Proof of the Man
Proof of the Man | |
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Directed by | Junya Sato |
Produced by | Haruki Kadokawa |
Starring | Yusaku Matsuda |
Release date |
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Country | Template:Film Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Proof of the Man (人間の証明, Ningen no shōmei) is a Japanese film from 1977 starring George Kennedy and Yusaku Matsuda and directed by Jun'ya Satō. It was produced by Haruki Kadokawa.
Plot
A young black man (Joe Yamanaka) from New York receives a sum of money. He buys new clothes and takes a flight to Japan. After he arrives, he is found fatally stabbed in a lift in a Tokyo hotel at the same time as a fashion show by designer Kyoko Yasugi (Mariko Okada) is being held. The police department, including Munesue (Yusaku Matsuda) and his partner (Hajime Hana), come to investigate. The only clue is the dying man's last words "straw hat". At the same time, a woman having an extramarital affair, Naomi (Bunjaku Han), is accidentally run over by Yasugi's son (Koichi Iwaki). He and his girlfriend dump her body in the sea, but drops his watch at the scene. He is haunted by his actions and confesses to Kyoko, who suggests he flees to New York with his girlfriend.
Munesue starts to suspect that Kyoko knows more than she is letting on. He travels to New York to find out more about the dead man. With the aid of an American detective, played by George Kennedy, who seems to be the same man who killed Munesue's father. Munesue finds that the young man is the son of a black American soldier and a Japanese woman. He also finds Yasugi's son, who deliberately provokes George Kennedy into shooting him dead. Munesue returns to Japan and begins to suspect Kyoko. He travels to a resort and discovers that Kyoko was a prostitute in the years after the war. Finally he has enough evidence and confronts Kyoko that the black man was her son, and she killed him to protect her reputation. Kyoko commits suicide. In America, George Kennedy goes looking for the black man's father and finds he is dead. Then George Kennedy is stabbed and dies.
Cast
- George Kennedy
- Yusaku Matsuda
- Mariko Okada
- Bunjaku Han
- Joe Yamanaka
- Janet Hatta
- Toshiro Mifune
- Robert Earl Jones
- Broderick Crawford
- Koichi Iwaki
- Hiroyuki Nagato
Music
The theme song with the line "Mama, do you remember" was a chart hit for Joe Yamanaka.