History Main / TheYakuza

* ''VideoGame.{{Yakuza}}'': The MarketBasedTitle of the ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' video game brawler series when it was first localized in the West.

* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'': A video game brawler series that began on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2.

* Main.{{Yakuza}}: The trope about Japanese mobsters
* ''Film.TheYakuza'': a 1974 film directed by Creator/SydneyPollack, starring Creator/RobertMitchum.
* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'': A video game brawler series for the [=PlayStation=]

* ''Film.{{Yakuza}}'': A LiveActionAdapation of the video game series.

[[redirect:Film/TheYakuza]]

[[quoteright:267:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Yakuza_208.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:267:Top to bottom: Eiko, Kilmer, Ken]]

''TheYakuza'' is a 1974 film directed by Sydney Pollack. (Retired) detective Harry Kilmer (RobertMitchum) goes to Japan to help out an old friend, George Tanner (Brian Keith), who had been dealing with the {{yakuza}}. The {{yakuza}} had kidnapped his daughter and her boyfriend to [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse coerce Tanner into a business deal]].

Harry and Tanner's friendship goes back to WorldWarII, when they served together as Marines in Japan. While in Japan, Harry had fallen in love with a local woman, Eiko, and helped save her sick daughter. Eiko's brother Ken was disgraced by his sister's relationship with a former enemy soldier and he disappeared into the yakuza underworld. However, since Ken owes a lifelong debt (called ''[[PillarsOfMoralCharacter giri]]'' in the movie) to Harry, he reluctantly joins them to help rescue Tanner's daughter.

They successfully rescue the hostages, but in doing so they anger the yakuza and contracts on Ken and Harry's lives are issued. Harry refuses to abandon Ken and his family while their lives are in danger, defending them from yakuza attackers, but he eventually learns [[TheReveal how much pain his presence in their lives has caused them]]. Despite this, Ken and Harry overcome their differences, helped by Harry's openness to Japanese tradition.

The film emphasizes Japanese tradition and honor among the yakuza, and remarkably has two {{yubitsume}} scenes.

The film was written by Paul Schrader and his brother Leonard. Paul would notably go on to write TaxiDriver. Rewrites were also undertaken by Robert Towne who wrote {{Chinatown}}.

If you went to this page hoping for a page describing the yakuza, sorry. [[{{Yakuza}} It's here]].
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! This {{film}} provides examples of:
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Tanner's daughter is kidnapped by the yakuza as leverage for a deal
* AsianBabymama: Harry is not Hanako's biological father, but he acts like her adoptive one.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Ken and Kilmer vs. yakuza goons
* CultureClash
* [[DisposableWoman Disposable Women]]
* DuelToTheDeath: In a film about honor, inevitable.
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Tanner betrays Kilmer]]
* HardboiledDetective: Only Bogart could do better than Mitchum here.
* HonorBeforeReason
* ItsPersonal: See SacrificialLion
* KatanasAreJustBetter
* {{Kendo}}
* LawfulNeutral: Goro's role is pretty much defined as being this, as an impartial yakuza legal counselor. He can give advice based on the yakuza's honor code, but can't take any action himself.
* LoveTriangle: See TheReveal
* MightyWhitey: Averted in that it's a large part of the film that Harry has to work to understand Japanese values and culture and needs Ken as a guide. And by the time the final battle rolls around, it's clearly [[ItsPersonal Ken's fight]] and Harry is his support.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Kilmer at TheReveal, and Ken when he [[spoiler: accidentally kills his nephew in the final battle]]
* PillarsOfMoralCharacter: ''Giri'' is explicitly mentioned, though the others are important too.
* OhCrap (to go with MyGodWhatHaveIDone)
* RetiredBadass
* TheReveal: Kilmer gets some new perspective on the film's backstory. [[spoiler: Eiko is not actually Ken's sister, but ''his wife''.]]
* [[strike: {{Revenge}} ]] [[ItsPersonal Honor]]
* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler: Hanako]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Kilmer had brought a rookie as his partner, who is badly injured in the battle with the yakuza. The film does not say whether he was killed or returned to America.
** He was killed. He was stabbed through the chest with a katana, what do you think happened to him!?
* {{Yakuza}}
* {{Yubitsume}}
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<<|{{Film}}|>>

** He was killed.

* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Sort of justified, since the yakuza are apparently very honorable and like to do things [[KatanasAreJustBetter the traditional way]].

''TheYakuza'' is a 1975 film directed by Sydney Pollack. (Retired) detective Harry Kilmer goes to Japan to help out an old friend, Tanner, who had been dealing with the {{yakuza}}. The {{yakuza}} had kidnapped his daughter and her boyfriend to [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse coerce Tanner into a business deal]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Kilmer had brought a rookie as his partner, who is badly injured in the battle with the yakuza. He disappears for the rest of the film and nobody ever mentions him again. Did he die, or go back to America, or what?

They successfully rescue the hostages, but in doing so they anger the yakuza and contracts on Ken and Harry's lives are issued. Harry refuses to abandon Ken and his family while their lives are in danger, defending them from yakuza attackers, but he eventually learns how much pain his presence in their lives has caused them. Despite this, Ken and Harry overcome their differences, helped by Harry's openness to Japanese tradition.

Harry and Tanner's friendship goes back to WorldWarII, when they had served together as Marines in Japan. While in Japan, Harry had fallen in love with a local woman, Eiko, and had helped save her sick daughter. However, Eiko's brother Ken was disgraced by his sister's relationship with a former enemy soldier and he disappeared into the yakuza underworld. However, since Ken owes a lifelong debt (called ''[[PillarsOfMoralCharacter giri]]'' in the movie) to Harry, he reluctantly joins them to help rescue Tanner's daughter.