In the past, a woman was raped by her brother-in-law. Keeping this dark secret, she lives a seemingly happy life with her husband and son, but the son, shocked to find out his real father is the brother-in-law, sets out to do something. The downfall of a mother and her child starts there...
Teruo Ishii's West Side Story, done as a bloody, violent, sexploitative biker gang film. It's the Red Chilis versus the Black Cats, and the chick who just may heal the divide.
Shihomi Etsuko plays a race car driver who also lends out her services to the Japanese Secret Service. Although there really isn't much of a "chase" to be seen, Shihomi does pursue a cartel of drug runners and assorted Japanese yakuza types. While the story is pure 70's exploitation and gritty crime drama, the best reason to see it is for the Martial Arts Action of Etsuko Shihomi. The action is over-the-top and at times hilarious (i.e. Shihomi battling the lead criminal atop a moving gondola or Shihomi battling a whip-wielding Catholic Nun).
Reiko Ike stars as the daughter of a man who has been pushed into drug dealing by the local Yakuza mob. Having outlived his usefulness to the gang he is murdered and Reiko is gang raped, leading her to attempt a knife attack on the Yakuza boss (Ryoji Hayama) at a swank nightclub. Failing to kill him she ends up in prison, where she befriends a crew of other malcontents (including Yumiko Katayama and Chiyoko Kazama) and meets the Yakuza boss's girlfriend (Miki Sugimoto). Upon release Reiko reassembles her mob and launches a Machiavellian scheme to engineer a gang war between Hayama's Oba Industries and the formerly dominant Hamayasu Clan. The rival gangs begin killing each other off and Reiko works her way closer to her ultimate vengeance.
In turbulent 16th-century Japan, the leaders of a minor fief have their child taken from them as a political hostage. His mother and his clan endure years of tribulations until he can return.
