The Hoodlum Priest

The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.

• 
  Shintarō Katsu

  Ryuzen
• 
  Mayumi Ogawa

  Otatsu
• 
  Mikio Narita

  Kashiwa Shinjuro
• 
  Naoko Kubo

  Oen
• 
  Jun Tatara

  Gonroku
• 
  Hōsei Komatsu

  Daihachi
• 
  Ryūtarō Gomi

  Toramatsu
• 
  Yoshio Kaneuchi
• 
  Fumio Watanabe
• 
  Shōsaku Sugiyama