Proof of the Man

Proof of the Man
Directed by	Junya Sato
Written by	Zenzo Matsuyama
Produced by	Haruki Kadokawa
Starring	Yusaku Matsuda
Release date	1977 (1977) (Japan)
Country	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 Junya Sato. 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 his mother, 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. There he is partnered with 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 - Shuftan
• Yusaku Matsuda - Munesue
• Mariko Okada - Kyoko Yasugi
• Bunjaku Han - Naomi (woman run over)
• Joe Yamanaka - Johnny Hayward
• Janet Hatta
• Toshiro Mifune - Yasugi's husband
• Robert Earl Jones - Willy Hayward, Johnny's father
• Broderick Crawford - Shuftan's superior in the police force
• Koichi Iwaki - Yasugi's son
• Hiroyuki Nagato - Naomi's husband
• Hajime Hana - partner
• Junzaburo Ban - onsen owner

Music

The theme song, entitled Ningen no Shomei no Tema, with the line "Mama, do you remember" was a chart hit for Joe Yamanaka, selling 517,000 copies, and reaching number 2 on the Oricon chart in Japan. It was also a hit in other Asian countries. In Chinese speaking countries the song is called Old Straw Hat, taken from lyrics in the song.

External links

• Proof of the Man at IMDb