A standout yakuza film directed by a master of the genre in Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honour and Humanity), Wolves, Pigs and Men is an uncompromising treatise on brutality and brotherhood starring Rentaro Mikuni (Harakiri), Kinya Kitaoji (Battles Without Honour and Humanity: Final Episode) and the inimitable Ken Takakura (Abashiri Prison).

Kuroki (Mikuni), Jiro (Takakura) and Sabu (Kitaoji) are three brothers born into poverty. Kuroki, the eldest, finds an escape from his squalid beginnings by turning to organised crime – and soon both Jiro and Sabu have followed him into the yakuza lifestyle. But none of the brothers see eye to eye, each of them showing more loyalty to their criminal comrades than to their siblings. Following a stint in prison, Jiro convinces Sabu to help him pull off a potentially lucrative heist, leading to a series of betrayals and horrifically violent acts that will test the bonds of blood to their breaking point.

Blending the staple themes of the Japanese gangster film with narrative and aesthetic qualities borrowed from the French New Wave and American film noir, Wolves, Pigs and Men stands as one of the finest yakuza movies of the 1960s. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present the film in its UK debut, on Blu-ray from a new restoration of the original film elements by Toei.