In
this Yakuza power struggle, Det. Tokumatsu Kuno is backing one faction, while
the city politicians have aligned themselves with the opposing clan. Over the
long run, the politicians hold the advantage, but Kuno can do plenty of damage in
the short term. The ensuing war will produce no heroes. There are only
survivors and corpses in Kinji Fukasaku ironically titled Cops vs. Thugs (trailer here), which screens as part of the 2015 New York Asian Film Festival’s sidebar tribute to Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara.
Arguably,
it was something of a blessing for the Ohara clan when old man Ohara was sent
up the river. The infinitely more competent Kenji Hirotani subsequently stepped
up as acting boss. For reasons that are never satisfactorily explained, Kuno
has taken an active interest in promoting his criminal career. However, the
industrial city’s crooked assemblyman, the exceptionally slimy Masaichi
Tomoyasu is rather openly affiliated with Boss Kawade.
For
years, Kuno has made it his business to tip off Hirotani whenever the cops move
against Ohara operations, whereas he takes great enjoyment in busting Kawade’s
men. Now under the pretense of a general crackdown, Tomoyasu has unleashed a
goody two-shoes prefecture cop to decisively close down the Ohara outfit. Not
coincidentally, Kuno quickly discovers he has been frozen out of department
investigations. However, he will still do his best to gum up the works.
To
describe C vs. T as cynical would be
an understatement. Corruption in this grimy town is deep as a river and wide as
a mile. Frankly, it probably is not the greatest Yakuza movie ever. Character motivation
is consistently a mysterious black box for Fukasaku and screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara,
but it has an impressive sense of history and scope. In many ways, it could be
considered a stylistic forerunner to Cédric Jimenez’s The Connection, whether or not it directly influenced the French
filmmaker.
As
we would hope, Bunta Sugawara glowers and snarls like a wary junkyard dog as
the morally compromised, but not completely amoral Kuno. Likewise, Hiroki Matsukata
is nearly equally hardnosed as Hirotani. However, Nobuo Kaneko truly makes the
film as the utterly detestable Tomoyasu. He is the sort of villain that makes
you want to purge and shower under the Silkwood
power-faucets.
