''Back to Back'', also known as ''American Yakuza 2'', and ''Back to Back: American Yakuza 2'', is a 1996 American action film. It is directed by

Roger Nygard Roger Nygard (born March 28, 1962) is an American director, editor, producer, and author. As a director he has worked on ''Tales of the Unknown'' (1990), '' High Strung'' (1991), '' Back to Back'' (1996), ''Trekkies'' (1997), and '' Suckers'' (20 ...

and written by Nygard and Scott Nimerfro (who is credited under the name, Lloyd Keith). The film was produced by W.K. Border, Thomas Calabrese, Takashige Ichise, Aki Komine, Michael Leahy, and

Joel Soisson Joel Soisson is an American filmmaker. He works primarily in the field of independent film. His numerous credits include '' Dracula 2000'', '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge'', ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'', '' The Prophec ...

. It stars

Michael Rooker Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor who mainly plays roles of antagonists. He first rose to prominence for portraying the titular role in '' Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'' (1986), and is best known for starring as Mer ...

Ryo Ishibashi is a Japanese actor and lead singer of the Japanese rock band ARB. He is known around the world for his roles in the Japanese horror films '' Suicide Club'' and '' Audition.'' He is also recognized in America for his role as Nakagawa in '' Th ...

, and

Danielle Harris Danielle Harris (born June 1, 1977) is an American actress. She is known as a "scream queen" for her roles in multiple horror films, including four entries in the ''Halloween (franchise), Halloween'' franchise: ''Halloween 4: The Return of Micha ...

. It is a sequel to the 1993 film, ''

American Yakuza ''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 S ...

''.

Plot

An explosive situation erupts when a mob war thrusts a yakuza, an ex-cop, and his adolescent daughter into a deadly,

no-win situation A no-win situation or lose–lose situation is an outcome of a negotiation, conflict or challenging circumstance in which all parties are worse off. It is an alternative to a win–win or outcome in which one party wins. Arbitration or media ...

. Booted in disgrace from the L.A. police force Bob Malone suffers a seemingly endless unlucky streak. Matters don't improve when a robbery led by a crazed criminal transpires at the bank where Malone is filling out foreclosure papers. Witnessing the crime, something inside Malone snaps and he single-handedly wipes out most of the robber gang. Unfortunately, the ringleader escapes and Malone ends up jailed by his corrupt former colleague Lt. Tony Dussecq. At the same time, two Japanese yakuza arrive in L.A. to deliver a special message to L.A.'s most prominent Mafia don. The yakuza are in a restaurant when the bank robber (wearing a vest covered with explosives) bursts in and threatens to blow the place up. One of the Japanese, Koji, intervenes in an explosive sequence. He too ends up at the police station just as Malone's feisty teen daughter Chelsea arrives with bail money. The yakuza suddenly escapes, taking Chelsea and Malone with him as hostages. Now pursued by the crooked coppers and the mob, the unlikely threesome have no choice but to team up to survive.

Cast

as Bob Malone *

as Koji *

as Chelsea Malone * John Laughlin as Lieutenant Tony Dussecq * Koh Takasugi as Hideo *

Bobcat Goldthwait Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter. He is known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched ...

as The Psycho *

Vincent Schiavelli Vincent Andrew Schiavelli (; November 11, 1948 – December 26, 2005) was an American character actor noted for his work on stage, screen, and television. Described as an "instantly recognizable sad-faced actor", he was diagnosed with Marfan sy ...

as Leonardo *

Stephen Furst Stephen Furst (born Stephen Nelson Feuerstein; May 8, 1954 – June 16, 2017) was an American actor, director and producer. After gaining attention with his featured role as Kent "Flounder" Dorfman in the comedy film '' National Lampoon's A ...

as Jimmy *

Tim Thomerson Joseph Timothy Thomerson (born April 8, 1946) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Jack Deth in the '' Trancers'' film series, his work in numerous low-budget features, and his comedic television roles. He appear ...

as Thomas *

Fred Willard Frederick Charles Willard Jr. (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984), ''Waiting for Guffman'' (1996), ''Be ...

as a Loan Officer * Frank D'Amico as DeLorenzo *

Leland Orser Leland Jones Orser (born August 6, 1960) is an American actor, director and writer. He has appeared in numerous film and television roles since his debut in 1991, notably as Lucien Dubenko on the television series '' ER'' (2004–09), Father Rome ...

as The Wheelchair Guy *

Jake Johannsen Jake Johannsen (born July 28, 1960) is an American comedian, writer, and actor. Early life Johannsen attended Iowa State University in the early 1980s, originally majoring in veterinary medicine, and then later changing to chemical engineering. H ...

as Officer Jones * Yasushi "Bert" Kojima as Joe "Snapper" * Michael "Wheels" Parise as Eddie "Little Eddie" *

Nick Dimitri Nick Dimitri (born Nicholas Siggelakis) (December 27, 1932 – October 20, 2021) was an American stuntman and actor best known as Charles Bronson's character's opponent in the climax of '' Hard Times'' (1975). In addition to fisticuffs, his spe ...

as Vince * Michael Caradonna as Chad * Steve Peri as Elvis * Peter Mele as Lafayette *

Bob Delegall Robert W. "Bob" Delegall (July 24, 1945 – March 21, 2006) was an American actor, television director and producer. He has guest starred in number of notable television series namely ''Adam-12'', ''Good Times'', ''The Six Million Dollar Man'', ...

as Sergeant Donahue *

Scott Leva Scott Leva is a Academy Award-winning stuntman and stunt coordinator who entered stuntwork in the 1970s. Biography Spider-Man In 1985, Scott was tapped by Cannon Films & Joseph Zito (who was the 2nd director to replace Tobe Hooper as being th ...

as Officer Williams * Jon Ross as Officer Tucker * Steve Akahoshi as Officer Yamaoka * Ron MacLachlan as Officer Ross * Randall Huber as Officer Bryant * Christy Harrell as Joe Snappers Girl #1 * Dawn Morgan as Joe Snappers Girl #2 * Peggy Vesperman as Joe Snappers Girl #3 * Michael Ray Miller as Deviant * John P. McGarr as Goon

Release

The film premiered at the

Oldenburg International Film Festival The Oldenburg International Film Festival, sometimes called the ''European Sundance'', has covered the international film scene in all aspects since 1994. It is held in Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg, Germany. History Films such as Park Chan-wook� ...

on August 29, 1996. It was first shown in the United States on the premium cable television network,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on October 25, 1996.

Home media

It was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

on July 14, 1998 through BMG video label. It was also released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

through

Fox Lorber Genius Products (formerly known as Genius Entertainment) was a home entertainment company based in Santa Monica, California, United States. The ''Baby Genius'' line was one of a number of "smart toys" that came out in response to a study book ab ...

on July 5, 2000. It was released on DVD by Medusa on October 7, 2002 under the title, ''American Yakuza 2''. On July 28, 2003 Prism Leisure released the film on DVD also under the title, ''American Yakuza 2''.

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, 1074071-back_to_back, Back to Back 1996 films 1990s English-language films American sequel films American crime action films Films directed by Roger Nygard 1990s American films Japan in non-Japanese culture Yakuza films