- HD 1080
- Runtime: 84m.
- Status: Released
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- Languages: ja
- Country: Japan
- Director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda
- Stars: Shintarō Katsu, Mayumi Ogawa, Mikio Narita, Kayo Mikimoto, Naoko Kubo
- Production_studio: Daiei Film
- The The Hoodlum Priest is featured in the top rankings of 1967
- #30 in Top Drama Movies of 1967
- #8 in Top Action Movies of 1967
- #10 in Top Crime Movies of 1967
The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.