Best movies like Thugs of Shinjuku

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Thugs of Shinjuku Starring Bunta Sugawara, Makoto Satō, Shingo Yamashiro, Ryōji Hayama, and more. If you liked Thugs of Shinjuku then you may also like: Zatoichi the Fugitive, Wolves, Pigs & Men, Rainy Dog, Yakuza Demon, Bodyguard Kiba and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

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.

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Know any good movies to watch like Thugs of Shinjuku 1970. With a similar plot or stoyline. Suggest it.

Zatoichi the Fugitive

After arriving in the town of Shimonita, Ichi finds that a price has been put on his head by a local yakuza boss. He's drawn into a trap, but after hearing of the slaying of a former love, Ichi furiously fights his way through the entire clan to face the killer, a hired ronin.

Wolves, Pigs & Men

Sabu and his pals hold a pauper's funeral for Sabu's mother. His brother Jiro arrives home, fresh out of jail, and Sabu pointedly states that Jiro is not invited. Jiro meanwhile is planning a big job - steal 40 million in cash and drugs, and he invites Sabu and gang to act as decoys, for 50,000 each. The sting is a success, but the double-crossing starts almost immediately. Sabu discovers how little of the take they were promised and hides the stash. Jiro and his slimy partner pressure the kids to fess up. Meanwhile, their respectable elder brother Ichiro is being leaned on by the town's big boss, whose money it was.

Rainy Dog

A Japanese assassin stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him.

Yakuza Demon

Seiji and Yoshifumi are the only members of the Muto branch of the Date Family. The two respect and love their leader, Mr. Muto, like a father and the three share a firm bond. But their fate is sealed when the Family is involved in a conflict. Muto is unable to pay his share of funds for the oncoming battle but tells executives of the Family that he would fight at the front line instead. In the wish to protect Muto, Seiji has him arrested by the police. Ignoring the Family executives' mocks of "Muto escaped to prison", Seiji prepares for the battle and attacks like a demon on behalf of his boss...

Bodyguard Kiba

Naoto Kiba takes on the task of protecting thug Junpei who embezzled 500 million yen from Okinawa's largest gangster gangs, Soryu-kai.

Score

A small time Yakuza thug is thrown into a bloody battle after a bank robbery he was forced into goes wrong when all the men begin to turn on each other a hitch-hiking serial killing couple decide to steal their loot.

Kids Return

Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.

Rusty Knife

Udaka is a new, post-war city where corruption has already taken hold. A persistent district attorney wants to arrest and convict Katsumata, a laughing, self-confident thug. The D.A. gets an anonymous letter about the suicide five years' before of a city council member. Evidence about the case leads the D.A. to Tachibana, struggling to go straight after involvement with the mob and a prison sentence for killing the man responsible for the rape and suicide of his fiancée. One of Tachibana's friends is Keiko, the daughter of the dead councilman and the ward of another powerful official. How do these stories connect?

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun: Graduation

Izumi Hoshi is senior in high school, but she led a small yakuza group in her past. After killing her uncle's murderer with a machine gun, her yakuza group disbanded. Izumi now lives an ordinary life as a high school student and works as a manager at a cafe. A dangerous situation soon awaits for Izumi.

Shinjuku Triad Society

Tatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.

Thugs with Dirty Mugs

Killer Diller and his gang are robbing every bank in town in numerical order (except the 13th National Bank, which they skip out of superstition). Despite their predictable actions, the police are unable to catch them...until they get a tip from an unlikely source.

The Pay-Off

A thug robs a young engaged couple of their last few dollars. When the thug's gang boss hears of the robbery, he gives them back their money and takes them under his wing. The thug, resentful of the couple, plans to organize a mutiny against the gang's boss, but when he is killed in a botched robbery, the police focus their attention on the young couple.

