Kihachi Okamoto

Shin Godzilla

When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

Release Date:2016-07-29

Character:Dr. Goro Maki

Vote Count:1337

Vengeance for Sale

In a world where vendettas are officially sanctioned, the people sometimes needed help in carrying out their vengeance. Sanada Hiroyuki stars as Sukeroku the Helper, a ‘cool and rambling yakuza’ that has made a business out of helping victims carry out their revenge. When he returns to his hometown to pay a visit to his mother’s grave he meets a deadly ronin who carries a secret which eventually leads him into a vendetta of his own.

Release Date:2002-02-16

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:5

Boy's Choir

A young teen's father dies, and he is sent to an orphanage. He's teased because he stutters almost runs away, until a beautiful, androgynous boy, Yasuo, convinces him to join the choir.

Release Date:2000-10-28

Character:School Head

Vote Count:7

East Meets West

A disgraced warrior planning the murder of a Japanese diplomat, and a ninja in the employ of a navy official are about to land in San Francisco when a band of thieves steal the money the diplomats are carrying. The two set off on a chase across the American west to catch the robbers.

Release Date:1995-08-12

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:4

Coo of The Far Seas

After a storm hits their island, Yusuke (driving his jet-ski) finds a baby dinosaur. He show it to his dad, they keep it and call it Coo. But there are other parties interested in a 65 million year old creature...

Release Date:1993-12-19

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:10

Rainbow Kids

A wealthy matriarch is kidnapped by a gang of three. She is insulted by the amount of money they propose to demand as ransom, and a strange interchange of roles takes place.

Release Date:1991-01-15

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:9

Taikoki

Rising from the lowliest of country samurai to the heights of power as Taiko, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is one of the pivotal figures of the Sengoku period.

Release Date:1987-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:2

Jazz Daimyo

Shipwrecked African-American slaves arrive in the midst of Bakumatsu-era Japan; they soon carve out a niche in the market with their musical talents.

Release Date:1986-04-19

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:6

Kidnapping Blues

A man and a little girl meet in a bicycle parking in Tokyo. The little girl says she wants to watch the sea, and their travel begins. The man does not intend to be a kidnapper – he asks the girl to phone her mother and tell her she's with him. During their trip they meet various people, but they always must continue on, lest the man be arrested.

Release Date:1982-10-09

Character:Izakaya Guest

Vote Count:1

At This Late Date, the Charleston

A young man gets thrown into detention after an episode of sexual assault; he soon meets several impostors in the same situation.

Release Date:1981-12-19

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

Magistrate of the Floating World

Kodaira Mochizuki has come from Edo to keep Horisoto secure.

Release Date:1981-05-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

Kinagashi Bugyō

Koheita, a newly appointed magistrate, never shows his face in the magistrate's office, instead spending his time in the 'Horisoto', a den of evil where anything goes, from theft to prostitution to murder. However, this man is about to clean up the city in an unconventional way!

Release Date:1981-05-01

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:1

The Last Game

After the war-time government orders the disbanding of the Big-Six baseball league, the teams of Waseda and Keio universities play one final game before they are drafted into the armed forces and face the hardships of military service.

Release Date:1979-11-03

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Blood Type: Blue

UFOs appear on Earth, and people who actually see them suddenly find that their blood has turned blue. Soon panic and hysteria result in the new "blue-bloods" being persecuted by the rest of mankind, and eventually certain all-too-familiar measures begin to be taken against them.

Release Date:1978-11-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:7

Dynamite Don-Don

Yakuza Gang War is at the height in North Kyūshū Area in the summer of 1950, particularly between the Okagen Group and the rising Hashiden Gang. Now with the mediation/interference of the Americans, they decide to settle it in a peaceful, *democratic* way, that is, to settle it with a baseball game. Now, with its money and power, The Hashiden group soon recruits a group of gamblers known to be good at baseball from the whole country. So, what is the Okagen Gumi gonna do?

Release Date:1978-10-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

幽霊列車

Release Date:1978-01-14

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Sugata Sanshiro

The story of Sanshiro Sugata, a young man who wants to learn the new art of judo. A wise teacher reveals to Sanshiro that judo is not merely a means of combat nor a demonstration of physical skill, but an art which reveals the artist to himself.

Release Date:1977-10-29

Department:Directing

Job:Director

The Love and Adventures of Kuroki Taro

Taro Kuroki, 42, is a stuntman with a samurai's heart. He loves adventures, plays pranks with the police, tries to cure a cat lady by reversing her trauma, and finally, rescues his niece who is about to be lured into prostitution.

Release Date:1977-09-17

Vote Count:3

I'm No Angel

A young couple lives together in a small apartment and struggles to keep their relationship together, despite inertia and financial hardship. Based on the comic Red Colored Elegy by Seiichi Hayashi.

