Zubekô banchô: Zange no neuchi mo nai (1971) User Reviews

Another Enjoyable "Pinky" Entry...

[EVOL666 · 8/10 · 23 March 2006]

I seriously CAN NOT get enough of these films. As I've stated in other reviews of exploit films of this era - there is something hugely refreshing and satisfying about '70's exploitation cinema (whether it be from Japan or elsewhere), where a REAL focus on cinematography, sets, acting (in some cases...), and plot mixed beautifully with the sleaze, nudity, sex, and violence that exploit fans have come to expect. As the saying goes - they just don't make 'em like they used to...

DELINQUENT GIRL BOSS: WORTHLESS TO CONFESS is part of the recently released PINKY VIOLENCE COLLECTION, which is a "box-set" of 4 films which represent the typical "style" of 70's era Japanese exploitation cinema. Being that WORTHLESS TO CONFESS is one of the earlier examples of the Japanese "pinky violence" films - it is noticeably more "tame" in terms of sex and violence than some of the later examples, but there is still a good bit of sleaze mixed in with a VERY well done story. The plot of WORTHLESS is complex and interesting, and so as not to ruin any of the "suprises", I'll keep my synopsis as brief as possible:

Rika, Mari, Midori, Yuki, and Senmitsu, all went to the same reform-school. Rika was the last to get out, and when she does, starts looking up her old "sisters". Rika comes across Midori's father (who she had met previously) who takes her in, and gives her a job and a place to stay. It turns out that Midori and her father don't get along very well because Midori constantly steals from his business. This upsets Rika, because her and the other girls were orphans and don't know the joys of family life. Rika makes the rounds hooking up with her other reform-school friends and trying to generally keep an eye on them. When the local Yakuza boss hits Midori's pops up for money that Midori's scumbag boyfriend owes, Pop's dutifully pays up, which outrages Rika. Rika goes to try to "settle" the debt, and Midori (who had followed Rika to the Yakuza hide-out), driven by shame, also offers herself in trade. The Yakuza boss refuses the offer and tries to hit Midori's Pops up for more cash - Pops' "response" is a very cool and unexpected "twist" in the plot and sets the wheels in motion for some violent vengeance from all of the reform-school girls...

The plot of WORTLESS TO CONFESS is VERY well thought out in the way that it links all of the characters to one another. Definitely one of the more interesting and rewarding story lines to come from this type of film that I've ever seen. But of course - this is a pinky film so there's still some tits-n-ass and some well choreographed but not particularly "rough" violence. Again, being that this is one of the earlier pinky films, the sleazy sex and blood-sprays that were staples of the genre later on, are pretty light here. Even so, this is one of the better examples of an already great genre of films. Highly recommended to fans of any 70's pinky/samurai films, such as SEX AND FURY, FEMALE YAKUZA TALE, the FEMALE PRISONER/FEMALE CONVICT series, LADY SNOWBLOOD, etc...I don't think you'll be disappointed - 8.5/10

plenty of sexy action and stylish fighting

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 2 January 2006]

Seeing this after a few other 'Pinky Violence' movies of the time, this seems a little slow, rather complicated and more of a melodrama than an all out sex and violence thriller. It has it's good points, however, plus the inevitable grand finale. There is nothing particularly original here but Yamaguchi does cover a lot of ground, starting in a women's prison, following one of the girls into the outside world, introducing the yakuza and picking up stories of what turn out to be other inmates and finally bringing all the strands together as the girls sweep into street action in matching red trench coats, I have a feeling a second viewing will be less confusing and thereby more rewarding because there is plenty of sexy action and stylish fighting, especially the end game shot partly up through glass floor.

Worthless to confess

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 28 January 2022]

The fourth film in this series has a similar set-up to Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Girl Dreams, with Reiko Oshida's Rika getting out of reform school and working for the mechanic father of one of her classmates, who is of course being muscled in on by the Yakuza. Have they learned nothing from the other movies?

The end of this film, where the five female leads wear red overcoats and literally walk in high fashion to the mob boss' lair with the soundtrack blaring was taken and used by Assassination Nation, but trust me, this movie is a billion times cooler than that film can ever dream of being.

Obviously, reform school has only made Rika tougher, but also more concerned about her friends, her community and others, while the Yakuza only wants to take everything they can. That's why she's a hero, even if the world only sees her as a girl that needs tamed.

