I've long felt that the world outside Japan, with exceptions, didn't fully understand the greatness of Ken Takakura, who died on Nov. 10 at age 83 from malignant lymphoma. Unlike Toshiro Mifune, who made the leap to global stardom on the strength of his appearances in a handful of Akira Kurosawa classics, Takakura remained largely a domestic phenomenon, despite starring in dozens of hugely popular yakuza action films for Toei and appearing in the occasional Hollywood film.
American scriptwriter Leonard Schrader tried to raise Takakura's international profile with his script for "The Yakuza" (1974). Directed by Sydney Pollack and co-starring Takakura and Robert Mitchum, this genre homage unfortunately arrived when yakuza films were past their peak and Takakura had tired of playing stoic gangsters who embodied traditional (if mostly fictional) yakuza virtues, while wielding a deadly swift sword.
No wonder, since he had soldiered through essentially the same role in film after film, series after series — the straight-arrow outlaw or wanderer, staunchly loyal to those he feels obligated to. Though seemingly naive compared with the conniving and sneering types around him, this character becomes a coolly efficient fighter and killer. The Takakura hero was a man among strong, silent Japanese men, as well as an outsider who took on corrupt gangland powers with a blithe fearlessness that inspired 1960s Japanese students in their own battles with authority. At the same time, he exuded an unforced sincerity and shy charm, which could inspire friendship and love, though, by the last reel he had usually left his woman of the moment — a stoic to the end.