Release Date:1977-05-15

Character:Fujiya President

Battle Cry

During the military phase of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Sentaro joins a local militia loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate in order to fight Imperial troops. But Sentaro's friendship with a pickpocket, who switches sides whenever it suits his needs, leads to complications that could cost Sentaro his life as they infiltrate enemy lines.

Release Date:1975-03-14

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:5

Aoba shigereru

Based on the novel of the same name by Hisashi Inoue.

Release Date:1974-09-21

Department:Directing

Job:Director

The Battle of Okinawa

The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.

Release Date:1971-08-14

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:12

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo

With a price on his head, Ichi seeks tranquillity in a favorite village. Since his last visit, it has fallen prey to Boss Masagoro, the son of a merchant rumored to have stolen gold from the shogunate. The boss has hired Yojimbo as his hard-drinking enforcer, but Yojimbo is both a spy for the shogunate, trying to find the gold, and in love with the merchant's unwilling mistress, Umeno. Ichi hires on as the merchant's masseur and buys Umeno's freedom with his employer's own money. This embarrasses Yojimbo who withdraws from a pact with Ichi to stir up trouble between father and son and their gangs. As the two sides fight, Ichi finds the gold and sets up a final set of confrontations.

Release Date:1970-01-15

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:63

Red Lion

Japan, February 1868. As the Tokugawa shogunate declines and the power of Emperor Meiji grows, Gonzo, a soldier of the Restoration Army, returns to Sawando, his hometown, to announce the end of tyranny.

Release Date:1969-10-10

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:25

The Human Bullet

A soldier has been in the Japanese military for the entirety of WWII, and in that time, his dedication to the army has never faltered. However, as the war draws to a close, his commanding officers become increasingly desperate and push their men to ever more absurd extremes. The ridiculousness of the orders from above peak when the hero of the story is assigned to drive a one-man submarine straight into the hull of an enemy battleship.

Release Date:1968-10-22

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:12

Kill!

A pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin.

Release Date:1968-06-22

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:73

Japan's Longest Day

Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.

Release Date:1967-08-03

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:28

The Age of Assassins

A nerdy young college instructor named Shinji Kikyo returns home one day to find himself the target of a mad assassin. Surviving somewhat miraculously, he fends off other assassins and with the help of reporter Keiko Tsurumaki and car mechanic Bill Otomo, eventually discovering that a "population control" association is really an assassination squad led by Shogo Mizorogi, who has been training patients of a mental asylum to become killers.

Release Date:1967-02-04

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

The Sword of Doom

Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.

Release Date:1966-02-25

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:225

Ironfinger

After being mistaken for an Interpol agent, a man who was just supposed to go on vacation gets mixed up in a war between two gangs intent on winning the favor of a notorious arms dealer.

Release Date:1965-12-05

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:7

Fort Graveyard

Charged with insubordination for punching a superior, Sergeant Kosugi is shipped to China in the last desperate days of the Second World War. His commander, Captain Sakuma, is vicious and dictatorial. Sakuma places Kosugi in charge of training for combat what once was the military band. Kosugi must somehow prepare his inept soldiers for the rigors of combat.

Release Date:1965-09-18

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:7

Samurai Assassin

Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.

Release Date:1965-01-03

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:54

Oh, Bomb!

During the mayoral election, two ex-prisoners decide to replace the lucky pen of an annoying candidate with a mini-bomb.

Release Date:1964-04-18

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:7

The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman

A salaryman's drunken ravings in public attract the attention of journalists who coerce him into telling them his life's story.

Release Date:1963-11-16

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:12

Warring Clans

A brave, highly principled warrior resigns his post as a body guard to the head of a powerful clan after he learns that his employers have been smuggling arms to the enemy. The remaining samurai try in vain to coerce him back, but their efforts are thwarted by crooked warriors who launch an attack...

Release Date:1963-03-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:14

Gekkyū dorobō

1962 Japanese movie

Release Date:1962-12-08

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Operation Sewer Rats

Towards the end of World War II, five men are tasked with freeing the son of a general from Chinese captivity.

Release Date:1962-06-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Procurer of Hell

Tobe is a small-time crook who runs a prostitution business of blonde girls, as well as sells pornographic pictures. He frequents a cafe run by two women, one of them a young widow with a son. They like him and think that he is an ordinary office worker. One day, Tobe accidentally discovers pictures of an acquaintance, Kanzaburo, with a woman and sets out to blackmail him. He soon finds out that Kanzaburo died in a train accident but things may not be what they seem

Release Date:1961-09-29

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

Big Shots Die at Dawn

An early Okamoto yakuza film, though it's not in the Underworld series (along with The Last Gunfight and The Big Boss) despite being alternatively known as "Death of the Boss." While Okamoto did not write this film and took on the project because he was assigned and "just doing [his] job" according to an interview with Chris Desjardins in Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film, he did express a general excitement about working in action cinema (which shows through in this film's energy.)

