Encontré algo de info (en inglés). Es la última película de Junko Fuji antes de casarse y retirarse definitivamente de la industria cinematográfica y corresponde a la 5ª y última parte de la saga de "Kantoko" de Masahiro Makino. Hay unos cuantos actores que también aparecen en las series de "Red peony gambler" y no podría asegurarlo, pero es posible que haya alguna conexión entre ambas.
Si alguien sabe algo de las 4 pelis anteriores a ésta, [Kyokaku Retsuden (1968), Gorotsuki (1968), Nihon Yakuza-den: Socho e no michi (1971) y Kanto Hizakura Ikka (1972)], que deje las links por aquí.
"When Junko retired in 1972 to marry a kabuki actor as delicate as Junko was tough, she made a last film with her most famous co-star, Ken Takakura, which was her farewell to the genre. She was only twenty-six years old, but wanted to raise a family. It would also be veteran director Masahiro Makino's last film.
Historically Japanese firemen were heroic figures with tattooed backs & shoulders who risked their lives to keep fires from spreading & saving peoples' lives, powerful men who could rip wooden buildings apart in a hurry to create firebreaks.
Such men were lionized in block prints & hero-tales. And long before body tattoos were associated with gangsters & convicts, they were emblems of tough firemen.
Cherry Blossom Fire Gang (Junko intai kinen eiga: Kanto hizakura ikka, 1972) has also been shown under variant titles Red Cherry Gang of Kanto, Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang, & The Red Cherry Blossom Family.
This was the big farewell film for Junko Fuji as she sides with Kanto firefighters against troublesome yakuza.
This film was the last of the "Kantoko" series aka "Kyokotsu Ichidai" or "Chivalrous Life" films. They've been issued in a boxed set, inclusive of Kyokaku Retsuden (1968), Gorotsuki (1968), Nihon Yakuza-den: Socho e no michi (1971), & the here-reviewed Junko intai kinen eiga: Kanto Hizakura Ikka (1972), plus a sixth bonus disc of material from Masahiro Makino's symposium at the 1991 Yufuin Film Festival.
The fifth & last of these films provided to several actors who'd often co-starred with her in earlier films, notably Koji Tsuruta, Tomisaburo Wakayama, & Bunta Sugawara.
"Nihon Ken" or "The Japanese Ken" -- as Takakura was widely known because he embodied everything good about Japanese masculinity -- was the leading man most treasured as Junko's recurring comrade-sweetheart.
It is almost whimsical how, after the main part of the Taisho period story of Cherry Blossom Fire Gang was over, Ken's character was not dead or shipped away to prison &, in fact, he & bold heroine get married & leave the gambling world forever.
Junko Fuji looks straight out of the film into the theater audience to thank us for supporting her career & bids us a tearful farewell. A number of years later (beginning in 1989) she would come out of retirement mainly to work in television under her new stage name Sumiko Junko. Her first return role would cast her opposite, who else, Ken Takakura."
