Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! is a 1963 film from Japan directed by Seijun Suzuki.
Two rival yakuza gangs are smuggling guns out of an American army base when they are waylaid by a third gang. A big shootout ensues with the third gang getting away with the truck full of guns, but one of their member, a gangster named Koichi, being arrested.
Both of the two rival gangs, the Sakura and Otsuki, decide to kill Koichi before he can turn informant. Captain Kumagai of the police is approached by a private detective named Tajima (Jo Shishido, Japanese action movie star) with a proposal. If the police try and free Koichi in the regular way he'll certainly be killed, and in fact the rival gangs are quite obviously waiting outside police headquarters to kill him. But if Kumagai will let Tajima take Koichi away by himself, he'll return Koichi to his gang, infiltrate said gang, and take them all down.
Capt. Kumagai agrees, apparently because Tajima is just better than any of his men and also because all of his men are known to the yakuza. So Tajima is given a fake ID under the name of convict "Ichiro Tanaka", and he delivers Koichi to the third gang and asks for a job. They agree, but gang leader Hatano still doesn't trust him. There's also the complicating factor of Hatano's moll Chiaki, who falls for "Tanaka".
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Religion: A Catholic priest with a son? Is the idea that Father Tanaka became a priest late in life?
- Chalk Outline: News coverage of the shootout that opens the film shows a chalk outline where one body fell next to the burning car.
- The Chanteuse: Tajima's ex-girlfriend Sally sings and dances in a nightclub. This sets up an Oh, Crap! moment for Tajima when he and the Hatano gang go to that very nightclub and he has to stop her from revealing his true identity.
- The Chessmaster: Tajima, who plays the three yakuza gangs against each other. At the end he calls both of the other two gangs to the warehouse, arranging for them to arrive just before the police raid, so the three-way shootout becomes a four-way shootout and ends with all the yakuza being arrested.
- Clothing Damage: Koichi and his girlfriend have this kinky role play thing where he comes in and accuses her of infidelity and throws her around a bit. The first time they do it he rips off her negligee revealing her bra.
- Confessional: Tajima's cover story has his father being a Catholic priest. This enables him to go to the church, with Hatano tagging along, and meet Capt. Kumagai in the confessional booth to pass on info. (It backfires when Hatano's gang snaps a photo of Kumagai in his priest's robes and ID him as a cop, revealing that "Tanaka" is a spy.)
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: The news mentions it's Christmas, and later Sally's nightclub is shown with a "Merry Xmas" sign and a big tree. This has no relevance to the story at all.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: Yoshihama dramatically cocks his gun while lying in wait for Tajima and Koichi.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: The two gangs have stopped to load up guns when the Hatano gang come barreling through in a hijacked Pepsi truck, guns blazing. One gang's car catches some bullets and bursts into flame, and the burning car forms a background for the opening credits.
- Glasses Pull: Tajima brings Koichi back to the Hatano gang, only for Hatano himself to club Tajima on the back of the head with a gun. When Koichi asks why, Hatano pulls his sunglasses off, apparently only to look badass.
- Hand Gag: When Tajima is escaping at one point he runs into Chiaki and slaps a hand over mouth to prevent her from screaming and giving them both away to the gang.
- The Infiltration: A private detective with more of a crusader tendency than most detectives infiltrates a yakuza gang.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Amazingly, Chiaki reveals that despite being a gangster's moll she is also a virgin. Hatano is impotent.
- Love Triangle: Between Tajima, his sexy ex-girlfriend Sally, and lovely young Chiaki—but Sally is obviously a Romantic False Lead.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: The last shot, after Tajima has pulled off an operation that ends with all three gangs getting arrested, is him and Chiaki driving away into city traffic, off for a romantic getaway.
- Satellite Character: There's a woman reporter named Yoshiko, who is loosely affiliated with Tajima and his office and who really wants him to get her blackmail material. She provides some comic relief but doesn't really affect the story at all.
- Sexophone: Heard on the soundtrack when Koichi comes to his girlfriend's house to do some bonking.
- Spiteful Spit: After Tajima sneaks Koichi out of the trap, Koichi spits in Tajima's face because he assumes that Tajima is there to kill him. Tajima takes it in good humor, because he needs to bring Koichi back to the Hatano gang alive.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: Where Sally the scantily clad showgirl stuffs the money that Tajima gives her at the nightclub.
- Visual Title Drop: "Detective Bureau 2-3" is on the glass of the door to Tajima's office. (The second part of the title is completely random.)
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Well, sure, Hatano could just shoot Tajima, sure. But instead, why not just trap him in the garage's basement, dump a bunch of fuel oil, and then light it, so Tajima and Chiaki die slowly of smoke inhalation? Naturally, Tajima escapes by managing to shoot a hole in the ceiling above and throw his tape recorder out on the street to alert the cops. (This is even dumber because as he's setting the light Hatano exposes himself to Tajima, who shoots and kills him.)
- Would Hit a Girl:
- Tajima puts a Hand Gag over Chiaki to stop her from screaming and revealing them both to the gang. He takes his hand off, she slaps him—and he slaps her right back, saying he didn't deserve to get slapped.
- When they both wind up in the garage basement lair, Chiaki says that he must suspect her of betraying him. So he punches her in the stomach and says that now she can't.
- Yakuza: Tajima infiltrates a yakuza gang which is trying to muscle in to two other gangs. He winds up calling the other two gangs in to the warehouse at the end just so that all of them can get arrested, just because he hates the yakuza.
