Criminal Woman: Killing Melody (1973)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Best movie ever!

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This time Miki Sugimoto is the star and Reiko Ike takes the secondary lead female role. Sugimoto stars as Massayo, the daughter of a murdered alcholic/addict by powerful Yakuza boss, Obi(ôji Hayama), sent to prison when she attempts to kill him in a club. Ike is Maki, Obi's squeeze, in prison she meets Massayo and they become respected "adversaries." Massayo befriends other inmates and they partner up after serving their time, vowing to take down Obi's organization by causing a Yakuza war between him and another inferior gang, the Hamayasu clan who operate the docking port of the city. Massayo prostitutes herself to Americans exchanging sexual favors for artillery, concocting a weapons trade with old man boss Hamayasu's volatile son, Tetsu(Takeo Chii). Maki is back around Obi's arm and warns Massayo of clearing out of town, or else. The rest of the film shows how Massayo and her clever female clan rip apart the two Yakuza gangs by pitting them against each other, while also shedding some blood themselves in the process. And, you can better believe Maki and Massayo will have one more confrontational showdown when so much money and dope are at stake.Fans of pinku revenge crime flicks get their moneys's worth with CRIMINAL WOMAN:KILLING MELODY. As expected nudity and ultra-violence are in abundance with lots of gunfire and Yakuza gangsters blown to smithereens. It's always entertaining seeing a motley group of gorgeous females waging war with the Yakuza, using their brains and looks to gain an advantage. You get a rather mild torture sequence this time around as Massayo is rescued from a rather grim fate by Maki. Chii's bonkers Tetsu(..always with a large bottle of liquor, downing it before shooting at somebody or raising hell against Obi)is hilarious as are the instances where animated Yakuza gangsters are either lifted in the air by dynamite/grenades or shot to pieces by bullet-fire. We get not one but TWO hand-to-hand combats between Sugimoto and Ike(..the first in prison, testing each other's endurance, is a dandy)which it in itself is added incentive for pinku fans to check this flick out. Plenty of bare flesh between Ike and Sugimoto as well. It was nice seeing Sugimoto this time getting to star as the lady of vengeance and when she stares you down with death in her eyes..LOOK OUT! Nothing more dangerous than Sugimoto scorned! Ike may not have the lucrative role here, but she's still looking mighty fine. As expected, the pace is excellent(..the editing and camera work are first-rate)and action set pieces thrilling. And, as you'd expect, nearly everyone is dead by the end of the film.

A typical example of the early seventies action/crime exploitation subgenres that were booming simultaneously in America, Italy and Japan, Criminal Woman might be pinku by the numbers but the guarantees that involves are not to be scoffed at. Starting out as a WIP flick and slowly moving into revengesploitation territory as Reiko Ike fresh out of prison goes after the yakuza gang that murdered her father, the movie is fast-paced, entertaining and stylish as only pinkus know how to be. Memorable moments of violence include a torture scene, mild by today's standards but still a burnt nipple is a burnt nipple, and several highly energetic gunfights between rival yakuza gangs that recall the yakuza movies from the same time, red gun muzzles and all. Genre stalwarts Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto are both as good as we've come to expect, thankfully not refusing to shed their clothes when the opportunity arises, and duking it out catfight style twice before the end credits roll. Overall, this is a good enough pinku that genre fans will enjoy, if only because it fulfills the quotient of OTT violence and sleaze we expect from this kind of movie.

This Cormanesque exploitation flick from Atsushi Mihori is fast paced, stylishly directed, and never dull. Reiko Ike plays a woman who recruits her ex-cell mates to to take revenge on the yakuza thug, Oba (Ryoji Hayama), who killed her father. The women, a feisty, sexy bunch, go to great lengths to destabilize Hayama's organization before annihilating each member one by one. As was common in Toei programmers of the time, there is some torture and graphic nastiness, although this pic doesn't come close to the glorious excesses of "Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs". The gorgeous Miki Sugimoto, who plays the yakuza boss's main squeeze, acts in an unofficial capacity here to assist the angry women. A scene in which she pretends to torture Ike by stubbing cigarettes out on her breasts is a stand-out. Although disjointed in parts and contrived, it is a solid piece of female-centric entertainment.

They don't make them like this anymore. Shot in 1970's Japanese pulp action style but very well photographed for this type of, ahem, "trash". Could be a TV show from the era if it wasn't for the nudity and gore.The "heroine" is on a quest to revenge her "good-for-nothing" father, killed by a local yakuza. After a failed attempt she ends up in prison and meets her future gang of tough women. After she is released, the gang meets and starts their process of destroying the yakuza with strategy and tricks.Very much in the 1970's exploitation style, the film would feel at home on a double bill with a Pam Grier flick, a spaghetti western, a kung fu film or a Roger Corman women in prison movie. Unfortunately the story is just a little thread-bare with the yakuza too stupid and the coincidences too convenient. The film is quite enjoyable until the notorious chainsaw and nipple burning scene. That scene is actually not so bad since it was filmed in the 70's and psychopaths like Miike weren't making films yet. I shudder at what he would have done. The film just sort of looses it's moorings and gets silly. Fortunately the pacing stays brisk so it's still mostly fun to watch. One warning, there are some eye-searing 70's fashions. Yikes.