{"id":28920,"date":"2024-06-26T21:50:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T04:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=28920"},"modified":"2024-06-26T21:50:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T04:50:14","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-sympathy-for-the-underdog-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=28920","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: SYMPATHY FOR THE UNDERDOG (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blu-ray is currently available from Radiance Films.\nIt is a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d of 3000 copies.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Those of us who live in North America and are movie buffs\ncertainly have a lot to keep up with. There are a ton of domestic titles that\narrive every year vying for our attention. Factoring in movies from around the\nworld can make it almost impossible to keep up. That\u2019s really too bad, as there\nare thousands upon thousands of fantastic international efforts that don\u2019t get\nseen in this part of the world. Radiance Films has been trying to correct this\nproblem by releasing lesser-known but phenomenal pictures that Western\naudiences should really catch up with. Sympathy for the Underdog<\/em> aka Bakuto\nGaijin Butai<\/em> is one of those pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Japanese effort falls into the subgenre of Yakuza film.\nThose who enjoy crime pictures will be blown away by this stylish effort by\nKinji Fukasaku (the Battles Without Honor and Humanity<\/em> series, Fall\nGuy, Battle Royale<\/em>). The great action and performances on their own would\nbe more than enough to earn the movie a recommendation. Yet the story\u2019s setting\nof Okinawa in the Pacific adds a fascinating and unique element to the\nproceedings, providing a whole extra layer of backstory and real history to the\nevents being depicted.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story follows Masuo Gunji (K\u00f4ji Tsuruta), an\nold-fashioned Yakuza boss whose gang is kicked out of their territory by rivals\nfrom Tokyo. After being sent to prison, he is released and decides to make a\nnew start, reconnecting with remaining members of his old team. A handful of\nloyal followers help him to start a new bootlegging enterprise in Okinawa (a\nseries of islands occupied by the US since World War II and located east of the\nmainland). Despite troubles with another gang element in the area, they eventually\nbegin to find success. This draws the attention of the original Yakuza gang who\nset Gunji up. They arrive to take control of the operation. Gunji must decide\nwhether to walk away, or hold his ground and, if nothing else, fight for his\nhonor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This hard-boiled picture features great performances from the entire cast. All of the characters are distinctive and entertaining to watch. The lead is flawed, but he is still an engaging figure whom we want to see succeed. Despite being a calculating criminal who is trying to overthrow another outfit (which is similar to what happened to him), Gunji is straight-forward and frank in his approach, even when dealing with adversaries. So much so, that he actually earns the respect of enemies for a few moments of kindness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s some dark humor between the gangs that is really enjoyable to watch. Gunji and his team are also a stark contrast to the Tokyo group, who are underhanded, cruel and simply have the resources to violently take what they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The setting is also incredible. Okinawa is a lush and\nbeautiful place and the island cinematography captures this aspect beautifully.\nIt\u2019s also fascinating to see characters wander around a town that seemingly has\nalmost as many US residents as Japanese ones. Even the signage appears to be\nbilingual. Curiously enough, there are hints that the mainlanders don\u2019t think\nmuch of their countrymen in this part of the nation and there is certainly an\nundercurrent to the entire feature with it being set in an occupied territory.\nThe film serves as a fascinating look at the attitudes of Japan and others\ntowards Okinawa and its people.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Director Fukasaku certainly knows how to shoot and edit\naction, and the picture is dynamic when violence occurs. The movie is brutal\nand unforgiving, with characters being eliminated nastily and without much\nfanfare. It adds tension to the proceedings and makes Gunji relatable enough\nfor audiences to feel for him and the seemingly hopeless state of his\nsituation. All of this comes to a head during the memorable climax in which\nGunji goes off to \u201cgreet\u201d a massive group of enemy gangsters at the city pier.\nThis film packs a hard punch and makes a lasting impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image quality on the Blu-ray is excellent. It all looks\nfilmic, but also very sharp and clear. As mentioned, there are plenty of exotic\nlocales and they are all gorgeous to behold (which also contrasts nicely with\nthe subject matter). This is a wonderfully shot movie and the disc transfer is\nexceptional. It looked fantastic upconverted on a 4K player to my TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Extras on the disc are also worthwhile. There is a film\nhistorian commentary that talks about the history of the production and the\ncareer of director Fukasaku. He notes that the moviemaker was really finding\nhis footing with this title and that it would lead into a series of other\nYakuza classics. He also notes the careers of the great cast, complimenting\ntheir performances and the cinematic style on display. Admittedly, he is a fan\nand does get verbally wowed by the charismatic cast, but also manages to make\nintriguing points about deeper meanings in the movie, including the\nself-destructive motivations of the characters and whether their actions should\nbe lauded. It\u2019s an engaging listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, there is a wonderful piece on the history of\nOkinawa and its cinematic depictions which goes further into the strained\nrelationship the island and its neighbors have with the rest of Japan. Often,\nthe people weren\u2019t treated with much respect and it\u2019s an enlightening history\nlesson. The segment will also leave you with a list of more movie titles to\ncheck out.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Fukasaku biographer also talks about the director\u2019s career\nand the many Yakuza movies he made over this period. Once again, it\u2019s very\ninteresting stuff and will have many seeking out more titles from the\nfilmmaker. A trailer for the movie is also included. And, those who purchase\nthis disc will also receive a booklet with more writing on the film and an\narchival review. The disc itself features a reversible sleeve with new and\noriginal art for the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a great little lost Yakuza film (at least, in this\npart of the world) that Is a must-own for any fan of the genre or director. I\nwas thrilled to see it and enjoyed it greatly on a number of levels. The\npicture quality is top notch and the extras are also enlightening.\nInternational movie fans cannot go wrong purchasing the excellent Sympathy\nfor the Underdog<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Blu-ray is currently available from Radiance Films. It is a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d of 3000 copies. Those of us who live in North America and are movie buffs certainly have a lot to keep up with. There are a ton of domestic titles that arrive every year vying for our attention. Factoring in movies from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[101,697,2933,2939,3067,3073,4910,10385,11805,11870,15304,16584,19485,19486,24579],"class_list":["post-28920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-101","tag-action","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-crime","tag-japan","tag-kinji-fukasaku","tag-koji-tsuruta","tag-okinawa","tag-radiance-films","tag-sympathy-for-the-underdog","tag-sympathy-for-the-underdog-blu-ray-review","tag-yakuza"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}