The Yakuza (1975)

The Yakuza (1975) was one of the first times that the Hollywood Private eye genre film met the Japanese Yakuza genre film.An old World War II buddy (Brian Keith) asks Robert Mitchum's character Harry Kilmer to travel back to Japan and rescue his daughter from kidnappers. The Kidnappers are Yakuza and things are more complicated than they appear on the surface. Starring Ken Tanakura (who was a massive star in Japan), Robert Mitchum, Brian Keith and a young Richard Jordan. It was written by Robert Towne (Chinatown) and Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) and directed by Sidney Pollack (Three Days of the Condor , Jeremiah Johnson). Warner Brothers expected a hit but instead the movie was a bomb at the box office. Over the years though it achieved cult film status and became a staple at film schools. Especially in Europe. Before his death in 2008 Sidney Pollack was invited to speak at different universities in Europe and the United States about his vast body of work. He stated that one of the movies most often asked about was The Yakuza. It's interesting to note that the movie was filmed almost entirely on location in Japan with a mostly Japanese crew and ,by all accounts, the production was trouble free. Unlike Black Rain fifteen years later which almost didn't get finished.

The following guns can be seen in The Yakuza:

Smith & Wesson Model 10

Used by Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum).

12 Gauge Double Barreled Shotgun

Used by Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum). The manufacturer is unknown. It is a hammerless model with what appears to be either a twenty - eight or thirty inch barrels.

M1911A1

Used by Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum) and various Yakuza gangsters.