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.
Other Titles From Toei Company
Action + Crime in Japan
188 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Action and Crime genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Criminal Woman: Killing Melody itself).
The 1972–1974 Japan Window
Criminal Woman: Killing Melody holds position #35 of 69 Japan films in the 1972–1974 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1970s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1970s in Japan, 197 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Criminal Woman: Killing Melody premiered alongside 21 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 21 other Japan films in 1973.
The 404th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
13 audience reviews — more than 20% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 6th percentile among Japan films.
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 |