WOLVES, PIGS AND MEN (1964)
In the world of gangster movies there are a lot of typical tropes and character archetypes; honour among thieves, rival factions in turf wars, respect within a criminal hierarchy. Kinji Fukasaku’s body of work is full of such examples, after all he’s probably best know for directing two sets of films in the ‘Battles Without Honour or Humanity’ series, aka The Yakuza Papers; a total of eight all in all. However, this earlier example is perhaps more interested in the social and economic struggles of a family. That is to say it’s tale of actual brotherhood rather than competing gang members. The result is a surprisingly bleak and brutal affair that suggests maybe blood isn’t thicker than water. Make no mistake; this isn’t any kind of sentimental melodrama.
