Sympathy for the Underdog

Sympathy for the Underdog
Japanese release poster
Directed by	Kinji Fukasaku
Produced by	Koji Shundo Toru Yoshida
Written by	Kinji Fukasaku Fumio Konami Hirō Matsuda
Starring	Koji Tsuruta Noboru Ando
Music by	Takeo Yamashita
Cinematography	Hanjiro Nakazawa
Edited by	Osamu Tanaka
Distributed by	Toei
Release date	January 12, 1971
Running time	93 min
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Sympathy for the Underdog, known in Japan as Bakuto-Gaijin Butai (博徒外人部隊^?, "Outlaw Gambler-Foreign Legion"), is a 1971 Japanese yakuza film directed and co-written by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Koji Tsuruta and Noboru Ando. It is director Fukasaku's (Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Battle Royale) last film featuring Koji Tsuruta. Complex named it number 8 on their list of The 25 Best Yakuza Movies. Home Vision Entertainment released the movie on DVD in North America in 2005.

Gunji is a yakuza boss whose gang is driven out of Yokohama by a powerful rival from Tokyo. After serving ten years in prison, Gunji collects what is left of his loyal members in order to start over his small organization. However, after setting up their new operation in Okinawa, the large yakuza organization from Tokyo that was responsible for their previous downfall and Gunji's imprisonment, comes to the island in a grand procession to gain control of the territory. This leads to a bloody and cold confrontation that is the climax of the film.

Set and filmed in Okinawa, Sympathy for the Underdog has similarities to actual real-life events. It was not until several months after the film was released that America gave control of Okinawa back to the Japanese. But yakuza fled to the prefecture in the late 1960s in anticipation of the new business opportunities created once US forces withdrew. This ultimately led to the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest criminal organization in the country, leading a ten-year war in Okinawa against other gangs. However, this was only just starting when the film went into production.