BIG TIME GAMBLING BOSS (1968)
Label: Radiance Films
Region Code: A
Duration: 95 Minutes
Audio: Uncompressed Japanese PCM 2.0 Stereo
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen
Cast: Koji Tsuruta, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Nobuo Kaneko
Director: Kosaku Yamashita
Considered one of the finest films in Japanese cinema, Big Time Gambling Boss will be available on Limited Edition Blu-ray for the first time on Jan. 3rd, 2023, the initial release from new imprint Radiance Films.
Originally released in 1968, the film was hailed by Paul Schrader as the richest and most complex film of its type, while novelist Yukio Mishima declared it a masterpiece.
The film is set in Tokyo in the thirties, where gang boss Arakawa is ill and a successor must be named. The choice falls on Nakai, but being an outsider he refuses and suggests senior clansman Matsuda instead. But Matsuda is in jail and the elders won't wait for his release, so they appoint the younger and more malleable Ishido to take the reins. Clan honor and loyalties are severely tested when Matsuda is released, resulting in an increasingly violent internal strife.
An atmospheric tale of gangland intrigue written by Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honor and Humanity) and starring Tomisaburo Wakayama (Lone Wolf and Cub, The Bounty Hunter Trilogy), and genre legend Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss is one of the all-time classics of the Yakuza genre. Radiance Films is proud to present this crucial re-discovery for the first time ever on Blu-ray.
Limited Edition Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer of the film
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Visual essay by genre expert Chris D on the film and its place within the period and genre
- Ninkyo 101: A masterclass with Mark Schilling, author of The Yakuza Movie Book
Gallery of promotional imagery
Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by maarko phntm
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by author Stuart Galbraith IV, and critic Hayley Scanlon
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip
Sell Points:
- First Time Ever on Blu-ray!
- From writer Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honor and Humanity) and director Kôsaku Yamashita (Night Train, Kuroi tsume)
Stars Kôji Tsuruta (Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island), Tomisaburô Wakayama (Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance), Hiroshi Nawa (Three Seconds Before the Explosion) and Nobuo Kaneko (Ikiru)
- 'Big Time Gambling Boss' (aka 'Gambler: The Great Casino' and 'The Big Gambling Ceremony') is the fourth film in the Bakuchi-uchi (Gambler) series, and is regarded as the best of Toei's yakuza films.
