Fukasaku's first independently produced film, this youth rebellion picture is remarkable for its steadfast refusal to either romanticize or condemn its characters, and for its sympathetic look at working-class youth without options, too poor for college and too depoliticized for revolution. Five rural outcasts, the sons of miners, fishermen, and prostitutes, gather in Tokyo, each sharing a desperate fantasy of success. As the years pass, only two manage to almost taste hope. Just as they begin to succeed, however, another friend escapes from jail. Half pathetic and all psychotic, target of a nationwide manhunt for killing a policeman, his presence forces the two to finally decide the true definitions of success, loyalty, and friendship. Using his typically energetic visual aesthetic, Fukasaku unveils his sympathies towards those passed over by postwar developments, as well as his anger at a society that coldly suffocates the promise of its young. (JS)