Bullets 'n' Babes

UPDATE

Synapse will not re-issue the Panik House titles, but they have small quantities of them in stock. If you live in North America, you can order them from Synapse's site.

http://www.avmaniacs.com/forums/showthr ... 37&page=29

Old message:
VinceP at dvdmaniacs noticed that Synapse will be re-issuing all of Panik House's titles:

http://www.synapse-films.com/catalog_panikhouse.php

Wandering Ginza Butterfly (1972)

Meiko Kaji made her final breakthrough in the Stray Cat Rock movies (1970-1971). These ultra chic and largely feminine gang films were distributed by Nikkatsu, the leading studio in modern action cinema and youth films. Toei, a studio with a strong track record in traditional yakuza films, was also catching the drift and followed their modern day set Delinquent Boss series with four Delinquent Girl Boss (1970-1971) movies, helmed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. Meanwhile, Nikkatsu made a decision to switch over to pink cinema, and Meiko Kaji was left looking for a more decent employer. This brief history concidered, it’s very fitting that she made her Toei debut in Wandering Ginza Butterfly, a female yakuza actioner directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. Indeed, this could easily have been the fifth Delinquent Girl Boss film. The concept is the exact same. Kaji plays and ex-gang member who has just finished serving her sentence. She finds her way to Ginza hostess clubs, where she meets nice guy Tsunehiko Watase and cool as hell swindler Tatsuo Umemiya (the star of Delinquent Boss), and ultimately finds a new home under the wings of a good hearted woman (Akiko Koyama) running a club. But, following the genre rules, there will be a conflict when the local yakuza try to take over the business by force.

Wandering Ginza Butterfly has a couple of surprises in its pocket. Probably most unexpected comes a very strong drama sequence in the middle of the film. This scene reminds of what a great actress Meiko Kaji is. Another highlight is an edge of your seat billiards match. Violent action is saved to the very last reel, which also features a brief glimpse of bare skin, basically just thrown in for the sake of itself. Yamaguchi usually wasn’t very interested in sexual content. Wandering Ginza Butterfly is in fact an exceptionally light hearted and purely enjoyable film in its own genre. It is perhaps partly because of Kaji’s more elegant presence, as compared to wild girl Reiko Oshida of the similarly constructed Delinquent Girl Boss movies, that certain parts of Wandering Ginza Butterfly have an exceptionally strong ninkyo yakuza film atmosphere to it. No doubt screenwriter Takeshi Matsumoto was also a major contributor to this; his earlier works include instalments to both The Delinquent Boss and the Brutal Tales of Chivalry series. Kaji’s character is called Nami the Red Cherry Blossom, not too far off from Oryu the Red Peony, the heroine played by Junko Fuji in the Red Peony Gambler movies (1968-1972). Fuji’s retirement from movie industry took place just one month before the release of Wandering Ginza Butterfly. It’s not difficult to see Toei was looking for a new yakuza queen.

Synapse’s dvd is brillant. Perfect transfer, fine audio and subtitles, reversible cover art with original poster art (without any dvd logos) and priceless extras. The Outcast Cinema team have conducted a great 37 min interview with director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. Needless to say this is the first time a Yamaguchi interview ever appears on any dvd, and one of the first times ever a Japanese 1970’s cult director other than Fukasaku is interviewed for a dvd release. The only negative thing about this interview is that Yamaguchi explains all the bright observations that I myself made in my film review. D’oh. What a blow to my film buff ego. Other extras include Meiko Kaji biography and poster gallery, and Chris D commentary that I haven’t listened to, and original trailer with an great ending where Kaji does the yakuza greeting to Toei audiences!















Yamaguchi interview

Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She Cat Gambler (1972)

Meiko Kaji returns in this sequel by name only follow up. She plays the same character as before, but the previous film is not referred in any way and the movies are also somewhat different in terms of style. The original found a charming balance between ninkyo yakuza atmosphere and mini skirts. Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2 also combines modern and past, but in a different way. Gambling scenes are plenty and feel almost as lifted from an early Showa era set yakuza film. Miss Kaji also spends most of her time wearing kimono. However, at the same time the pic is filled with club scenes, neon lights and early 70’s disco music, similarly to the Delinquent Girl Boss movies. The atmostphere is modern, even if many of the seminal elements have roots in the past. Comedy is also a major part of the film.

