Gamblers Collection
10 movies
From 1967 to 1972, Toei produced ten films in the Gamblers / Gambling Den (Bakuchi-uchi) series starring Koji Tsuruta.
Gamblers
Tsuruta is a respected tattoo artist working with comrades Machida and Yamashiro. His former boss, who also just happens to be the master who had tattooed the magnificent dragon on Tsuruta’s back, is now a dissolute, bitter drunk living with his son in law and sickly grandson. His daughter, the boy’s mom, is indentured at the brothel run by boss Nakamura and daughter Matsuo. Nakamura’s two faced second in command Amatsu will not let the mother see her son…
Gamblers: The Dragon Tattoo
The second part of the Gamblers series.
Gambler: Victory Without Death
Tsunetaro Asakura AKA "Dynamite Tsune" is a talented gambler, but not infallable. After losing his Boss's money in a dice game he repays his debt by serving as a pit boss for a struggling coal mine in Kyuushu. Quickly there's trouble with the local mining competition, who doesn't always play a fair game. True to his hot-headed nickname, Tsune only gets into deeper trouble.
Big Time Gambling Boss
Tokyo, 1934. The boss of the clan that controls gambling agonizes and some of his followers propose to Nakai to take his place, but he refuses the offer.
Gamblers: The Raid
5th entry in the Bakuchi-uchi series.
Gambling Den's Master Clan
Sixth entry in the Bakuchi-uchi series.
A Gambler's Certain Death
Part 7 in the Gambling Den series. This time Koji Tsuruta is a gambler who feels sympathetic towards a woman whose naive husband is driven to a debt trap by a rotten gambling den owner (Tatsuo Endo) and his dishonest card dealer (Isamu Nagato). The plot is standard stuff and features too much talk, but there's also a decent balance between melodrama and lyricism in the form and storytelling. Tsuruta was a perfect fit for these kind of roles, with the stoic and emotional sides nicely mixed in his screen persona.
The Drifting Gambler
8th part of the Gamblers / Bakuchi-uchi series.
Fate Deals the Card of Death
Seijiro and Shizue meet in Niigata and fall in love. Seijiro has to go back to Tokyo soon after, and they promise each other to meet again a year later. However, Seijiro gets jailed for five years. Unable to find him, Shizue gets married to a yakuza boss who can help her family business.
The Pledge
When Omuro Yahachi of the Omuro family is selected as Mutsumikai Soke's successor, the conflict between the Kitakyushu and Wakamatsu begins.