He also directed the 1965 film Abashiri Prison, which helped to make Ken Takakura a major star in Japan.

[1] Referred to in Japan as "The King of Cult", Ishii had a much more prolific and eclectic career than was generally known in the West during his lifetime.

His film career was interrupted when he was sent to Manchuria during World War II to take aerial photographs for bombing runs.

[1] He also worked for director Hiroshi Shimizu and studied script writing with Shinichi Sekizawa, best known in the West for his entries in the Godzilla series.

The film has been called "sharp, witty and contagious" and "a lively portrait of the Tokyo underworld, populated by hookers, johns, crooks and cops and shot in cinéma-verité style.

Ishii returned to Toei in 1991 with the V-cinema film The Hit Man: Blood Smells Like Roses.

[2] In 1999 he made Jigoku: Japanese Hell, using the trial of Aum sect leader Shoko Asahara as the main inspiration for the plot.

[1] Largely unknown outside Japan during much of his career, late in life, Ishii's work was discovered and gained admirers in the West.

[3] In his later years, Ishii often spoke of a dream project, a gangster epic with Ken Takakura to be called Once Upon a Time in Japan.