These films in no way get close to the excesses of this genre, but are certainly worthy of your time.

Not the best Pinky Violence flick

[The_Void · 6/10 · 8 September 2009]

This film was included in the Region 1 Pinky Violence Boxset, and unfortunately it has to be said that it's the worst of the set. Like many of this type of film, the plot is overly complicated and confusing; but unlike other genre films, the overall film is entertaining enough to adequately mask the plotting problems; and therefore the film is more of a boring mess than an entertaining one. That being said, Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess still has it's moments and is not a complete waste of time for fans of this type of film. The plot focuses on delinquent girls, and one in particular is Rika - she's fresh out of reform school and decides to track down the father of one of her friends from inside. She finds him and it turns out he runs a garage. He offers her a job and lodging, and being short on other options; she takes him up on the offer. However, the local Yakuza want a share in the garage and insist on getting it despite the owner's reluctance to agree. Naturally, it all ends in violence.

The film is not nearly as over the top as some other films in the genre and that's a shame as it gets boring too often. There's also not a great deal of skin featured - naturally there's no full frontal nudity, but oddly there isn't any naked breasts either. Luckily the film is decent enough on the style side of things and director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi provides some vibrant colours and there's a decent musical score also. Reiko Oshida takes the lead role in the film. She's not one of the big Pinky Violence stars, and I'm not too surprised at that as she doesn't have the same level of charisma as the likes of Miki Sugimoto and Reiko Ike. However, it's a good performance and she leads the film well. There's a handful of fight scenes but nothing really all that memorable up until the end. Suffice to say the film does end on a high with a good bloody battle, but the process of getting there isn't as exciting as I would have hoped. Still, while this isn't a great genre film; I'm sure that fans of Pinky Violence will get some sort of kick out of it.

Good fights; not so much nudity

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 4 January 2009]

This pinky violence film has less of the skin that one expects from the series. It does not mean it is not worth watching, as it has a good story and there is some excellent acting along with some silliness. It plays more like a soap opera with a little violence thrown in.

Five girls leave reform school at different times and their lives are intertwined again by Rika, who looks them up. One (Midori) is stealing from her father to finance her worthless boyfriends gambling; another (Mari) is poor and pregnant with an ill husband, who is also yakuza; and Rika is in the middle of it all, working for the one girl's father, who is being squeezed on the other end by the yakuza.

After the father revels he was a notorious gangster, who has retired, they pay off the ill husband to kill him.

All this leads to the finale as the five girls don identical outfits bent on revenge.

Great cinematography and good music.

More than just a genre film . . .

[division1656-1 · 10/10 · 8 December 2005]

Of the four films included in the "Pinky Violence" box set this is the most complicated, plot- wise, and the slowest moving. That said, it very well may be the best "film" of the four, as it offers more than just the kinetic sex and violence typical of the Sukeban genre. Certainly those elements exist (in abundance) but there appears to be more attention put in the buildup to the (inevitable) vengeance that crowns the film.

The basic story is that Reiko Oshida is a recent graduate of reform school. While incarcerated she met the father of one of her fellow students (Yuko Katayama), who was trying to visit his alienated daughter. He gives Reiko a small toy to pass on to her. Yuko, whose boyfriend is a Yakuza, refuses the gift from her father, angrily telling Reiko to keep it herself.

Upon her release, and not having anywhere else to go, Reiko tracks down Yuko's father (Junzaburo Ban) to return the toy. Ban is the owner of an auto repair shop, which the Yakuza are trying to take over. Yuko, it seems, has been using the family seal to pay off her boyfriends' gambling debts, making Ban libel for exorbitant amounts of money. Despite his financial state he offers Reiko a job and a place to live, effectively making her his surrogate daughter.

At this point the film becomes more complicated, as several sub-plots are introduced (all of which feed back into the main story). It seems that some of Reiko's former classmates are working at the Ginza Girls Cabaret, a hostess club that is also being shaken down by the same Yakuza gang. Another classmate (Yukie Kagawa) has been forced out of hostess business and is working at an "art" studio, doing nude modeling to try and support her tubercular, ex-Yakuza husband (Ichiro Nakatani), who has also been recently released from prison. And another classmate is working at a ramen shop near Reiko's auto-shop.

