Tamaki as |
![]() |
Yukio Horikita as |
![]() |
Akira Shiga as |
![]() |
Jun Katsumura as |
![]() |
Takeshi Yabuuchi as |
![]() |
Sumao Ishihara as |
![]() |
Jun Fujikawa as |
![]() |
Hiroyoshi Nishioka as |
![]() |
Eijirō Yamaoka as |
![]() |
Gen Kuroki as |
![]() |
Yutaro Ban as |
![]() |
Masayoshi Kikuno as |
![]() |
Tadashi Iwata as |
![]() |
Kenichi Kagami as |
![]() |
Masako Tomura as |
![]() |
Jun Ōsugi as |
![]() |
Taizô Sengoku as |
![]() |
Kazuko Taniguchi as |
| Directing | Kimiyoshi Yasuda | Director |
| Writing | Hajime Takaiwa | Screenplay |
| Sound | Chumei Watanabe | Original Music Composer |
| Camera | Fujio Morita | Director of Photography |
| Art | Shigeru Katō | Art Direction |
| Sound | Tsuchitarō Hayashi | Sound Recordist |
| Editing | Hiroshi Yamada | Editor |
| Lighting | Hiroya Kato | Lighting Technician |