The Hoodlum Priest

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.

• Kimiyoshi YasudaDirector
• Chumei WatanabeOriginal Music Composer
• Hajime TakaiwaScreenplay

• Shintarō KatsuRyuzen
• Mayumi OgawaOtatsu
• Mikio NaritaKashiwa Shinjuro
• Kayo MikimotoOtsuru
• Naoko KuboOen
• Jun TataraGonroku
• Hōsei KomatsuDaihachi
• Ryūtarō GomiToramatsu
• Yoshio KaneuchiCast
• Fumio WatanabeCast
• Shōsaku SugiyamaCast
• Ikkei TamakiCast