Blu-ray Release: Street Mobster

Blu-ray Release Date: Aug. 7, 2018
Price: Blu-ray $25.19
Studio: Arrow/MVD


Considered to be one of the pivotal works in the yakuza movie genre and in the career of director Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale, Doberman Cop), 1972’s Street Mobster presents an abrasive portrait of the rise and fall of a reckless street punk caught in the crossfire of a bloody turf war raging in the mean streets of Kawazaki.

When Okita Isamu (Bunta Sugawara, Cops VS Thugs) re-emerges onto the mean streets of Kawazaki after five years in prison for a string of brutal crimes, he comes face to face with prostitute Kinuyo, who immediately pinpoints him as one of the participants in her brutal sexual assault years earlier that left her shell-shocked and consigned to the life of a sex worker. While the two outcasts form an unlikely bond, Okita returns to his criminal ways. He is approached by veteran gangster Kizaki (Noboru Andô, Graveyard of Honour), who encourages him to round up a group of local chinpira street punks to shake up the uneasy agreement between the two rival yakuza groups, who between them control the city’s bars, gambling dens and entertainment areas. However, when the new outfit goes too far into the turf of the big boys, they find themselves caught in the midst of a violent reprisal…

The action-filled crime thriller is the first film in which Fukasaku’s vital and exhilarating approach to the contemporary-set gangster picture was paired with the untamed, raw charisma of Japan’s top screen mobster Sugawara Bunta.

Arrow’s Blu-ray edition of the flick contains the following:

  • High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
  • Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
  • FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jasper Sharp
Buy or Rent Street Mobster

About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.