Sympathy for the Underdog Blu-ray - Kôji Tsuruta / Akiko Kudô

Firstly, a massive thank you to our Patreon supporters. These supporters have become the single biggest contributing factor to the survival of DVDBeaver. Your assistance is essential to our survival.

What do Patrons receive, that you don't?

1) Our weekly Newsletter and Calendar Updates sent to your Inbox!
2) Access to over 70,000 unpublished screen captures in lossless high-resolution format!

Please consider keeping us in existence with a couple of dollars or more each month (your pocket change! / a coffee!) so we can continue to do our best in giving you timely, thorough reviews, calendar updates and detailed comparisons. I am indebted to your generosity.

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Bakuto gaijin butai' or 'Gambler: Foreign Opposition' or 'Gamblers in Okinawa' or 'Sympathy for the Underdog')

Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Japan 1971

Returning from a ten-year prison sentence, former gang leader Gunji (Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss) finds that his turf has been taken over by his former enemy, now a large crime syndicate with a legal corporate front. Looking for new opportunities, he gathers his old crew and heads for the island of Okinawa, a legal grey zone ripe for the taking. Made just before Kinji (Yakuza Graveyard) Fukasaku’s 1970s streak of yakuza movie masterpieces, Sympathy for the Underdog is a key film in the development of this director’s unique style and themes.

***

From Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honor & Humanity) comes this pivotal early crime drama in the celebrated career of the director who changed the face of Japanese action cinema. Stylish and hard-boiled, Sympathy for the Underdog stars Koji Tsuruta, one of Japan’s seminal figures in the Yakuza genre, as Gunji, an aging Yakuza who is released from prison after ten years. Gunji lives by a code of honor that has no place among Tokyo’s modern corporate gangs. He gets a new lease on life by reforming his former gang and taking over the whiskey trade on the island of Okinawa. But he is forced to make a final, fateful, bloody stand against the mainland gang that sent him to prison.

Posters

Theatrical Release: January 12th, 1971

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Review: Radiance - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Radiance - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:32:53.651
Video	2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,421,447,537 bytes Feature: 30,595,040,640 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.86 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	LPCM Audio Japanese 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit Commentary: LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	English (only for non-English dialogue), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Radiance 2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,421,447,537 bytes Feature: 30,595,040,640 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.86 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Audio commentary by yakuza film expert Nathan Stuart (2024) • Interview with Fukasaku biographer Olivier Hadouchi (2024) (27:05) • Visual essay on Okinawa on screen by film historian and author Aaron Gerow (2024) (25:51) • Trailer (2:47) Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Bastian Meiresonne and an archival review of the film Blu-ray Release Date: June 24th, 2024 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 12

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Radiance Blu-ray (May 2024): Radiance have transferred Kinji Fukasaku's Sympathy for the Underdog to Blu-ray. We reviewed the Home Vision's interlaced DVD from 2004, HERE and compared some of those screen captures to Radiance's new 1080P below. We know the heavy and greenish look is common for many older Japanese films and this also has some blue leaning, warmer skin tones and it is overall, appropriately, darker. The higher resolution shows detail improvement in the film's intense close-ups. I thought it looked quite appealing on my system, if never crisp nor sharp. The image is fairly clean.

NOTE: We have added 50 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Radiance use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original Japanese language with a few lines of English. Sympathy for the Underdog has plenty of violence from hand-to-hand combat and extensive gunshots. The audio has some depth but is faithfully flat as well as a shade hollow. The score is credited to Takeo Yamashita (quite a diverse filmography with Voyage Into Space, A Boss with the Samurai Spirit and the 1969 Japanese TV series Playgirl.) It is dramatic with a few subtleties that seem to work well in supporting this gangster drama. Radiance offer optional English subtitles, for the Japanese language only - not the brief English, on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Radiance Blu-ray offers a new audio commentary by yakuza film expert Nathan Stuart. He talks about Kinji Fukasaku, "The Gambler" series with chivalrous themes, Sympathy being an important transitional film, the black and white flashbacks, and plenty on the "Yakuza" genre of films, code and honor, Kôji Tsuruta expressing emotion with facial expressions and eyes, plus much more. He moves at a good pace and has plenty to share. There is also a new (2024) 1/2 hour interview with Fukasaku biographer Olivier Hadouchi (author of Kinji Fukasaku : un cinéaste critique dans le chaos du XXe siècle) who discusses Sympathy for the Underdog, from its making and inspirations to its place in the director's filmography. There is also a 25-minute visual essay on Okinawa on screen by film historian and author Aaron Gerow (author of Visions of Japanese Modernity: Articulations of Cinema, Nation, and Spectatorship, 1895-1925) who charts the changing meanings of Okinawa as a location for Japanese films. Lastly is a trailer and the package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by 'Time Tomorrow' and a limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Bastian Meiresonne (author of Hallyuwood: The Ultimate Guide to Korean Cinema) and an archival review of the film.

Kinji Fukasaku's Sympathy for the Underdog certainly has some noir-ish anti-hero leanings. Kôji Tsuruta plays Gunji an ex-con Yakuza who exits prison after a ten-year stint. The gangster world has changed - becoming more large-scale corporatized. Balance sheets and no loyalties. He's used to his crew (now separated and disconnected) shaking down casinos, nightclubs and brothels. As they reunite he realizes the only way to 'get back in' is to go 'big time'. Super cool Gunji decides on Okinawa, with its US influences shown sneakily by Fukasaku, to carve out some financially beneficial territory. His gang behind, in toe, has conflicts with a series of ne'er-do-well characters - the one-armed giant and plenty of scarred, loud flunkies with Mafia-like tendencies. Former love interest - now nameless prostitute, played by Akiko Kudô, provides some support. But 'Kamikaze'-style nihilism rules the day and we have the biggest gun-down, ala Peckinpah's Wild Bunch, doing a final battle with the previous unaffected bosses and their gunsel army. Sympathy for the Underdog remains one of my favorites of the genre. The Radiance Blu-ray is very welcome - deserved new commentary, interviews, visual essay, booklet, new art and more. A must-own for fans of Yakuza films and 70's Japanese cinema overall. Absolutely recommended!