Standing at the crossroads of the yakuza genre as it began to incorporate ripped-from-the-headlines stories, Sympathy for the Underdog has lost none of its raw, kinetic power.

this may be a yakuza film, but it plays more like noir, not least thanks to Takeo Yamashita’s hard jazz score, the flashbacks told in stylised photomontages, and the brooding fatalism that pervades everything

Sympathy For The Underdog is not merely a yakuza classic, but a masterpiece of Japanese cinema.

These leads are perfect in their parts, showing just the right amount of emotion and going into their characters knowing they are complex being, making them more human by letting them be themselves through their performances.