PROOF OF THE MAN

NINGEN NO SHOMEI (PROOF OF THE MAN)

Japan/USA 1977

Directed by Junya Sato

Yusaku Matsuda
George Kennedy
Toshiro Mifune
Mariko Okada

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime. The film had a brief run in the Japanese art houses back then, and never got a good U.S. booking for a big film from Japan in 1977. There is two version of the film, one is a Japanese print which runs more than 130 minutes, and a U.S. version, which was re-dubbed and addition scenes was added, and some Japanese scenes were cut out (Making Toshiro Mifune only appear once). The US version never got any theatrical booking as it came out on video in a small label in 1985.

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The film is about a Black man (played by singer Joe Yamanaka) murdered in Japan, and a cop (the late Yusaku Matsuda, star of Paramount film BLACK RAIN) is on the case to solve the mystery. He later goes to America to team up with George Kennedy, who later Yusaku realized is the man that killed his father in WW2 days. Many American actors like Broadrick Crawford, Theresa Merritt, Rick Jason and William Sanderson are featured in supporting parts. There is lots of well acted scenes, car chase in New York, and the film is like a big puzzle slowly being put together. The title song Mama Do You Remember was sung by Joe Yamanaka.