“The function of one strain of the pre-war Japanese period films dealing with loyalty and vengeance involving private grudges, themes prohibited by SCAP, was taken up for the most part by the Yakuza film. Nakahira's film noir treatment of the genre graces a fairly standard account of a young man looking for the killer of his adoptive father. Behind the depiction of typical heroes and villains is a sharp critique of the underworld influence on the waterfront and the organization of dock workers.”