Movies like The Yakuza Code Still Lives (1976)
The best movies like The Yakuza Code Still Lives (1976) are Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973), The Yakuza (1974) and Sympathy for the Underdog (1971). If The Yakuza Code Still Lives hooked you with its drama and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDrunken Angel (1948)7.6/10 from 325 votes
- NewestBad City (2022)Released 2022
- In JapaneseBattles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)Also in Japanese
Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Yakuza (1974)
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSympathy for the Underdog (1971)
A yakuza gang gets driven out of Yokohama by a big gang from Tokyo. They relocate to Okinawa to violently start over.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Outsider (2018)
A former American G.I. joins a yakuza family after his release from prison in post-World War II Osaka.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBattles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode (1974)
While Hirono is in prison, his rival Takeda turns his own crime organization into a political party, whose two executives stir up new tensions in their thirst for power.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGonin (1995)
Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blood of Wolves (2018)
Set in 1988 in Hiroshima, Japan, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. A rumor exists that Detective Shogo Ogami has ties with the yakuza. He is partnered with Detective Shuichi Hioka and they investigate a missing person case involving a financial company employee. Conflicts between opposing yakuza groups become more serious.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFemale Yakuza Tale (1973)
Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOutrage Coda (2017)
Five years after the all-out war between the Sanno and Hanabishi crime families, former yakuza boss Otomo works in South Korea for Mr. Chang, a noted fixer. When tensions rise between Chang and the Hanabishi, and Chang's life is endangered, Otomo returns to Japan to settle things once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOutrage (2010)
When a tough yakuza gangster is betrayed by his bosses, it means all out war. Bodies pile up as he takes out everyone in his way to the top in a brutal quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGraveyard of Honor (2002)
A barkeeper saves a yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However, his fear of nothing soon causes problems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisViolent Saturday (1955)
Three men case a small town very carefully, with plans to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday, which turns violent and deadly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKids Return (1996)
Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad City (2022)
Kensuke Sonomura directs the legendary Hitoshi Ozawa in this ultimate V-Cinema actioner. Kaiko City is plagued with poverty and crime. When a corrupt businessman decides to run for mayor and starts eliminating opponents from the rival mafia, a former police captain serving time for murder is secretly released and put in charge of a special task force to arrest him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Drifter (1966)
After yakuza boss Kurata dissolves his own criminal empire, a rival kingpin offers a position to Kurata's top operative, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo. When the fiercely loyal Tetsu declines, Otsuka taps unstoppable Tatsuzo the "Viper", a ruthless gun-for-hire, to assassinate him. As the Viper trails his target through the countryside, the agile Phoenix Tetsu grows concerned that one of his former associates has betrayed him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYouth of the Beast (1963)
When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStreet Mobster (1972)
After serving time, a defiant street thug is incensed to find his town overrun by two yakuza factions. He gathers his crew and takes them on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBranded to Kill (1967)
After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChameleon (TBA)
In early 2000's in Sapporo, Japan. Filipino transgender dancer Marie becomes entangled with the dangerous underbelly of the criminal world after an immigration raid pulls her into the orbit of the deadly Yakuza.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Postman Blues (1997)
Sawaki is a postman who's not quite thrilled about his boring way of life. But his life is about to change when he delivers mail to his old schoolmate Noguchi, who's now a member of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, and just finished cutting his little finger off.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeadly Outlaw: Rekka (2002)
After Kunisada's Yakuza leader and father figure is brutally murdered, he and his best friend go on a two-man mission to avenge his death, killing other Yakuza leaders leading to a final confrontation by the old man's killers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Fudoh: The New Generation (1996)
In order to settle a business dispute, a mob leader murders one of his own teenage sons. The surviving son vows to avenge his brother's death, and organizes his own gang of teenage killers to destroy his father's organization.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlues Harp (1998)
Ambitious Yakuza Kenji befriends harmonica-playing bartender Chuji, who moonlights as a part-time drug-dealer for the opposing gang. Their friendship is threatened by Kenji's plans for advancement, as well as by his bodyguards' growing jealousy of Chuji.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Rainy Dog (1997)
A Japanese assassin stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShinjuku Triad Society (1995)
Tatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man in White (2003)
After his father figure - a yakuza boss, is murdered, Azusa Moribe goes on a killing spree to exact revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Semi: Nakanai Semi (2003)
A taxi driver becomes involved in the world of the mafia & their wars.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Drunken Angel (1948)
In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Yakuza Code Still Lives?
The closest matches to The Yakuza Code Still Lives are Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973), The Yakuza (1974) and Sympathy for the Underdog (1971). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Yakuza Code Still Lives?
Start with Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973), the closest match to The Yakuza Code Still Lives.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Yakuza Code Still Lives?
Drunken Angel (1948), rated 7.6/10 by 325 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Yakuza Code Still Lives?
Bad City (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Yakuza Code Still Lives?
Yes: Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973), Sympathy for the Underdog (1971) and Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973).
How are movies similar to The Yakuza Code Still Lives chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Yakuza Code Still Lives, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.