Boomerang Bill

When New York City police officer O'Malley learns of a young man who is about to embark on a life of crime by taking part in a robbery, he takes the boy aside and tells him the story of Boomerang Bill, another wanna-be gangster who wanted to be a big shot in the New York crime scene. It seems that Bill fell for a pretty young dance-hall girl, and went up against local gang boss Tony the Wop when he insulted her. Tony, who never forgot a slight, found a way to make things very, very tough for Boomerang Bill, in a way that he never saw coming.

Gangster Land

The story of America's most famous mobsters and their rise to power. Examine Al Capone's ascension through the eyes of his second in command, “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn.

Cops vs. Thugs

When a lucrative waterfront development becomes available, the Kawade gang quickly use their political connections to secure the land. However, the acting boss of the Ohara gang also has his eyes on the property and recruits crooked detective Tokumatsu Kuno to help him hijack the deal. With relations between the rival gangs at breaking point, it's not long before all-out war breaks out as the gangsters, police and local politicians battle for control of the city.

Killer Bean Forever

When things go bad in Beantown, top assassin Killer Bean is called to clean-up the mess. Detective Cromwell finds himself in the middle between Killer Bean and mob boss Cappuccino.

Girl Boss Revenge: Sukeban

The Kanto Gypsies, a tough girl gang, hide out from the law in the middle of a disputed gang territory, where they end up getting kidnapped by sinister underworld thugs. After breaking free, the girls set their sights on one thing: revenge. Miki Sugimoto stars as girl boss Komasa, the ruthless and sadistic leader of the Kanto Gypsies who possesses more than enough brains to match her killer looks.

New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2: Head of the Boss

The seventh in the shocking "Jingi Naki Tatakai" movie series, which exposes the true lives of the yakuza that is hidden by a mask of "jingi". The next stage of this continuing drama is the Kanmon Channel where the Owada and the Kyoei groups are battling for territorial rights and drug smuggling. The Owada sends their man, Tetsu, and his friend Shuji to kill the Kyoei boss. With the promise of fame and riches, Shuji takes the fall and goes to jail for 7 years. But when he's released, he discovers that he and Tetsu have been all but forgotten by the Owada. Feeling betrayed, Shuji takes matters into his own hands and becomes an unsuspecting pawn in an internal conflict and an assassination attempt on the Owada boss. And now angered, Shuji seeks revenge...

Samaritan Zatoichi

Zatoichi is forced to kill a young man who owes a debt to a yakuza boss. Moments later, his sister Osode arrives with the money she earned (prostituting herself) to pay his debts. The bosses true motives are revealed and he attempts to steal Osode even though the debt is paid. Zatoichi realizes his grievous error and protects the girl from the gang. Osode and Zatoichi are caught in a dilemma as she must rely on her brother's killer for protection and Zatoichi wrestles with the injustice he has caused.

Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee's Counterattack

In the 1970s, the Japanese youth emancipation also found its way into the yakuza (crime) societies. A Girl Boss may have a choice between bikes, and between boyfriends. But she has to defend her choices the hard way, as her triumph and power over the girls' gang is questioned by her female rivals, and the all powerful Yakuza Boss. She inspires loyalty to her girls, and to men to the extent of many of them literally giving their lives for her - in a world of knife and gun fighting, bike and car chasing, and violent death.

Girl Boss: Crazy Ball Game

Released from reform school, the Girl Boss and her girl gang enter into conflict with another girl gang who are allied to the powerful Yakuza Boss.

An Ode to Yakuza

Tatematsu Minoru, a yakuza belonging to the Ishikawa group that runs the Shinjuku area, has a beautiful sister named Akane. He dreams of sending her to college and turning her into a perfect young lady. He's extremely fond of Akane. His fondness for her goes beyond how he feels about his mistress, Kanae. And yet, Akane feels alone. Now, a new tutor comes into her life that seems to have taken a liking to her...

Girl Boss Guerilla

Miko Sugimoto is the leader of the Red Helmet Gang, a biker girl gang from Shinjuku who wind up in Kyoto and make a bid to take over the local girl gangs there. Successful for a short time in ruling the streets it isn't long before Miko and her crew run afoul of the local Yakuza, and are forced to turn to Reiko Ike, a ronin Yakuza girl, and sister to one of the top Yakuza in Kyoto, for help, leading to a murderous showdown at a small coastal resort.

