The first entry in four-part Kenju Buraicho series, Nukiuchi no Ryu not only set the series pattern; its success solidified Akagi Keiichiro’s status as a first-rank Nikkatsu star. He plays Ryuji, a gunman who is quicker on the draw than his victims, but never kills them, nicking them instead. At the start of the film he gets help on a job from an unknown - and unwanted source - and finds himself with a dead target instead of a wounded one. Soon after he ends up drugged and in a hospital.
When he gets out, a mysterious gunman, Shishido Jo, takes him to an equally mysterious benefactor - a Chinese gang boss (Nishimura Akira) who has paid his hospital bill and wants to employ him, not for a specific job, but because he likes "first-class things." Against his will Ryuji is drawn back into the world of the gangs - and a dangerous drug deal.
Along the way he becomes acquainted with a fashion model, Midori (Asaoka Ruriko) who seems to know more than she should, but turns out to have more in common with him than he had imagined. Their friendship deepens into romance - but Akagi is not meant for ordinary happiness. Their parting has a pathos that raises Nukiuchi no Ryu above the usual genre run.
The film is also notable for the comic by-play between Shishido at his most eccentrically flippant and Akagi, who plays along, privately amused, while staying firmly in character. Instead of undermining the already barely credible story, these and other offbeat moments help place it the special dimension that is Nikkatsu Action.