"VIOLENT STREETS is a lean and mean yakuza exploitation picture that plays with a lot of genre tropes – e.g., rival groups, old ways versus young guns, etc. – all capped off by a deeply fatalistic streak. Gosha bookends the film with two key shots of barking, caged dogs. In this particular underworld, the players have room to be wild within their confines – snarling or even biting at those foolish enough to come close – but they’re never totally free. Whether imprisoned or not, the crime life is a trap.

To this point, the director, working in tandem with cinematographer Yoshikazu Yamasawa (THE GOLDEN BAT, DELINQUENT BOSS) and fight choreographer, Takashi Hio (FEMALE PRISONER 701: SCORPION, JAILHOUSE 41), also stages two key battles inside a cramped chicken shack. Neither scene would likely qualify as some technical marvel, but cinematic as they may be, I daresay these fights look like real fights! Instead of glossing up the energy of his various brawls with a fuzzed out funk track typical of Toei’s other 1970s output, Gosha makes the choice to leave the “natural” sounds of the struggle and the environment on their own. They’re bloody, tense as hell, and clumsy in the best way possible." 

-deathraydive.com

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