Tokyo Drifter is a sort of "meta-master piece". This 1966 Yakuza film combines all of the stereotypical Japanese gangster (and American Western) clichés into one action packed, over the top film. The whole movie is just one "big" scene after the next from the cabaret' brawl to the show down at the end in the marble head quarters of the rival Yakuza boss.
After the disbandment of the Kurata syndicate Tetsu is sought out by rival yakuza clan boss Otsuka. He attempts to enlist Tetsu into his gang but fails. Fearing that Tetsu will upset a real estate scam in the making Otsuka decides to have him eliminated. Sensing this Tetsu leaves Tokyo. Otsuka assigns his number one hitman, "Viper", to kill him. Tetsu evades Viper and his hit squad a number of times and arrives at the establishment of Umitani, an ally of boss Kurata. However, Kurata, coerced by Otsuka, has betrayed Tetsu and ordered Umitani to kill him. With help from one of Otsuka's men, "Shooting Star" Kenji, Tetsu is able to defeat Viper and escape. Tetsu then returns to Tokyo and confronts his former boss.
This film makes heavy use of the "white room" trick. This is where you paint a room completely white and place a gel over the lighting, making the entire room (overwhelmingly) whatever color you want it to be. The director made great use of this effect as almost every important location had its own "color", much like Hero's use of color for different stories.
The entire film was, visually, very bizarre. Each scene was lined up like a sort of comic book panel. Several times, in a fight, the viewer could see a bird's eye view of the action, but without any depth perception. For example: one scene, the hero (Tetsuya) and a nameless assassin are having a gun fight, taking cover behind two stone pillars across from each other. The camera was lined up completely horizontally with the floor and you could not tell who was taking cover and who was peeking out. It was beautiful.
The film's main theme was individualism: the main character is trying to get out of the Yakuza life and go clean. Everyone around him is supporting him, but at the same time using him to do their dirty work. He tries to just stay out of the fighting between the different gangs but is inevitably forced to do what they want him to do.
Perhaps this was a direct attack by the director to his studio: while making this film, his studio was trying to cut funding on him because they felt he was too surreal and "not mainstream enough for a Yakuza film maker". The pressure from the studio had the absolutely no effect on Suzuki's style and some would argue only gave him fuel for his surrealist flare. I can imagine his boss saying "we're trying to make a movie here, not a film!"
While Tokyo Drifter may be viewed as nothing but a B-movie Yakuza film, the same people would say Seven Samurai is nothing but a low budget samurai movie. Every single shot is perfect and filled with artistic ability, something no b-movie director would be doing.