Acting

Takeshige Hatanaka

Born 1948-01-08 · Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

Acting credits

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion poster
7.1

After being cruelly set up and deceived by Sugimi, a detective in cahoots with the mob with whom she was whole-heartedly in love, Matsushima’s desire for revenge knows no bounds.

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion

1972

The Bullet Train poster
6.9

A Japanese bullet train is threatened with a bomb that will explode automatically if the train slows below 80 km/h, unless a ransom is paid. Police race to find the bombers so the train crew can learn how to defuse the bomb.

The Bullet Train

1975

Proof of the Man poster
7.8

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime.

Proof of the Man

1977

Virus poster
6.3

Scientists in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure to a military virus that was released in a plane crash and has wiped out the rest of the world.

Virus

1980

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable poster
6.8

Following her successful prison break, Scorpion begins this third episode in the series hiding out in a brothel. Her prostitute friend tries to keep her identity secret, but the brothel's madam discovers that Scorpion is the ex-girlfriend of the vice officer who killed her lover.

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable

1973

Legend of the Eight Samurai poster
5.8

The evil Hikita clan rises from the dead to fulfill a curse on the Satomi clan by restoring the face of their warlord by using the skin of Princess Shizu. In the process of trying to capture her, the clan murders her entire family, but Princess Shizu escapes their clutches. She enlists the aid of eight samurai warriors, possessors of powerful magic crystal, led by Dosetsu (Sonny Chiba!) to help rescue the remaining members of her court and revenge her family. Along the way, they must fight undead warriors, evil spirits, poisonous beauties and a giant centipede.

Legend of the Eight Samurai

1983

A Kamikaze Cop poster
5.8

An undercover cop befriends a yakuza underling who through his contacts helps him infiltrate two rival Yakuza gangs. He pits the two rival gangs against each other in hopes that they will cross each other out.

A Kamikaze Cop

1970

Samurai Reincarnation poster
5.9

After surviving the slaughter of many Christians 350 years ago, a samurai denounces God for ignoring the pleas of believers. He sells his soul to Satan and receives the power to resurrect the dead to join him in a murderous rampage.

Samurai Reincarnation

1981

Graveyard of Honor poster
6.7

A self-destructive man becomes a powerful member of the yakuza but quickly loses his self-control. Based on the true story of Rikio Ishikawa.

Graveyard of Honor

1975

Violent Fraternity poster
8.0

Set in Shibuya in 1949, this is another film based on real life former yakuza boss Noboru Ando's memoirs.

Violent Fraternity

1974

Wolf Guy poster
5.8

Akira Inugami is the only survivor of a clan of ancient werewolves who relies on his supernatural powers to solve mysterious crimes. After a series of bloody killings perpetrated by an unseen force, Inugami uncovers a conspiracy involving a murdered cabaret singer, corrupt politicians, and a plot by the J-CIA to harvest his blood in order to steal his lycanthropic powers.

Wolf Guy

1975

The Execution Game poster
7.4

The third movie in Tōru Murakawa's Game trilogy about a hitman. Narumi is set up by a mysterious woman. Abducted and tortured, Narumi is forced to take on a difficult job. The target is a veteran killer as good as him.

The Execution Game

1979

Wandering Ginza Butterfly poster
6.7

Gang leader Nami (cult film legend Meiko Kaji) kills a member of a yakuza group and goes away to prison. Upon her release three years later, she’s a shamed woman confined to living in the shadowy world of sex clubs and street gangs. She returns to the city to live with her uncle, a billiard-hall owner, and after befriending pimp and ne’er-do-well Ryuji (Tsunehiko Watase), she gets a job working at a hostess club in the chic Ginza neighborhood, where the expensive shops and neon lights conceal a dark world of crime and sexual slavery. But when a rival gang attempts to muscle in on the club, Nami becomes enmeshed in a violent struggle that forces her to wield a skilled pool cue to defend her uncle’s business, and eventually a short sword to wreak bloody vengeance upon her enemies.

Wandering Ginza Butterfly

1972

Thugs of Shinjuku poster
9.0

Fresh out of jail, a smart-mouth wise guy Goro takes the name “Big Brother Katsumata.” Not fitting in well with established gangs, he forms a rag-tag gang called “the Shinjuku Brothers.” The members of their gang are thugs who only wish they were traditional yakuza. When they turn up at the funeral for a gangster, they are not welcomed, but a senior boss intervenes to keep things calm. The boss of bosses invites them to join a respected local council of warlords. Katsumata is suspicious of why such powerful men would extend an invitation to lowlife like himself.

Thugs of Shinjuku

1970

The Bodyguard poster
5.1

Karate master and anti-drug vigilante Chiba returns to his home in Japan, where he holds a press conference announcing his intention to wipe out the nation's drug industry. He also offers his services as a bodyguard to anyone who is willing to come forward and provide information about the drug lords' activities. He is soon approached by a mysterious woman claiming to have important information and asking for Chiba's protection. She seems to be legitimate, but is she really what she appears to be?

The Bodyguard

1973

Bodyguard Kiba 2 poster
6.4

Kiba is back again, but this time he has fallen from grace and sent to prison for all the violent acts he has committed. Once he's out, he begins working as a bodyguard in a club that is crawling with gangsters.

Bodyguard Kiba 2

1973

The Executioner poster
6.6

Three men, the skilled ninja Ryuichi Koga, the deadly assassin and former drug detective Takeshi Hayato, and the criminal mastermind Ichiro Sakura work together to take out an infamous drug dealer.

The Executioner

1974

Violent Streets poster
6.7

With a Kansai syndicate setting their sights on Tokyo, a former yakuza boss gets dragged back into a world of violence.

Violent Streets

1974

Karate Warriors poster
6.9

Sakata protects a little boy while coping with rival gangs.

Karate Warriors

1976

Festival Champ poster
5.3

Hiroki Matsukata is a fish market worker and a fanatical Japanese festival rascal. He also falls in love with a stripper while delivering his colleague's love letter to her but forgetting to mention it's from another man.

Festival Champ

1976

Outlaw Killers: Three Mad Dog Brothers poster
6.8

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

Outlaw Killers: Three Mad Dog Brothers

1972

Dead Angle poster
8.0

Elite college graduates commit perfect financial crimes though loopholes in the law during the 1950s.

Dead Angle

1979

Patience Has An End poster
5.9

Young coal miner Takeda leaves Kyushu in search of a better job in Tokyo, only to fall into the lucrative yet dangerous life of a yakuza.

Patience Has An End

1971

A Single Flower Withered poster
NR

Shiratori Shinichi, is released from prison and now roams the streets in search of his sister. While at a red-light district in Chiba, Shiratori finds out that his sister is in Tokyo. However, things take turn for the worse as he gets into a fight with the local Handa gang...

A Single Flower Withered

1974