Yellow Line

Apr 29, 1960

1h 19m

★ 7.0

Overview

The murder of the chief official of Kobe city's Customs triggers an investigation of a prostitution ring called the 'Yellow Line' that sells Japanese women. A hired assassin is betrayed by his organization, and kidnaps a woman who happens to be the girlfriend of a newspaper reporter.

Genres

Crime

Production Companies

Shintoho Company

Yellow Line Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Kazuhiro Moroki

Shigeru Amachi

Emi Ozuki

Yōko Mihara

Toshio Mayama

Teruo Yoshida

Newspaper editor

Yōichi Numata

Yoshihide Matsudaira

Torahiko Nakamura

Agawa

Jun Ōtomo

Tetsu

Ryūji Oki

Baku Mizuhara

Yumiko Katsura

Mako Sanjō

Hotel Madame

Katsuko Wakasugi

Casbah prostitute

Reiko Seto

Woman selling foreign cigarettes

Akiko Ono

In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.

7.0

A Colt Is My Passport

Feb 4, 1967

A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.

7.1

Tokyo Drifter

Apr 10, 1966

After yakuza boss Kurata dissolves his own criminal empire, a rival kingpin offers a position to Kurata's top operative, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo. When the fiercely loyal Tetsu declines, Otsuka taps unstoppable Tatsuzo the "Viper", a ruthless gun-for-hire, to assassinate him. As the Viper trails his target through the countryside, the agile Phoenix Tetsu grows concerned that one of his former associates has betrayed him.

7.5

Internal Sleuth

Apr 21, 1973

When 150 guns are stolen from Iwakuni base and two police officers are shot dead, a detective criminal tries to find out the truth.

6.8

Good-for-Nothing

Jul 5, 1960

Yoshida's first feature follows the lives of young students against a background of jazz, emptiness and boredom. The plot is fairly simple: a "good-for-nothing" from a poor background falls in love with the young secretary of his rich friend's father. The woman senses good in him and tries to lead him on the right path.

7.0

Intimidation

Mar 23, 1960

Koreyoshi Kurahara's ingeniously plotted, pocket-size noir concerns the intertwined fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his resentful but timid underling, passed over for a promotion. The marvelously moody Intimidation is an elegantly stripped-down and carefully paced crime drama.

7.3

Pale Flower

Mar 1, 1964

A gangster gets released from prison and has to cope with the recent shifts of power between the gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.

6.0

Get 'em All

Nov 29, 1960

Gang of robbers quarrel about the loot, but when one of them gets killed, his younger brother seeks them out to ice them one by one.

5.6

The Beast Shall Die

Jun 9, 1959

A promising post-graduate literature student is transformed into a psychotic killer following the suicide of his father and a sleazy affair by his mother with a younger man.

0.0

Badge of the Night

Mar 31, 1963

A noir action whodunit with Kobayashi his usual jaunty self as the smart aleck private eye whose missing person search soon becomes a murder case. Nightclub-managing, drug-dealing gangster Uchida is the prime suspect in the case until he commits suicide. Kobayashi then discovers evidence that points to the doctor sibling of an innocent girl. The climax in a rural snowy locale is suspenseful and well-staged.

7.5

A Killer's Key

Dec 2, 1967

A lone wolf assassin, masquerading as a traditional dance instructor named Nitta, is called in to avert a potential financial scandal that threatens to engulf a powerful yakuza group with ties to influential figures in the political establishment.

6.5

Cruel Gun Story

Feb 1, 1964

Businessmen arrange the early release from prison of Togawa, serving time for taking revenge on the truck driver whose carelessness confined Togawa's sister, Rie, to a wheelchair. They want Togawa to hijack an armored truck loaded with 120 million yen; their leverage is to promise him money for surgery for Rie. Togawa consents and plans the heist with three others. The plan is solid, but it doesn't go smoothly. Togawa must improvise, there are traitors somewhere, and double-crosses mount. Can Togawa escape with enough money to help his sister and ensure a passage out of Japan?

6.5

I Am Waiting

Oct 22, 1957

A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.

5.7

Rusty Knife

Mar 11, 1958

Udaka is a new, post-war city where corruption has already taken hold. A persistent district attorney wants to arrest and convict Katsumata, a laughing, self-confident thug. The D.A. gets an anonymous letter about the suicide five years' before of a city council member. Evidence about the case leads the D.A. to Tachibana, struggling to go straight after involvement with the mob and a prison sentence for killing the man responsible for the rape and suicide of his fiancée. One of Tachibana's friends is Keiko, the daughter of the dead councilman and the ward of another powerful official. How do these stories connect?

6.1

Take Aim at the Police Van

Jan 27, 1960

A sniper kills two prisoners in a police van, and the driver sets out to find the killer.

7.6

Cash Calls Hell

Jan 15, 1966

Before leaving prison, Oida uncomfortably enters into an agreement with his cell mate: in exchange for a half-share of 30,000,000 yen, he is to assassinate three strangers given to him on a list. However, upon meeting his first potential victim, Oida has second thoughts. Yet, even as he tries to back out, the body count starts climbing. Oida must now try to alert the people on his list of their impending danger, and find out why they are being targeted in the first place.

4.6

Black Line

Jan 13, 1960

Freelance reporter “Scoop” Machida is hot on the trail of a prostitution ring called the Black Line, when he is framed for the murder of a young woman. Forced to clear his own name, the handsome journalist sinks deeper into the Black Line’s rotten swamp of drugs, prostitution, and murder and finds unexpected help in Maya, a steamy female gambler familiar with the neon-lit streets, shadowy alleyways, and seedy nightclubs he must navigate. The closest film in the Line series to classic American film noir, Ishii’s Black Line is a pulpy assortment of crime film conventions including the starkly expressionistic black and white cinematography by Jûgyô Yoshida, a jazzy music score by Michiaki Watanabe, and a sleazy screenplay by Ishii and Ichirô Miyagawa.