Writing

Gorō Tanada

Born — Died

1913-10-23 — 1989-10-24

Known for

Writing

Credits

40 titles

Japanese screenwriter.

Known for

Gate of Flesh poster
6.6

In the shady black markets and bombed-out hovels of post–World War II Tokyo, a tough band of prostitutes eke out a dog-eat-dog existence, maintaining tenuous friendships and a semblance of order in a world of chaos. But when a renegade ex-soldier stumbles into their midst, lusts and loyalties clash, with tragic results. With Gate of Flesh, visionary director Seijun Suzuki delivers a whirlwind of social critique and pulp drama, shot through with brilliant colors and raw emotions.

Gate of Flesh

1964

Hana no unga poster
NR

Film by Buichi Saitô

Hana no unga

1956

Ai to shi no katami poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Ai to shi no katami

1962

Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza poster
7.0

With his penultimate film, Uchida revisited one of his popular prewar titles, 1936’s Theatre of Life, an adaptation of Shiro Ozaki’s eponymous novel. Three-time Seijun Suzuki collaborator Goro Tanada wrote a gangsterized adaptation of Ozaki’s story for Uchida at a time when the yakuza had eclipsed the samurai genre as Toei's main cash crop. Protagonist Hishakaku murders a man in a quarrel over a barmaid and goes to jail. In his temporary absence, his girlfriend Otoyo, a former geisha, falls for Hishakaku’s brother, inciting a dangerous love triangle that, in typical yakuza fashion, ends tragically.

Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza

1968

Eight Hours of Terror poster
7.5

A bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers.

Eight Hours of Terror

1957

Blood-Red Water in the Channel poster
10.0

Nikkatsu finally responds to Suzuki's growing discontentment by giving him a bigger budget and a better script. This episodic collection of "real coast guard action stories" was the perfect vehicle for Koji Wada. Whatever negative press he had received for Tokyo Knights was quickly forgotten. He became the new "teen star." And Suzuki: "the director to watch."

Blood-Red Water in the Channel

1961

Behind the camera

Gate of Flesh poster
6.6

In the shady black markets and bombed-out hovels of post–World War II Tokyo, a tough band of prostitutes eke out a dog-eat-dog existence, maintaining tenuous friendships and a semblance of order in a world of chaos. But when a renegade ex-soldier stumbles into their midst, lusts and loyalties clash, with tragic results. With Gate of Flesh, visionary director Seijun Suzuki delivers a whirlwind of social critique and pulp drama, shot through with brilliant colors and raw emotions.

Gate of Flesh

1964

Hana no unga poster
NR

Film by Buichi Saitô

Hana no unga

1956

Ai to shi no katami poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Ai to shi no katami

1962

Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza poster
7.0

With his penultimate film, Uchida revisited one of his popular prewar titles, 1936’s Theatre of Life, an adaptation of Shiro Ozaki’s eponymous novel. Three-time Seijun Suzuki collaborator Goro Tanada wrote a gangsterized adaptation of Ozaki’s story for Uchida at a time when the yakuza had eclipsed the samurai genre as Toei's main cash crop. Protagonist Hishakaku murders a man in a quarrel over a barmaid and goes to jail. In his temporary absence, his girlfriend Otoyo, a former geisha, falls for Hishakaku’s brother, inciting a dangerous love triangle that, in typical yakuza fashion, ends tragically.

Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza

1968

Eight Hours of Terror poster
7.5

A bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers.

Eight Hours of Terror

1957

Blood-Red Water in the Channel poster
10.0

Nikkatsu finally responds to Suzuki's growing discontentment by giving him a bigger budget and a better script. This episodic collection of "real coast guard action stories" was the perfect vehicle for Koji Wada. Whatever negative press he had received for Tokyo Knights was quickly forgotten. He became the new "teen star." And Suzuki: "the director to watch."

Blood-Red Water in the Channel

1961

No artwork available
NR

Eiji Izutsu, a young architectural engineer, suddenly came into a massive inheritance on the condition that he marry a woman named Chigusa Takemura, who owned a jade ring. If he failed to fulfill this condition, the inheritance would go to Chigusa instead.

Byakuran kōran

1952

Echo Mountain poster
9.0

A bus driver and a female conductor on a route deep in the mountains are embroiled in a love affair that is depicted in great detail in this light-hearted romantic drama.

Echo Mountain

1959

Kanojo no tokudane poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Kanojo no tokudane

1952

Human Torpedoes poster
7.0

Story of loyal sailors giving their lives for their country as human torpedoes towards the end of the War.

Human Torpedoes

1968

The Domain: Flower and Dragon poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Domain: Flower and Dragon

1969

Gambler's World poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Gambler's World

1967

Ditch poster
7.5

Postwar Tokyo. Pin and Toku live in the squatter area of Kappanuma. Pin and Toku are avid gamblers. They take in Tsuru, a slightly demented woman who has run away from a geisha house.

