Bunta Sugawara
Bunta Sugawara was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 Japanese feature films, most prevalently in Yakuza films. On December 1, 2014, it was announced that Sugawara had died from liver cancer in a Tokyo hospital on November 28, 2014 at the age of 81. (Wikipedia)
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Ookami kodomo no Ame to Yuki
After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be a challenge for her.
Gedo senki
From Goro Miyazaki, the son of Oscar-winning Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, comes a story of wizards, dragons, princes and witches. Based on Ursula K. Le Guin's "Earthsea" series.
Yôkai daisensô
A young boy with a troubled home life becomes "chosen," and he stumbles into the middle of a great war of yōkai (a class of mythological creatures), where he meets a group of friendly yōkai who become his companions through his journey. Now he must fight to protect his friends and free the world of the yōkai from oppression.
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Spirited Away is an Oscar winning Japanese animated film about a ten year old girl who wonders away from her parents along a path that leads to a world ruled by strange and unusual monster-like animals. Her parents have been changed into pigs along with others inside a bathhouse full of these creatures. Will she ever see the world how it once was?
Dora-heita
A new magistrate in the town of Horisoto—widely reputed to be the most lawless township in Japan, uses guile and his opponents' own misperceptions and prejudices to defeat his enemies and uproot corruption.
Distant Justice
After his daughter is kidnapped and his wife murdered by drug dealers, a man finds that the gang is protected by corrupt politicians, and sets out to wipe out the gang and expose the politicians.
Taiyō wo nusunda otoko
A high school science teacher builds an atomic bomb and uses it to extort the nation, but cannot decide what he wants. Meanwhile, a determined cop is catching up to him, as is radiation poisoning.
Dabide no hoshi: Bishôjo-gari
Spurred by a fascination with Holocaust atrocities and his rapist biological father, a wealthy student secretly abducts and subjects women to acts of sexual torture.
Kenkei tai soshiki boryoku
When a lucrative waterfront development becomes available, the Kawade gang quickly use their political connections to secure the land. However, the acting boss of the Ohara gang also has his eyes on the property and recruits crooked detective Tokumatsu Kuno to help him hijack the deal.
Jingi naki tatakai: Kanketsu-hen
While Hirono is in prison, his rival Takeda turns his own crime organization into a political party, whose two executives stir up new tensions in their thirst for power.
Jingi naki tatakai: Chojo sakusen
As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.
Mamushi no kyôdai: Kyôkatsu san-oku-en
Two bumbling hustlers are drawn into a high stakes drug deal in this lowbrow crime dramedy.
Jingi naki tatakai: Dairi sensô
Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.
Jingi naki tatakai
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara) and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza...
Hiroshima shitô hen
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.
Hitokiri yota: Kyôken san-kyôdai
The great Bunta stars as a gangster who is sent to jail for the sake of his gang, but when he’s released he finds everything completely changed and his gang has swept him aside for being too violent. He tries to start a new life with his two ”brothers” but can’t seem to escape old affiliations
Gendai yakuza: Hito-kiri yota
After serving time, a defiant street thug is incensed to find his town overrun by two yakuza factions. He gathers his crew and takes them on.
Gokuaku bozu - Nomu utsu kau
As the Killer Priest Shinkai travels around Japan during the Meiji era, he comes to the aid of a village headman fighting corruption from up above. Before he can do anything for the townspeople, he must first face his nemesis, Whipmaster, the blind Priest, a master killer thirsting for revenge.
Chôeki Tarô: Mamushi no kyôdai
After spending several years in prison, yakuza punk Masa (Bunta Sugawara) and his underling, Katsuji (Tamio Kawachi) are back out in the mean streets of Kobe to make a name for themselves amongst the local yakuza organization.
Bôryoku gai
An retired yakuza is caught in the middle of a growing conflict between two rival clans.
Hitokiri kannon-uta
An ultra-violent tale from the era of the Meiji Reconstruction. When a woman leaves her blind son at the Monastery, Ryotatsu is forced to teach the boy how to cope as a blind person in old Japan.
Hibotan bakuto: oryû sanjô
Oryu searches for blind child she left behind and get involved in a Yakuza turf war that takes place in the Tokyo Theater.
Gokuaku bôzu: Nenbutsu sandangiri
In Meiji Period Japan, the carrying of swords had been outlawed, so Shikai, the Killer Priest carries his sword disguised as a Priest?s staff. One of the strongest entries in the series, Shinkai is badly injured, and must face his worst enemy in what could be their final showdown.
Kaibyô noroi no Numa
A Vassal kills his lord and his wife with her cat commit suicide to avoid marrying him. Will they return and try to get revenge?
Hibotan bakuto: isshuku ippan
A local yakuza boss of a silk farming town shows kindness to the wandering gambler Oryu by letting her stay at his residence. When a rival yakuza gang, who wants to take over the town's businesses, murders him, Oryu is obliged to protect his children and business.
Gokuaku bôzu: Hitokiri kazoe uta
The long awaited second film in the Wicked Priest series is a masterpiece of sword swinging fury as Shinkai is asked by a man on the run to bring his young son to live with his grandfather, the master of a ju-jitsu dojo during the Taisho period of the early 20th century.
Gokuaku bôzu
During the Taisho Period (early 1920's) a monastery of warrior monks was split apart between two factions. One of these factions was led by the Chief Abbot and his protégé Shinkai. When Shinkai intercedes in a fight between a rival priest and some ruffians it leads to his expulsion from the order.
Abashiri bangaichi: Fubuki no tôsô
Convict son revenges innocent father's death.
Yoru no henrin
Yoshie Nogami, a factory worker by day, works as a bar hostess at night. She begins a passionate affair with one of her regulars, but his changing demeanor and constant demands for money lead Yoshie down a dark path.
Shitô no densetsu
A Tokyo family escaping the war relocates to a Hokkaido village; their daughter is set to marry the local leader's son, but her siblings disapprove.