Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967)

Hanada, who has a fetish in the smell of boiling rice, is widely referred to as the No. 3 hit man in Japan. While most of the others in the top five are known, the identity of No. 1 remains a mystery, some who believe he solely a legend that does not really exist. As a favor to Kasuga, a former associate who has fallen out of favor with the yakuza, Hanada agrees to assist him in a job commissioned by Yabuhara, a yakuza head, to act as bodyguards to ensure a client gets safely to a destination. Out of that job, Hanada meets a beautiful young woman named Misako, to who he becomes infatuated despite having a satisfying sexual life with his wife Mami, Misako who makes a dangerous request and who seems to have a death wish of her own, and is asked by Yabuhara to do a series of four associated hits. One of those hits goes wrong, which leads to Hanada knowing that his life as No. 3 is not only in jeopardy but his life in its entirety as such an error is not tolerated by the yakuza. In a kill or be killed scenario, Hanada is in a fight for his life, especially difficult as he doesn't know who specifically has been commissioned to kill him. In his position as No. 3, it may only be the mysterious No. 1 that can get the job done.