Japan Synopsis
前科おんな殺し節
Reiko Ike stars as the daughter of a man who has been pushed into drug dealing by the local Yakuza mob. Having outlived his usefulness to the gang he is murdered and Reiko is gang raped, leading her to attempt a knife attack on the Yakuza boss (Ryoji Hayama) at a swank nightclub. Failing to kill him she ends up in prison, where she befriends a crew of other malcontents (including Yumiko Katayama and Chiyoko Kazama) and meets the Yakuza boss's girlfriend (Miki Sugimoto). Upon release Reiko reassembles her mob and launches a Machiavellian scheme to engineer a gang war between Hayama's Oba Industries and the formerly dominant Hamayasu Clan. The rival gangs begin killing each other off and Reiko works her way closer to her ultimate vengeance.
The 1972–1974 Japan Window
69 Japan films released in this three-year window, ranked here by audience rating. Criminal Woman: Killing Melody sits at position #35.
#1Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
★ 8.5 · 1972
#2Great Mazinger
★ 8.1 · 1974
#3Mazinger Z
★ 7.9 · 1972
#4The Last Samurai
★ 7.8 · 1974
#5Lady Snowblood
★ 7.6 · 1973
#6Pastoral: To Die in the Country
★ 7.6 · 1974
#7Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
★ 7.5 · 1972
#8Under the Flag of the Rising Sun
★ 7.5 · 1972
Other Titles From Toei Company
The 1970s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year in the 1970s. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Criminal Woman: Killing Melody premiered. 197 total titles in this decade from Japan.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #3,032 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (34th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.3 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Action productions specifically: #1,191 of 1,714 (top 69%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Toei Company |
| Runtime | 1h 23m |
| Release Date | October 27, 1973 |
| IMDb | tt0451984 |