Ditch

1954

South Pacific Waves Are High poster
NR

1962 Japanese movie

South Pacific Waves Are High

1962

Third Class Soldier Boss poster
NR

1966 Toei Comedy

Third Class Soldier Boss

1966

Tale of Army Brutality poster
9.5

Director Jun'ya Satô's debut film focuses on the inhuman training of recruits, the brutal drill system that reigned in the Japanese army during World War II, where in the first two years of training, ordinary people were turned into inhuman killers. For his first film, the director was awarded the Blue Ribbon Awards in the Debutant of the Year nomination.

Tale of Army Brutality

1963

The Fatal Raid poster
10.0

Kazama and three others defeated Yoshie Sangyo, but the Nishio group was disbanded due to public pressure, and the territory belonged to the Hirata group.

The Fatal Raid

1969

The Domain: Severed Relations poster
10.0

The Domain: Severed Relations

The Domain: Severed Relations

1968

Wakai hito-tachi poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Wakai hito-tachi

1954

Gambler's World 2 poster
NR

Thriller about a gangster and an outlaw who become friends despite their different outlooks.

Gambler's World 2

1967

Element of Surprise poster
NR

1963 Toei war / action film.

Element of Surprise

1963

The Thinking Leaf poster
NR

Based on the novel of the same name by Seichō Matsumoto.

The Thinking Leaf

1962

White Ball poster
NR

1963 Toei movie.

White Ball

1963

Yoake no hata matsumoto jiichirō Den poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Yoake no hata matsumoto jiichirō Den

1976

Jinsei Gekijo: dai ichi bu poster
NR

Part one of Shin Saburi's Theater of Life adaptation.

Jinsei Gekijo: dai ichi bu

1952

The Sound of Waves poster
7.0

On a small island, inhabited by only fourteen hundred people, a young fisherman's son, Shinji falls in love with Hatsue, the daughter of the richest and most difficult man on the island. Despite their differences in class, they begin to meet and rumors spread of them having an illicit affair. Soon after, Shinji jumps into a stormy sea to help a ship in distress. The vessel turns out to be owned by Hatsue's arrogant father, who now becomes an understanding and sympathetic parent and allows the two lovers to marry.

The Sound of Waves

1964

Hazardous Graduation poster
4.0

Sex games by students at a junior high school are exposed by the principal and teachers, but the tables are turned in favor of the students.

Hazardous Graduation

1970

No artwork available
NR

Young Mariko is torn between two admirers, Natsukawa and Rikizo.

A Windmill, Tulips and Love

1966

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Utsukushiki hyō

1948

A Gambler's Certain Death poster
NR

Part 7 in the Gambling Den series. This time Koji Tsuruta is a gambler who feels sympathetic towards a woman whose naive husband is driven to a debt trap by a rotten gambling den owner (Tatsuo Endo) and his dishonest card dealer (Isamu Nagato). The plot is standard stuff and features too much talk, but there's also a decent balance between melodrama and lyricism in the form and storytelling. Tsuruta was a perfect fit for these kind of roles, with the stoic and emotional sides nicely mixed in his screen persona.

A Gambler's Certain Death

1969

The White Orchid poster
NR

A Japanese adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's short story Boule de Suif, directed by Kimura Keigo

The White Orchid

1951

Forever, My Love poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Forever, My Love

1958

The Scarred Angel poster
NR

A musical film based on the original work of Saigo Teruhiko. After leaving the juvenile detention center and returning to his hometown of Ibusuki, Hachiro begins to investigate the cause of his older sister Sumiko's suicide. While Hachiro was in juvenile detention, Sumiko committed suicide, but there are too many mysteries surrounding this suicide...

The Scarred Angel

1966

Shanghai Rose poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Shanghai Rose

1952

Tomo o okuru uta poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tomo o okuru uta

1966

The Emperor's Hat poster
NR

A man working in a museum steals the Emperor's hat on display.

The Emperor's Hat

1950

Hikage-Mono poster
9.0

A Yakuza film directed by Kôsaku Yamashita

Hikage-Mono

1972

Sekidô matsuri poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Sekidô matsuri

1951

Frankie's Aliens poster
NR

Dr. Kinoshita, whose rocket experiments had been a series of failures, discovers a strange flying saucer zooming through the night sky at super speed. He contacts the newspaper about it, but the editor dismisses him, saying he's gone mad and doesn't take him seriously at all. This is the imaginative sci-fi comedy "Frankie 14," featuring a groundbreaking and innovative story with flying saucers of unparalleled rarity and the appearance of artificial satellite people produced from single cells.

Frankie's Aliens

1957

Jinsei Gekijo: dai ni bu poster
NR

Part two of Shin Saburi's Theater of Life adaptation.

Jinsei Gekijo: dai ni bu

1953