Out driving one day with the shop assistant, Reiko gets involved in a car accident with Tsunehiko Watase, who we later discover, is the younger brother of Yukie's boyfriend Ichiro (the ailing gangster). Reiko and Tsunehiko flirt by pretending to hate each other. Tsunehiko also has several angry confrontations with his brother, as he tries to convince him to leave the city and convalesce in the country, where the air is better and he will be free of his Yakuza masters, whom he has sacrificed his health to.

Eventually the girls are reunited and begin to work to get Yukie a job at the Cabaret so she can earn enough money to move get out of the city with her boyfriend. But the Yakuza are leaning on Ban more and more, as his daughters' debt spirals out of control. Deciding to take matters in her own hands, and believing that the Yakuza will negotiate with a woman, Reiko confronts Boss Ohya (Nobuo Kaneko) at his headquarters. The Yakuza mock her and force her to strip, with the obvious intention of raping her. Listening from the next room is Yuko, Ban's daughter and Reiko's nemesis from reform school, who tries to prevent the assault on Reiko. The Yakuza don't take kindly to this and tie up both girls, telephoning Yuko's father, telling him that they will exchange the girls for the deed to Ban's land. Ban agrees to the trade, but when he arrives it is revealed that he is actually the feared Yakuza assassin Tetsu the Razor, who has retired from the underworld and attempted to live a straight life. Now pushed beyond endurance he takes out his razor and the roomful of hard-ass gangsters cower from him.

Shortly after, Ichiro (the sick Yakuza boyfriend of Yukie) comes to ask Boss Ohya to release him from service so he can leave the city. Boss Ohya agrees, on the condition that Ichiro kill Ban. Ichiro, not knowing that Ban is the employer of his brother's paramour (Reiko) agrees and sets out to assassinate the old gangster. He finds him in an alley, and they fight, only to both be run down by a car driven by Boss Ohya's henchmen. Both are killed.

Finally, all the characters realize how they are connected and after an hour and fifteen minutes of slow burn the girls don red trench coats and pick up Samurai swords and, with the help of Tsunehiko, head out to take revenge on Boss Ohya and his gang, in a scene that undoubtedly influenced the bloody restaurant battle Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill". Despite taking some time to get there, the scene's payoff is huge, and more resonate because of the path taken.

Of the four films included in the box set this is the one that feels most thought-out. I've seen many contemporary directors try and weave together interlocking, simultaneous story lines which eventually converge, and fail miserably. Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi succeeds where other "serious" filmmakers have failed – when finally the whole story comes into the open it makes sense and does not feel forced or contrived. The revenge being sought at the end of the film is hot-blooded for some of the characters and cold-blooded for others. The film touches on such diverse themes as loyalty, family bonds, and sacrifice; making it more than just another genre "vendetta" movie.

Excellently done and possibly worth the price of the box set.

The weakest in the series

[Falconeer · 5/10 · 17 December 2006]

It seems that some might disagree with me, but i think 'Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless To Confess', while being an OK film, is the weakest entry in the phenomenal "Pinky Violence Box". After being knocked out by other entries such as 'Girl Boss Guerilla', and my personal favorite, Suzuki's 'Terrifying Girl's Highschool', I was expecting more of the same from this one. What brought down Delinquent Girl Boss for me was the over use of the dumb, slapstick comedy. Of course films like this need a bit of comic relief, or many might find the brutality a bit harder to take. There was simply too much of it here. And the presence of Reiko Ike and personal fav Miki Sugimoto was sorely missed, although Reiko Oshida, whose image graces the cover of the box set, is certainly gorgeous, in a Barbie doll sort of way. But she lacks the raw intensity of the others, as this film lacks the intensity of the other films. Another thing wrong with this one was the lack of violence and sex! I know that sex and violence does not necessarily equal good cinema, but for this genre, it is actually expected. For a 'pinky violence' film, there was very little violence, and even less 'pink', or skin. Of course 'Worthless To Confess' has it's shining moments, especially towards the end, when the gang dons their trench coats and exacts their revenge on the yakuza gang that did them wrong. But again, it just seemed more comical than powerful. However I cannot compliment the other films enough. 'Criminal Woman: Killing Melody' is probably the most well made film of them all, and might be Reiko Ike's best role. And the music cd of Reiko singing is dazzling as well. But 'Worthless To Confess' just didn't really stand out for me, unfortunately. I recommend this collection regardless.