The Yakuza is a confused and diffused film which bites off more than it can artfully chew. Robert Mitchum stars as a private eye returning to Japan to unravel some international crime matters, as well as his long-ago love affair.
The result is an uneasy and incohesive combination of an oriental Mafia story overlaid on a formula international business swindle, mixed up with a 20-years-later update of Sayonara.
Mitchum is hired by old World War II army buddy Brian Keith, now a successful shipping executive, to rescue daughter Lee Chirillo from some Japanese hoods holding her for an alleged default on a business deal.
Ken Takakura, who owes Mitchum a favor from a generation back, must honor the request to infiltrate the mob.
