The Gangster VIP (1968)

After spending three years in prison for stabbing a hitman from a rival gang, Goro comes out disenchanted with yakuza life. When he decides to abandon gangster life entirely, tragedy intervenes, and Goro sets out for revenge. The first installment in the six-part Burai series (1968-69)Director Masuda calls Gangster VIP, “a youth film that happens to be set in the yakuza world." For Goro there is no easy way out of the world that nurtured him. Based on the memoirs of a real yakuza, Goro Fujita, this film reveals a darker, more desperate side to Watari’s on-screen persona.