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.

Cast

Shintarō Katsu

Ryuzen

Mayumi Ogawa

Otatsu

Mikio Narita

Kashiwa Shinjuro

Kayo Mikimoto

Otsuru

Naoko Kubo

Oen

Jun Tatara

Gonroku

Hōsei Komatsu

Daihachi

Ryūtarō Gomi

Toramatsu

Yoshio Kaneuchi

Fumio Watanabe

Shōsaku Sugiyama

Ikkei Tamaki