Velvet Hustler (1967) Kurenai no nagareboshi | Region-Free (Blu-ray)

Title: Velvet Hustler (1967)

Alternate Title: Kurenai no nagareboshi

Genre: Action, Crime

Plot Synopsis:
A young yakuza hitman named Goro carries out an assassination in Tokyo and retreats to Kobe to lay low. In this vibrant city, he indulges in a hedonistic lifestyle, mingling with various women and navigating the local underworld. As he remains elusive to law enforcement, Goro becomes entangled with the fiancée of a man who has mysteriously disappeared. Unbeknownst to him, another hitman has been dispatched to eliminate him for his past deeds.

Cast and Crew:

• Director: Toshio Masuda
• Writers: Toshio Masuda, Kaneo Ikegami
• Cast:
  • Tetsuya Watari as Goro
  • Ruriko Asaoka
  • Jô Shishido
  • Kayo Matsuo
  • Tatsuya Fuji

IMDb Link:
Velvet Hustler (1967)

Reviews from Letterboxd:

1. D Rock – ★★★★☆
   “A very cool 60’s hipster style movie. It looks almost like a Seijin Suzuki film right down to having Jo Shishido playing a hitman. Unfortunately, it doesn’t pay off quite as well as a Suzuki film. If you’re going to make a ‘youth crime’ sort of film, you have to push that exploitation factor a bit more. The violence and action were just a bit too restrained.”
2. Pachinko Pop – ★★★½☆
   “Is the world of Nikkatsu action, where the anti-heroes whistle the theme songs of their movies, and ask women to have sex with them right away, without fear of a restraining order or the girl posting the story on Tumblr. The movie has fun playing a bit with genre conventions, femme fatales, and having the characters sometimes almost breaking the fourth wall to tell us how over the top this is.”
3. Chevalier – ★★★★☆
   “The movie has fun playing a bit with genre conventions, femme fatales, and having the characters sometimes almost breaking the fourth wall to tell us how over the top this is. Tetsuya Watari is so cool he made a hole in his hat so he can cover his face, while watching over his enemies at the same time. Shishido Jo plays an enigmatic hitman who comes to wake up these kids from their juvenile yakuza playground.”

Meta Description:
“Velvet Hustler” (1967), directed by Toshio Masuda, is a Japanese action-crime film that follows Goro, a yakuza hitman hiding in Kobe after an assassination. As he navigates the city’s underworld, he becomes entangled with a woman connected to his past, all while another assassin is on his trail.