Around 1976, Toei Studios showed the money to two of its star directors, Kinji Fukasaku and Sadao Nakajima, to direct their own versions of vehicular mayhem action features, both starring one of their key leading men Tsunehiko Watase. Nakajima’s effort was released in May, 1976 in the form of the stylish “A Savage Beast Goes Mad”, but it was Fukasaku’s output that came earlier, with “Violent Panic: The Big Crash” hitting theatres in February, 1976.
Bank robbers Yamanaka Takashi and Seki Mitsuo have been plaguing Japan, doing smash-and-grab jobs in banks across the country. The young and rebellious Midorikawa Michi, who Takashi has a soft spot for, keeps throwing a spanner in his plans but Takashi is determined to pull one last big job and retire to Brazil with the loot. The two robbers finalise on Kobe as that job, but when Mitsuo is killed while fleeing from the scene after stealing a large stash of cash, Takashi is left with not just the police on his trail, including the flirty officer Hatano and his very capable superior Nitta, but also Mitsuo’s elder brother, who wants the money that was his deceased brother’s, while also having to get Michi out of the trouble she often finds herself in.
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Violent Panic: The Big Crash is available from Film Movement
