American Yakuza is a 1993 American crime film directed by Frank Cappello and starring Viggo Mortensen, Ryo Ishibashi, Michael Nouri, Franklyn Ajaye, Yuji Okumoto, Anzu Lawson, and Robert Forster. The screenplay by John Allen Nelson and Max Strom is based on a story by executive producer Takashige Ichise. American Yakuza was released in the United States on December 22, 1993.

Plot

American FBI agent David Brandt (Viggo Mortensen) is working undercover under the identity of Nick Davis, a former convict who died in solitary confinement, at a warehouse in Los Angeles that the Tendo crime family owns in order to infiltrate their operations. After Brandt saves the life of one of the family's leaders, Shuji Sawamoto (Ryo Ishibashi), Sawamoto welcomes him into the criminal organization. As part of his introduction, Sawamoto takes Brandt to witness the execution of Okazai (Fritz Mashimo), an alleged traitor, via woodchipper then stops the execution at the last minute. After Sawamoto and Brandt leave the scene, the man is shot by the remaining Yakuza members. For his first assignment, Brandt is tasked with overseeing a meeting between Sawamoto and Dino Campanela (Michael Nouri), who Sawamoto believes organized the assassination attempt. Campanela denies involvement in the attack, he orders his underlings, to wipe out the Tendo family. Later, Sawamoto invites Brandt over for a family meal; Brandt is crude and unfamiliar with Japanese customs, commenting on the dining arrangement by saying, "I thought you guys ate on the floor or something." Kazuo (Yuji Okumoto), one of Sawamoto's men, is immediately suspicious of Brandt, and comments on him being too tan for someone who allegedly spent the last year in solitary confinement. Brandt claims that he is a quarter Apache in response. Tensions reach a boiling point with Kazuo after Brandt refers to Sawamoto by a nickname, and Sawamoto has to intervene before the two get into a physical altercation.