In terms of casting Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2 further closers the Delinquent Girl Boss movies. Tooru Yuri has a big supporting role – comedic of course - Junzaburo Ban plays an old man with a problematic father-daughter relationship, and Yukie Kagawa, whose absense from the first film was almost distracting, is given a rather unexciting role as a night club hostess. The biggest addition to the cast, however, is Shinichi Chiba. Chiba gives a very humoristic acting performance as a stammering small time goon who is a bit afraid of bigger players. Chiba’s action skills are put into use in the great finale where he and Kaji slaughter three times as many people as there are members in villains Fujio Suga and Hideo Murota’s gang. This is a great conclusion to a highly entertaining film that is more or less on par with the original. The storyline may not be very strong, but there is a wide variety of familiar and enjoyble genre elements on display. Fans of positively charged girl gang films should thoroughly enjoy Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2.

Synapse’s dvd is, once again, brilliant and above Toei’s own standards. Extras feature the same Kazuhiko Yamaguchi interview, Kaji biography and poster gallery, and trailers that appeared on the previous dvd. What is new is an 11 minute interview with pinky violence expert J-Taro Sugisaku. No commentary this time.















Sugisaku

HungFist wrote:I can't wait for someone to license The Molester's Train series and stamp "From Academy Award Winning Director" on the cover

"From 2009 Academy Award Winner Yojiro Takita"

"The best Pink Eiga film directed by Oscar winner, Yojiro Takita!"

- http://www.pinkeiga.com/films/groper-tr ... ack-pearl/

:mrgreen:

Toei September trailers are up. Onsen mimizu geisha included. This is for you Dice!!!

http://www.toei-video.co.jp/trailer/

On May 25, 2006 diceman wrote:Digging further into the depths of Japanese 70s Pinky Violence-Movies, I came across this title. At least by naming Miki I think I got your attention, Hung Fist, right? Well, anyway, it's hard to find any information on the internet, since this is a kinda obscure movie, and actually more Pinku Eiga than Pinky Violence. But the director is Norifumi Suzuki as well, so it could be a winner on visual terms.

Plot-Outline (from imdb):
Many persons visit the hot springs resort to try out Reiko's famous vagina with quivering walls, "the sensation of worms wiggling about"... that won her her nickname (Mimizu = earthworm).

Now I'm kinda curious.

It really doesn't look that good

OMG, that's a post you dug up from last century, didn't you?
Nah, thanks, I'll appreciate your info, but I'm not THAT interested anymore.
Currently I feel more at ease with contemporary Japanese Cinema, anyway. There's still some unseen DVDs lying around here (both "Ginza Butterfly"-Movies, for example), but overall I feel that I've been stuck with the past long enough; time to look forward.

Cover art for HK Video's Ishii set Vol. 2

- http://www.pixmania.com/dvd-femmes-crim ... vdart.html

The Joy of Torture (Femmes Criminelles ) (1968)
Love and Crime (Déviances & Passions) (1969)
Yakuza's Law (Loi Yakuza) (1969)

The (postponed) release date is 23/09/2009

Keep in mind last time two of the three films were NTSC to PAL conversions. They used the Toei prints, but HK Video's dvds were sharper. That is likely to happen again, as Toei has already relelased great NTSC dvds of The Joy of Torture and Love and Crime. However, Yakuza's Law has not been released by Toei. The only available dvd is the very poor Japan Shock release.

I'm going to wait for some time and see if Toei would release Yakuza's Law. 45€ is a high price to pay for just one movie, especially when the possible upcoming Toei dvd would surely be of superior quality. HK Video's set includes mini-posters for each film, though. That's certainly something Toei won't offer. And there's no guarantee Toei will ever release Yakuza's Law.

