The Militarists (激動の昭和史 軍閥) 53 years old

The Militarists

This tremendous blockbuster hit from 1970, showing the rise to power of Tojo Hideki, is perhaps the most important film to come out of Japan since the 7 Samurai! Interspersed with actual footage dating back to the 1930’s and throughout the Great Pacific War it shows in exciting detail the early successes and ultimate failure of the Japanese war machine. Never before has there been a chronicle of this magnitude about the war in the Pacific Theater of Operations, rivaling Saving Private Ryan with its intense battle scenes. With a brilliant cast featuring Kobayashi Keiju as Tojo, Yamamura So as former Prime Minister Yonai, Mifune Toshiro as Admiral Yamamoto, and Kayama Yuzo as an intrepid newspaper reporter whose articles detailing Japanese losing battles infuriates Tojo to the point of putting his life in danger! The final hour of this film features some of the most disturbing aspects of how the Japanese fought to save their nation and their honor!

Credits

The Militarists Cast

Name Character
So Yamamura He was 61, 90 years old when he died as Mitsumasa Yonai
Tatsuya Mihashi He was 47, 80 years old when he died as Takijiro Onishi
Keiju Kobayashi He was 47, 86 years old when he died as Premier Hideki Tojo
Toshiro Mifune He was 50, 77 years old when he died as Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto
Yūzō Kayama He was 34, now 87 years old as Goro Arai
Toshio Kurosawa He was 27, now 80 years old as Kamikaze pilot

The Militarists Crew

Name Department
Hiromichi Horikawa as Director. He was 53 (95) years old when He died Directing
The Militarists poster
The Militarists (53 years)

  • Release day: Friday, September 11, 1970
  • Runtime: 134 minutes