In the 1930s, under Japanese occupation, Kim Doo-han wins a fight against a Japanese student while working at a theater in Jongno. He becomes a local hero. As Korean gang power grows in the Jongno business area, Hayashi the Japanese yakuza seeks to seize power over the area and orders Kim Dong-hoe to get rid of Kim Doo-han. Im was a prominent name in low-budget B-class action films in the 1960s, and he returned to the genre 20 years later with this controversial work. The General’s Son, unlike the ’60s films full of rampant violence and tragic beauty, is tranquil, upright, and beautiful. Even in the breathless fight scenes, moments of silence often emerge, delivering a soft rhythm that sings out like a ballad.