Youth of the Beast

A former police detective, Jôji Mizuno, goes undercover in Tokyo's underworld after being thrown off the force. Posing as a violent drifter, he is hired by one yakuza boss and quickly draws the attention of a rival gang, which also wants him. Playing the two sides against each other, he works his way into the syndicate he blames for the death of a former colleague, with the aim of tearing it apart from within.

Seijun Suzuki directed the film for Nikkatsu Corporation, working from a screenplay by Ichirō Ikeda and Tadaaki Yamazaki, with Keinosuke Kubo producing. It was Suzuki's thirteenth film as director in chronological order, arriving between Teenage Yakuza in 1962 and The Incorrigible in 1963. Joe Shishido leads as Mizuno, and the cast of thirty-one credited performers includes Misako Watanabe, Tamio Kawachi, Minako Katsuki, Daizaburo Hirata and Eimei Esumi.

The film runs 92 minutes and was released in Japan in April 1963. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.3 from around 4,200 votes, while on TMDB its rating is 7 from roughly 95 votes. A critics' score of 7.5 from seven reviews places it somewhat above what the audience ratings suggest.