HungFist wrote:Half of Toei’s pinky violence movies are still not available on dvd. These include well know films by directors like Ishii and Suzuki, but also films that are practically unknown in the west. I’ll try to list some of them (more posts to come)

地獄の天使　紅い爆音 (1977)

http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1977/da003020.htm
http://www.walkerplus.com/movie/kinejun ... h&id=18745
http://douga.nifty.com/cs/catalog/douga ... 9001_2.htm

February 2010 Toei DVD release.
http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=714865

Terrifying Girls’ High School: Violent Women’s Classroom (1972)

Released in the midst of the second Toei Pinky Violence wave (preceded by Teruo Ishii’s period movies in the late 1960’s) Violent Women’s Classroom was the first movie in the Terrifying Girl’s High School series. This series was basically a high school variation of the Sukeban girl gang movies which ran from 1971 to 1974. The main difference was that the girl bosses would now wear school uniform, and the villains would include corrupt high corrupt school officials rather than just ordinary yakuza. This opening installment stars Miki Sugimoto as a heroine who must fight Ema Ryoko’s ruthless girls for the supremacy of the school. Reiko Ike co-stars as a sukeban who has not yet decided her side. This was the basic casting also in most of the Sukeban films, where Ike and Sugimoto would take turns playing the heroine / guest star. Poor Ema Ryoko was destined for villain roles and fight scenes where her shirt gets ripped for life. Violent Women’s Classroom features little if any deviations from the genre conventions. It’s an enjoyable, fast paced exploitation film full of violent girls beating each other and making fools of their senile teachers. Typical to Suzuki, there’s a lot of humor included, and none of it can be described as very sophisticated. Nudity is plenty as well, but thankfully there are no long sex scenes interrupting the minimal storyline – something director Norifumi Suzuki has been found guilty of a few times before. Technical execution is of relatively high standard, as expected from a Toei production. The theme song is performed by supporting actress Rika Sudo, and was re-used in the superior sequel, Lynch Law Classroom.

Terrifying Girls’ High School: Lynch Law Classroom (1973)

Norifumi Suzuki’s second attempt with the Terrifying Girls’ High School series counts as one of the high points of the pinky violence genre. Compared to its predecessor the follow up is a much darker film. Occasional silly comedy now walks in hand to hand with torture scenes that make reference to the Vietnam War! At the same time the film manages to be wildly entertaining (Reiko Ike’s introduction scene with a motorcycle is a small genre benchmark) and even beautifully shot at times. Dull moments are almost entirely missing for the film. The primary casting is the same as before (Sugimoto as heroine, Ike as guest star, Ryoko as villain), with Tsunehiko Watase’s sunglass wearing lone wolf yakuza being the most notable addition. The film’s most satisfying scene by far is the ending, which is high school anarchism at its best.

Note: captures from the Panik House dvd

Terrifying Girls’ High School: Delinquent Convulsion Group (1973)

The third film in the Terrifying Girls’ High School series film loses two important talents; actress Miki Sugimoto and director Norifumi Suzuki. Reiko Ike now carries the lead role, leaving the film without a strong guest star. Probably standing out most (and not due to their acting talents) are the American actors who play evil drug dealers and rapists. Yes, this is yet another film that does not improve cross cultural understanding. Director Masahiro Shimura is no first timer in the field of exploitation cinema. He worked as an assistant director in the previous two films, and was also involved in screenwriting several Toei action films such as The Street Fighter (1974). His directorial filmography is short, but perhaps for a reason. While not a bad movie, Delinquent Convulsion Group is not among the genre’s best films, and this would appear to be largely Shimura’s fault. His direction is a bit sloppy, lacking the intensity and visual style of Suzuki’s best movies. Delinquent Convulsion Group is mainly saved some memorable scenes such as the sailor suit and machine gun finale.

