Joshû sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi (1973)

Director:

Yasuharu Hasebe

Writer:

Tooru Shinohara (comic)

Stars:

Meiko Kaji, Masakazu Tamura, Yumi Kanei

Cast

Credited cast:
Meiko Kaji	...	Nami Matsushima (The Scorpion)
Masakazu Tamura	...	Teruo Kudo
Yumi Kanei	...	Kodama
Hiroshi Tsukata	...	Hirose
Yayoi Watanabe	...	Midori
Sanae Nakahara	...	Akiko
Akemi Negishi	...	Minamura
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Toshie Kokabu	...	Female Prisoner B
Fumie Shô	...	Female Prisoner F
Kiyome Takemura

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

based on manga | violence | based on comic | cult film | police | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller | Crime

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 December 1973 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toei Tokyo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by Joshuu sasori: Satsujin yokoku (1991)

User Reviews

Not a great swan song for Kaji's Nami Matsushima.

Grudge Song, Meiko Kaji's final outing as sexy female prisoner Nami Matsushima (AKA The Scorpion), opens with our beautiful anti-hero narrowly avoiding capture by the police during a wedding. Badly injured during this latest escape, our tasty fugitive breaks into a strip club where she is tended to by club employee Teruo Kudo (Masakazu Tamura), who bears a grudge against the police for torturing him when he was younger.

Grateful for his kindness, and recognising Kudo as a kindred spirit, Nami lowers her defenses and forms a relationship with the young man—but can Kudo be trusted not to betray Nami, especially when he is put under pressure by sadistic policeman Kodama (Yumi Kanei) and his brutal cohorts?

After being somewhat disappointed by director Shunya Ito's third Female Prisoner movie, Beast Stable, which I believe lacked the effortlessly cool vibe of the first two films and saw the formula becoming somewhat tired, I was excited to see that this fourth chapter for Meiko Kaji's cult character was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, the man responsible for such delightfully depraved Pinku classics as 'Assault! Jack the Ripper' and 'Rape! 13th Hour'. Surely this guy could inject some new life into the series.

Unfortunately, Grudge Song proves to be a rather restrained affair from Hasebe, one that features little of the shocking sexual and violent content that I would normally associate with the director's work, with even the film's nastiest scene, a gang-rape, lacking his usual impact (possibly suggesting that the director was holding himself back, compelled to try and be as stylish and classy as his predecessor when dealing with such a well established franchise). Hasebe also unwisely turns Kaji's Nami into a much less sympathetic character than before, making it harder for the audience to care about her fate.

Had Hasebe given Grudge Song the same outrageous, exploitative approach that made his aforementioned titles such deviant guilty pleasures, this would have been a lot more fun, and a great way for Kaji to leave the series. Sadly, as it is, this one is my least favourite of all the Female Scorpion films.

5.5 out 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.