Above, a striking poster for 1971’s Furyô shôjô Mako, aka Bad Girl Mako, starring Junko Natsu. We really like the design on this. The movie has the distinction of being Nikkatsu Studios’ last production before shifting into pinku-inspired roman porno, a seventeen-year period during which it almost exclusively made high budget sexploitation films. Junko Natsu, pictured on the poster, started her career in 1967 with Violated Angels and acted in more than forty movies and many television shows. We haven’t actually seen this movie yet, but if we do we’ll be sure to get back to you about it. 

Update: and here you go.

Poster for Makoto Naitô’s actioner Furyo bancho totsugeki! Ichiban, aka Wolves of the City: First To Fight. It premiered in Japan today in 1971. See another poster in the Furyo Bancho series here.

Above are nine vintage Japanese pinku posters from our large collection, for films featuring that scourge of evil men everywhere—Reiko Ike. These are circa 1971 to 1974, and they are, top to bottom, 1: Sukeban burûsu: Mesubachi no gyakushû, aka Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Counterattack; 2 & 3: Sukeban: Taiman shobu, aka, Girl Boss: Mano a Mano; 4: Kuroi mehyô M, aka Black Panther Bitch M; 5 & 6: Kyofu joshikôkô: Furyo monzetsu guruupu, aka Terrifying Girls' High School: Delinquent Convulsion Group; 7: a rare and valuable round poster for Sukeban, aka Girl Boss Revenge; Sukeban; 8: Furyo bancho: Norainu kidotai, aka Wolves of the City: Alley Dog Commando.

A quick word about the last one: that is Reiko Ike on the poster, with a machine gun at lower right. We’ve seen this debated on a couple of websites, but there’s no debate—it’s her, beauty mark next to her mouth and all. Besides, her name is on the poster, left column, fifth line. We’ll have more Reiko Ike posters down the line (no, we haven’t run out yet), and we’ll upload promos from other pinku stars as well. To see our entire Reiko Ike collection, click here. Also, we still have some very provocative posters of pinku stars Miki Sugimoto, Naomi Tani, Meg Flower and others that have never appeared online before, as far as we know. We promise we will get those up soon-ish. 

Above you see a prized part of our collection—five vintage Bruce Lee promo posters produced in Hong Kong from 1971 to 1973. We still have probably ten more Lee posters, which we’ll get uploaded sometime in the near future. 

In terms of sheer popularity, Christina Lindberg and Reiko Ike are a pinku dream pairing, but unfortunately they only acted in one film together, 1973’s Furyô anego den: Inoshika Ochô aka Sex & Fury. The above promo shot from that film caught Lindberg with her eyes half closed, but it’s worth seeing even if it’s a bit of an oops moment. You can see two Sex & Fury posters here. 

Above, a never-before-seen-online poster for Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury, made for the DVD release around 1999 or 2000. Fist of Fury should not be confused with Fists of Fury. The latter was released in 1971 and was better known in the U.S. as The Big Boss, whereas Fist of Fury was known as The Chinese Connection as well as The Iron Hand, and its Mandarin title was Jing mo mun and its Cantonese title was Jing wu men. Got all that? Great. Fist of Fury premiered in Hong Kong today in 1972. 

Above, a poster for Furyô banchô yarazu buttakuri, aka Wolves of the City: Rip-Off Game, starring Tatsuo Umemiya, 1971.     

Any time you get Reiko Ike in a flick, vital fluids will stain the walls. Furyô anego den: Inoshika Ochô, aka Sex & Fury, falls into a category generally known as “pinky violence,” which was conceived and created by the movie studio Toei Company. Like yesterday’s Seijû gakuenaka, this film is a Norifumi Suzuki-conducted symphony of lesbian sex, shock-nudity and hyperviolent action.

Near the mid-point Suzuki treats us to a sequence in which the heroine is surprised in the bath by eight Yakuza, but leaps from the tub and fights them naked. The vicious sword battle spills from the bath chamber into a courtyard, all in wonderfully choreographed slow motion, with arterial spray jetting hither and yon like water from the Bellagio Fountain. It’s one of the most famous and daring sequences in cinema history, and was echoed by David Cronenberg in his recent thriller Eastern Promises.

You may notice that Reiko Ike is upstaged on the poster (and the black-bordered alternate version below) by a bare-breasted Christina Lindberg. Ms. Lindberg is a sexploitation queen who we’ll talk more about in the future. Furyô anego den: Inoshika Ochô premiered in Japan today in 1973.