Street Gun

Danny, Jake and Joe want to go pro as criminals. But luck isn't going their way until the local mob boss takes notice of their work. Now these young thugs are facing one big payday.

Jail Breakers

Kamiki (Sonny Chiba) is a career criminal who is given the chance to break out of prison for the 33rd time. Afterwards Kaimiki teams up with a bunch of thugs that engineer prison escapes for money.

Queen Bee's Challenge

When two Girl Bosses fight each other over territory, their enmity is difficult to solve - they are equals in looks, strength, determination, and power of their respective girl gangs. So, the way is open to a mischievous Yakuza Boss who invites them for a peaceful way to decide their feud: a sexual challenge for him to decide who is the better Girl Boss. Trapped, both are subject to the man's lust and sadistic assaults. They escape by joining forces against the yakuza gang, though it costs one of the young women her life - when she was friends already with her former enemy.

Japan Organized Crime Boss

Coming out of jail and hoping for a quiet life, Yokohama yakuza has to take the lead of his gang after the death of his boss. His small group is is taken in a crossfire between a big yakuza group from Osaka at war with the Tokyo alliance for the control of the city. He tries to keep to the old yakuza code but he is no match for the new thugs who live and fight without honor.

Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza

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.

Delinquent Boss: Wolves of the City

Kosaka Hiroshi is a small time swindler and the boss of a motorcycle gang in Shinjuku. Living only to make money, he never made the big time until he gets involved with a Yakuza's daughter. But when he gets involved in a scheme to blackmail a Yakuza gang and a land developer, he realizes he's gone way over his head…

HEAT -Incandescence- PART II

A young man suddenly rises to the top of the underworld in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Other crime bosses now conspire to take him down.

The Shape of Night

Yoshie Nogami, a factory worker by day, moonlights as a hostess at a bar. One of the regulars, Eiji Kitami, invites her out on a date. Still only 19, she goes along out of curiosity and ends up spending the night at a hotel where she gives herself to him. They begin a passionate love affair and move in together, after which Yoshie begins skipping work at the factory and rarely returns to her family home. Before long, Eiji’s demeanor changes and he begins to constantly ask her for money. Despite claiming to be a businessman, he is actually a local thug, and his inability to pay his dues to his gang leads him to force Yoshie into prostitution.

Yakuza Connection

Well meant is often the opposite of good. Audry, who wanted to use her knowledge of Japanese to help her husband Ward, a golf instructor, enter the professional league of golf, has to learn the same thing: she lets the sleazy lawyer Rictus persuade her to play Sushi-Jo - a kind of living salver for the Japanese national dish – to be able to unobtrusively overhear a meeting with Japanese business people. Unfortunately, these people are members of the yakuza; and the business lunch takes a fatal turn when heavily armed thugs show up.

Sleepless Town

Kenichi is a half-Japanese, half-Chinese man of the underworld. You can sell him anything except children's organs. His domain is in Kabukicho, a gangland controlled by various Shanghai gangs intent on taking control. His former partner-in-crime, Fu-Chun, is rumored to have returned to Kabukicho, having fled years earlier after killing the number two of gangland boss, Yuan. Yuan wants to get even and attempts to do so by using Kenichi.

Girl Boss Mafia: Lynch

A Roman Porno set around high school girls. After the opening requisite showdown between female leader onichan and one of the toughs from the local gang we witness one of the more brutal punishments youll see in anything pink. The sukeban mafia, the name the girl gang has chosen, not proper yakuza, invite Onichan and Miki to join them. First stop, working their prostitution ring, Miki is captivated by the power of the gang and ready to please, but Onichan isn’t impressed. Of course the sukeban mafia will not tolerate nothing less than complete devotion and the trouble begins ….

Chinpira

Osamu rescues a girl who was being chased by two punks and is soon mixed up with the Yakuza

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