Lately the news has been full of stories about International prisons and how prisoners are being treated. None of the prisons making the headlines look like great places to reform yourself. Most of the people behind the bars seems eager to escape if given the chance. The Rapacious Jailbreaker shows us the conditions and life of being a prisoner in Japan during the post-World War II period. The film focuses on a single prisoner who is eager to escape and return to the free world to continue his outlaw lifestyle. He’s not going to let the walls hold him inside.
Ueda (Battles Without Honor and Humanity‘s Hirokio Matsukata) and his pal arrive late at night at a Yakuza member’s house to make a serious drug deal. The pal goes inside while Ueda peeks through a window. The house seems to be a stash spot for various black market goods that have been smuggled off US military bases including American booze and C-rations. Even though the yakuza is in bed with his woman, he seems down for a deal. Although very quickly it turns into a double cross when he pulls a gun on Udea’s buddy. This leads to Udea busting through the window like the Kool-Aid Man, getting the gun and taking out both the mobster and his moll. Instead of a great chase, we jump to Udea behind bars. He is not wanting to be a happy prisoner who hops around naked and recite his number so the guards can make sure he’s not carrying contraband. He’s already plotting to escape even though a mobster prisoner (Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance‘s Tomisaburô Wakayama) warns him to be good and serve his time. He realizes being in a cell with others isn’t good when he witness one guy getting humped overnight. He has not problem being stuck in solitary confinement. Gives him plenty of time to come up with plans on how to escape and get home see his wife and settle the scores. When he busts out the first time, he does what he intended. However he eventually gets caught. More time added to his sentence. This doesn’t stop him from planning his next great escape.
The Rapacious Jailbreaker is a great prison flick. We gets sense of what life was like for prisoners at this time. Director Sadao Nakajima doesn’t hold back showing the brutality between the prisoners and the guards. He also shows how vicious prisoners can be to each other if given a few unsupervised minutes. You can easily understand why Ueda isn’t going to do his time. He has to worry about a lot of violence coming his way from the guards and Yakuza members wanting payback. He’ll do anything and go through anything to find the weak spots in security. What’s amazing is he’s not wrongfully convicted or close to innocent like they’d create in a Hollywood film. We’re watching a guilty man who wants to get out and commit more crimes. This is what sets The Rapacious Jailbreaker apart from Shawshank Redemption. You want to see how Ueda gets out of the nasty prison, but you don’t want him heading towards your town.
The Video is 2.39:1 anamorphic. You’ll see how disgusting the prison life can get. The Audio is Japanese LPCM 1.0 mono. The quality allows you to hear bars being removed from windows. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary by Nathan Stuart puts out that this is part of a loosely connected to two other films for a trilogy. He presents Hiroki Matsukata as an important actor in Japanese cinema for his diversity of roles during this time.
Rule Breaker (16:58) is an introduction to director Sadao Nakajima by film historian Tom Mes. Nakajima is part of the big three directors for Toei films in the ’70s. We learn how he moved up at the studio to become a director. His first film in 1964 is a ninja movie that had a wanting to have ninja babies. Female Ninja Magic needs to be a future Blu-ray release. He made a sequel. He went on to do a movie about modern street youth clashing with the Yakuza. We get an overview of the other kinds of movies he made for Toei.
Illustrated Collector’s Booklet with an essay by Earl Jackson and a vintage review of the film.
Radiance Pictures presents The Rapacious Jailbreaker: Limited Edition. Directed by Sadao Nakajima. Screenplay by Tatsuo Nogami. Starring Hiroki Matsukata, Tomisaburô Wakayama, Naoko Ôtani, Tsunehiko Watase, Tatsuo Umemiya, Gorô Ibuki, Kô Nishimura, Hôsei Komatsu, Tatsuo Endô & Nobuo Kaneko. Rating: Unrated. Running Time: 97 minutes. Release Date: May 20, 2025.
