Normally when I’m reviewing an Asian film with “Boxer” in the title, I have to explain that this refers to a martial arts fighter and not a guy wearing boxing gloves and trunks fighting in a ring. While The Boxer was made in Japan and released in 1977, it’s really about the sport of boxing. This is an interesting film in that it came out before Raging Bull, but has a few cinematic elements that Martin Scorcese also used in his classic starring Robert De Niro. The Boxer opens up in black and white like Raging Bull, but swaps over to color. The plot isn’t close to Raging Bull or even Rocky which was flying high around this time. The Boxer is its own movie.
Hayato (New Battles Without Honor and Humanity‘s Bunta Sugawara) was a promising boxer who notoriously quit in the middle of a fight. Why did he throw in the towel when he wasn’t flat on the mat? We don’t quite know. But after all this time, he’s still a bit meandering after giving up the fight game. Everything in his life at the top is gone including his wife. He’s just drifting. His life gets a complete shock with his younger brother dies in a work accident. Hayato wants to get revenge for his brother. In a bit of a twist, he decides to train Tenma (The Boss’s Boss‘ Kentarô Shimizu), the man who caused the accident to be a boxer. The real problem is Tenma has an issue with his foot. Hayato believes he can get around this injury. Like all boxing movies there is a training montage although with a few odd routines. Hayato repeatedly hits Tenma in the stomach with a tire swing. Guess that gets you ready for a good pounding in the ring. Can Tenma really win the big tournament? Can Hayato hold it together to give him the right advice during the bouts.
This is not like any of the other boxing movies that came out during this era. In a sense, we’re seeing Rocky if it was all from the point of view of Mickey. And if Rocky had just killed Mickey’s brother while breaking his kneecaps while collecting for the loan shark. This is not a conventional fight flick. Part of that is because director Shûji Terayama wasn’t the usual genre director. He previous films included Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Pastoral: To Die In The Country and Throw Away Your Books, Rally In The Streets. Terayama allows Sugawara to get into the character and not just have him focused on the upcoming fights. The Boxer adds so much to the fight films of this era without being formulaic.
The Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer brings out the gritty life in the gyms and Hayato’s apartment. This is not a glamourous sporting career. The Audio is LPCM 1.0 Mono in Japanese. You’ll hear the body blows in the ring. The film is subtitled in English.
J.A. Seazer (18:29) has the composer talk about his long time collaborating with director Shuji Teayama. They met through an actress at the after party for a play. Shuji originally wanted him to act in one of his productions. In a strange twist, he got into music even though he hadn’t played before. He was able to create original scores for their productions.
The Year Toei Failed (12:21) has Tom Mes get into what went wrong for the studio in 1977. The studio had failures at the box office. Their Yakuza and grotesque films had played out by this time in the decade. What did the studio do to bring back audiences?
The Booklet has images from the film and an essay by Maria Roberta Novielli about the film.
Radiance Films present The Boxer: Limited Edition. Directed by Shûji Terayama. Screenplay by Shirô Ishimori, Rio Kishida and Shûji Terayama. Starring Bunta Sugawara, Kentarô Shimizu, Masumi Harukawa, Kôji Hio, Hiroko Isayama, Yuka Kamebuchi & Jūrō Kara. Running Time: 95 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: July 21, 2026.