Terrifying Girls’ High School: Animal Courage (1973)

The Terrifying Girls’ High School series ends with another Shimura effort. Unfortunately Animal Courage (1973) is the weakest of the four films. It suffers from similar problems as the previous film; Shimura directing features no sharp edges, and there are no strong supporting characters (although lead star Reiko Ike almost becomes one). The storyline is all over the place, and gives more room to sex scenes than action. There are visual highlights, but they tend to be inconsistent, and often the follow up doesn’t live up to build up. The soundtrack is somewhat restrained but does feature one rather stylish spaghetti western tune. Another ear pleaser is the language mix on offer; you’ll get to hear the girls speak French and English on language lessons. Yes, we are trying hard to find positives here… Somewhat interestingly the film spends a considerable amount of time mocking Christianity (Yankee Mark Darling returning as a dirty priest), immediately making one suspect Suzuki had his fingers involved with the screenplay. Another cast member one might recognize is Harumi Tajima, who later made a rather memorable beach run in the final Sukeban movie (1974). Finally, and literally so, the film’s very last scene is quite excellent. Animal Courage may not have been the best way to end the series, but the last 30 seconds couldn’t have been better (Editor note: it’s been approximately 2 months since I viewed this film and wrote this review, and I can no longer remember how the film ended).














note: while this is the least good film in the series, it does produce some great screencap material...

Toei’d DVDs are soft, but at least edge enhancement free. The second film in the series, Lynch Law Classroom has been released on R1 DVD by Panik House / Synapse. I do not own Toei’s Lynch Law Classroom DVD, but if it is of same quality as the other three, I would not upgrade. Panik House’s transfer was their most edge enhanced pinky violence release, but it’s still better looking than Toei’s slightly faded transfers. But these Japanese discs do offer a perfectly servicable presentation for the other three films which have not been released on DVD before. As usual, extras consist of original trailers and (some excellent) stills. The cover arts are original posters with some added censorship (although it seems like Toei only wanted to make the nudity less obvious as you can still see plenty of bare skin on the covers if you look closely).

While the final TERRIFYING GIRLS' SCHOOL film is my least favorite as well, it does have some stuff going for it. I love the way the creepy music builds over the main titles. First a stripper drumbeat, then weird electronic whistles, then the ominous violin. Nice cap of the Ike/Ema fight. I love that it takes place in front of a "K" Line storage container. Living in a port town, I still see those all the time. I had to check to see if this film's ending was the one I thought it was. Very similar to the first film, but with Ike instead of Sugimoto, bringing the series full circle.

Welcome to the forum, Marshall.

HungFist wrote:

Now to see if one can quote an image. Ladies and gentlemen, the hideous beauty of Ryoko Ema. Ah, the oddly conflicted feelings she stirs.

HungFist wrote:

I LOVE that guy! Who is he? If there is a thanklessly low bit of humor to be delivered, he his the go-to guy. I especially like that one scene where he's getting hassled by a girl gang and a fight breaks out. He winds up lying on the ground with one of the girls, and takes a moment to look under her dress. Some day I'll find out what he says.

He's Tooru Yuri (edit: no he isn't. He's Hachiro Oka. I was mistaken and probably some of my other posts repeat the same mistake!). He and Toru Yuri were regular comic relief in Toei's movies. For example, if you're watching a Sukeban movie and there's a horny fool getting swindled by the girls, you can bet your money it's either Yuri or Oizumi.

Oka






Yuri




If my memory serves me correctly, they both appear together in Horrors of Malformed Men. Seem to have lost my screencap. They play Monk A and Monk B

And this guy is Akira Oizumi

I love Oizumi as well! And that moustache guy with egg on his face!

Oh, one more question though. If Yuri is the guy who gets robbed in the cemetery at the start of GIRL BOSS GUERILLA, who is the quack doctor to whom they take the injured nun later in the same film? I hate to admit it, but I have difficulty telling them apart.

HungFist wrote:Sukeban: Escape From Reform School (Sukeban: Kankai dasso) (1973)

This might be my favorite scene in the film, but it is tough to watch! If you've ever had to do the "right thing" in a situation like this, you will know what I mean. The actress is gorgeous; her upper lip should be in a museum.

HungFist wrote:Rica 2: Lonely Wanderer (Konketsuji Rika: Hitoriyuku sasuraitabi) (1973)

So would someone care to confirm that the woman on the right...