Release Date:1961-04-09

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:4

Blueprint of Murder

Yuzo Kayama plays the protagonist, a whale-hunting cannon manufactuing supervisor, whose brother is an automobile tester for Komatsu Motors which has a fatal accident. As his brother investigates the "Accident" with his old college friend (makoto Sato), now a reporter... They stumble across murder, espionage and cover-ups. High-class night club, femme fatale, and a "Blueprint of Murder" all adds up to a bigger plot then first expected.

Release Date:1961-01-03

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:4

Westward Desperado

In this patriotic WW II drama, the Japanese army demonstrates its courage and willingness to do anything to win as they endeavor to sneak into Communist China to bring back the flag of a defeated enemy regiment.

Release Date:1960-10-30

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:5

Girls Behind Bars

A youth drama set in the Japanese alps. Two robbers, chased by the police, escape from the youths of a university mountain club who are trapped in a lodge during a blizzard. This ski action romp has the tempo of a musical, and Okamoto Kihachi's style is on full display. Tsuruta Koji makes a special appearance as a senior member of the mountain club.

Release Date:1960-07-31

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

The Last Gunfight

Japanese police detective Saburo Fujioka is suspected of corruption, demoted, and sent to the city of Kojin. Kojin is the scene of fierce fighting between rival gangs. Fujioka is assigned to investigate the death of the wife of gangster Tetsuo Maruyama of the Kozuka gang, probably at the hands of one of the Oka gang. During a gang gunfight, Maruyama is rescued by Detective Fujioka and the two become friends. But Maruyama insists on avenging his wife's murder, even if it means conflict with his new friend.

Release Date:1960-01-03

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:9

Desperado Outpost

When Sergeant Okubo's brother is murdered at a Japanese outpost in Northern China during the Second World War, Okubo poses as a war correspondent and seeks out his brother's killer.

Release Date:1959-10-06

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:10

Someday I'll Know

A modern love story involving different affairs.

Release Date:1959-09-08

Department:Directing

Job:Director

The Big Boss

Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead. Ryuta loves his brother, but Mineo's possible defection presents problems for the gang, and Ryuta realizes he must kill his brother if he wants to survive.

Release Date:1959-01-15

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman

An American scientist tells two colleagues about the finding of an abominable snowman living in the Japanese alps, where it is worshipped by a remote tribe as a god, and how it was discovered by modern man after it raided a skiers shelter following an avalanche, killing all inside. This is an adaptation of the Japanese film "Jūjin Yuki Otoko" (1955) with added American-made footage, narration, and music.

Release Date:1958-12-01

Department:Directing

Job:First Assistant Director

Vote Count:10

Bright Young Maidens

In order to get Kanako (Izumi Yukimura) married, her mother places a rental listing in the student medical school newsletter and attempts to find a suitable lodger who will catch the eye of her daughter.

Release Date:1958-10-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

All About Marriage

Ultra-perky model likes single freedom but feels ryosai kenbo ("good wife, wise mother") pressure, exemplified by her bored-to-tears sister.

Release Date:1958-05-26

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Assistant President

Release Date:1958-01-03

Department:Directing

Job:Assistant Director

Down Town

A woman struggles to raise her young son on her own in postwar Japan, finding companionship with a kind laborer while still hoping for the return of her missing husband.

Release Date:1957-10-29

Department:Directing

Job:Assistant Director

The Maiden Courtesan

Period romantic drama.

Release Date:1956-01-22

Department:Directing

Job:Assistant Director

Half Human

Three competing parties all race against time to track down an elusive creature known only as the Snowman.

Release Date:1955-08-14

Department:Directing

Job:First Assistant Director

Character:Mountain searcher (uncredited)

Vote Count:13

Mother and Son

An Ishiro Honda film.

Release Date:1955-06-07

Department:Directing

Job:Assistant Director

Floating Clouds

A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.

Release Date:1955-01-15

Department:Directing

Job:Assistant Director

Vote Count:96

The Blue Pearl

The Blue Pearl depicts the interplay between a young man from Tokyo and two ama (pearl divers; literally “women of the sea”) in a superstitious coastal town. Though raised within the same tradition-bound crucible, the two women – Noe and Riu – are portrayed as diametric opposites; the former meek but affectionate, the latter strong-willed but jaded by a tryst with metropolitan life.

Release Date:1951-08-03

Department:Directing

Job:Assistant Director