Battles Without Honor and Humanity is a 1973 yakuza film by director Kinji Fukasaku. It is adapted from a series of newspaper articles, by journalist Kōichi Iiboshi, that were rewrites of a manuscript originally written by real-life Yakuza, Kōzō Minō, while he was in prison. It is the first film in a five-part series also known as The Yakuza Papers. Due to the series' enormous commercial and critical popularity it was followed by another three-part series, New Battles Without Honor and Humanity, and concluded with a final installment, Aftermath of Battles Without Honor... and Humanity. It is often called the "Japanese Godfather." The violent, documentary-like film chronicles the underworld tribulations of Shozo Hirono , a young ex-soldier and street thug in post-War Hiroshima. Starting in the open-air black markets of bombed-out Hiroshima in 1945, the film spans a period of more than ten years. The plot consists of a changing of the guard of new families and organizations with the same feuds and people, punctuated by the gritty violence. It gave way to four sequels, which form a sprawling yakuza epic.
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| Release date: | January 13, 1973 |
| Directed by: | Kinji Fukasaku |
| Runtime: | 99 Minutes |