HungFist wrote:Criminal Woman: Killing Melody (Zenka onna: koroshi-bushi) (1973)

...is also the woman on the left?

Marshall wrote:Oh, one more question though. If Yuri is the guy who gets robbed in the cemetery at the start of GIRL BOSS GUERILLA, who is the quack doctor to whom they take the injured nun later in the same film? I hate to admit it, but I have difficulty telling them apart.

Going by my screencaps, that's Yuri again.

Marshall wrote:So would someone care to confirm that the woman on the right...

Marshall wrote:...is also the woman on the left?

Quick guess: Masami Soda. Plays 'Hanako' in Rica 2, 'Yukie Nakagawa' in Criminal Woman. Maybe if you've got the dvds there you can see if the character names match.

Yes, I am guessing that Masami Soda, Masami Souda and Masami Muneta are all the same person. I posted this info at AV Maniacs to the usual chirping of crickets. Now I can sleep at night. Thanks!

HungFist wrote:Delinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of Yokohama Hoods (Zubeko bancho: Hamagure kazoe uta) (1971)

I think this film has become my favorite in the series. It contains one highlight after another. One would be that girl on the left. A lot of times the "sidekick" role is that of a whiny pipsqueak or sycophant--villainess Yukie Kagawa's sidekick in that very film, for instance, or Konketsuji Rika's li'l friend in the first two RIKA's. But Reiko Oshida's sidekick in this one, while played for laughs, is pretty spunky and a bit of a scene stealer. My favorite bit is early on, when Reiko contemptuously throws away an apple she's half finished with. Sidekick Girl grins and throws hers away too. Very cute.

HungFist wrote:Sukeban (Girl Boss Revenge) (1973)

Naomi Oka, far right. I think her first pinky violence appearance was GIRL BOSS GUERILLA, where she has a shaved head. In fact, I've never seen her without a shaved head, although these films were made so quickly that I could hardly expect her hair to have grown out. I gather she made quite a few films at Nikkatsu at the same time, an IMDb lists about three dozen films, right up through a small role in A TAXING WOMAN. I would be very curious to know more about her, particularly the origin of her severe hairstyle.

Edit: Just re-watched part of TGHS: WOMEN'S VIOLENT CLASSROOM and she has a pretty bad wound on her arm. Another legend of pinky violence waiting to be told.

HungFist wrote:Terrifying Girls’ High School: Violent Women’s Classroom (1972)

Is this the very first Reiko/Miki fight? I seem to recall seeing a poster for this film where their battle is played up. In any case, for me this is the definitive such brawl. Not sure why, as it does not take place in calf-deep water or go on until both parties are exhausted and have a new respect for each other. Maybe it's partly because it takes place in an elevated location with a beautiful panoramic view.

If this is their first fight, it's hard to believe it took so long for it to happen.

Edit: It's not.

Hahaha, oh dear

Picked up BAD GIRL MAKO. My first Junko Natsu movie. She's very skinny. You will not get film criticism of such profundity elsewhere. The film is very colorful and and begins with a bowling scene, followed by a shakedown of an unlucky male bowler by a girl gang. How bad could it be? Hopefully the rumored US release will happen sooner rather than later. I would very much like to see Natsu's GIRLS JUNIOR HIGH series released.

Ordered one of the later FURYO BANCHO movies, mainly because Yoko Mihara is supposedly in it and I had a coupon. Fingers crossed. Say, that sure looks like Reiko Ike on the poster for the 14th entry in the series. Can anyone confirm? She doesn't seem to be listed in the credits (at least that I've found.)

I've never seen her listed for any of the Furyo bancho films. I doubt it's her. Doesn't really look like her to me, either.



And don't temp me. I've decided to wait for a low priced sale before I go bankrupt

I'm sure R1 mako will come out sometime next year. Cinema Epoch bought the rights to a bunch of films at once, and I think this is the last one remaing. The second last title, The Heartbreak Yakuza, just came out. They're just a little bit slow with these releases.