Blackmail Is My Business (1968)
"Kyokatsu koso Waga Jinsei" (original title)

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writer:

Shinji Fujiwara (book)

Stars:

Hiroki Matsukata, Tomomi Satô, Yôko Mihara

Cast

Credited cast:
Hiroki Matsukata	...	Muraki
Tomomi Satô	...	Otoki
Yôko Mihara
Tetsurô Tanba
Bin Amatsu
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shigeru Amachi
Akira Jo	...	Zero
Hideo Murota	...	Seki
Eriko Sono
Ryôhei Uchida

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

based on book

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Genres:

Crime | Comedy

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Also Known As:

Blackmail Is My Life

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku Company, Shôchiku Eiga

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Tokyo Drifter (1966)

User Reviews

It's different but not especially distinguished.

I noticed that IMDb lists this as a crime film AND a comedy. Well, there's nothing funny about the film--it's not at all a comedy. Instead, the film is about four low-lifes who make a career out of blackmailing people and fighting various mobs (who SHOULD have been able to smash them like bugs but somehow didn't throughout much of the film). For them, it all seems to be for the thrills and laughs--the money is secondary. However, the deeper the risk the greater the thrills--so they keep biting off more and more and more. You figure that eventually they'll get in way over their heads. And that is when their friend Zero (a black guy--which is quite unusual for a Japanese film) is killed, things look really bad for these bizarre anti-heroes.

While this film is quite different from the usual mobster film of the time, it still is a pretty ordinary crime drama. It was reasonably entertaining but no more. For those who like the genre, it's worth seeing--for others, probably not.