is a Japanese film from 1977 directed by

Junya Satō was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His son is a fellow film director . Career Born in Tokyo, Satō graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1956 with a degree in French literature. He joined the Toei Company, Toei studio and worked ...

, starring

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academ ...

and Yūsaku Matsuda. It is an adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name by

Seiichi Morimura is a Japanese novelist and author, born in Kumagaya. He is best known for the controversial ' (悪魔の飽食) (1981), which revealed the atrocities committed by Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). ...

. It was produced by Haruki Kadokawa.

Plot

A young black man from New York named Johnny Hayward ( Joe Yamanaka) receives a sum of money. He buys new clothes and takes a flight to Japan. After he arrives, he is found fatally stabbed in an elevator in a Tokyo hotel at the same time as a fashion show by designer Kyōko Yasugi (

Mariko Okada is a Japanese stage and film actress who starred in films of directors Mikio Naruse, Yasujirō Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita and others. She was married to film director Yoshishige Yoshida. Biography Okada was born the daughter of silent film actor ...

) is being held. The police department, including Munesue ( Yūsaku Matsuda) and his partner (

Hajime Hana was a Japanese actor. He was the leader of the comic jazz band The Crazy Cats, which featured such talent as Hitoshi Ueki and Kei Tani, and which starred in a series of film comedies (such as the "Irresponsible" (Musekinin) series at Toho) and in ...

), 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 (Chinese: Fàn Wénquè) was a Japanese-speaking Taiwanese actress who lived and worked in Japan. Career She was mostly known as a character actress. She became famous playing an unfortunate half-Japanese, half African-American volleyball play ...

), is accidentally run over by Yasugi's son (

Kōichi Iwaki is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 8th Yokohama Film Festival for the 1986 film '' Minami e Hashire, Umi no Michi o''. He was a Zainichi Korean until April 5, 2017, when he naturalized. Iwaki is also a racing car driver. ...

). 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, Kyōko, who suggests he flee to New York with his girlfriend. Munesue starts to suspect that Kyōko 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 American detective Ken Shuftan (played by

), 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 Shuftan into shooting him dead. Munesue returns to Japan and begins to suspect Kyōko. He travels to a resort and discovers that Kyōko was a prostitute in the years after the war. Finally he has enough evidence and confronts Kyōko that Johnny was her mixed-race son, and she killed him to protect her reputation. Kyōko commits suicide. In America, Shuftan goes looking for the Johnny's father and finds he is dead. Then Shuftan is stabbed and dies.

Cast

- Shuftan * Yūsaku Matsuda - Munesue *

- Kyōko Yasugi *

- Naomi (woman run over) * Joe Yamanaka - Johnny Hayward * Janet Hatta *

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

- Yasugi's husband * Robert Earl Jones - Willy Hayward, Johnny's father *

Broderick Crawford William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Willie Stark in ''All t ...

- Shuftan's superior in the police force *

Rick Jason Rick Jason (born Richard Jacobson; May 21, 1923 – October 16, 2000) was an American actor, born in New York City, and most remembered for starring in the ABC television drama ''Combat!'' (1962–1967). Childhood An only child of Jewish parents ...

- Lionel Adams *

- Yasugi's son *

Takeo Chii was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1968 and 2012. Biography Chii was the youngest of eight brothers. He made his acting debut in 1968. He made his film debut with Kihachi Okamoto's '' Kill!''. Chii married actress ...

- Detective Kusaba * Hiroyuki Nagato - Naomi's husband *

Kōji Wada was a Japanese pop singer. He was best known for performing theme songs for several installments of the ''Digimon'' anime television series, including his recording debut in 1999 with his first and most famous single, "Butter-Fly", the theme so ...

: Kawanishi *

- partner *

Junzaburō Ban was a Japanese comedian and actor. His real name was . Filmography * ''Ukare Gitsune Senbon Zakura'' (1954) * ''A Fugitive from the Past'' (1965) * ''Dodes'ka-den'' (1970) * '' Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler'' (1972) * ''Proof of ...

- onsen owner

Reception

The film was the second highest-grossing film of all time in Japan with

theatrical rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is freq ...

s of $15 million ().

Music

The theme song, titled ''Ningen no Shōmei no Tēma'' and featuring the line "Mama, do you remember", was a chart hit for Joe Yamanaka, selling 517,000 copies and reaching number 2 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

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 part of the lyrics in the song.

Television remake

In 2004, the movie was remade as a 10 episode mini-series for Fuji TV. Though the basic premise was maintained, the story was greatly expanded to include many additional characters and subplots. A number of details were also altered, such as Kyoko being a famous author turned political candidate rather than a fashion designer, and Johnny being from Mississippi rather than New York. The series also featured a different, more optimistic ending, with Kyoko being arrested and convicted for her crimes, Shuftan dying in the line of duty while defending a young black boy from an attacker, and Munesue continuing his career as a detective.

Cast

Yutaka Takenouchi is a Japanese actor. His on-screen acting debut was in the drama 「ボクの就職」 (Boku no Syūshoku) in 1994, after winning a modeling contest. He regularly appears in commercials. Filmography TV series * ''Boku no Shūshoku/My First Job' ...

as Ichiro Munesue *

Bo Svenson Bo Svenson (born Bo Ragnar Svensson; 13 February 1941) is a Swedish-American actor, film director, film producer, published author and award winning screenwriter, known for his roles in American genre films of the 1970s and 1980s. He has appea ...

as Ken Shuftan *

Yui Natsukawa is a Japanese actress. She co-starred with Hiroshi Abe in the 2006 Japanese drama Kekkon Dekinai Otoko and in Hirokazu Kore-eda's 2008 film '' Still Walking''. Filmography Film * ''Sora ga Konnani Aoi Wake ga Nai'' (1993) - Kaoru Aoki * ''Yoru ...

as Kiriko Motomiya * Keiko Matsuzaka as Kyoko Koori * Sousuke Takaoka as Shohei Koori *

Ren Osugi , born was a Japanese actor. For his work in ''Cure'', ''Hana-bi'' and other films, Osugi was given the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Yokohama Film Festival. He often worked alongside Takeshi Kitano and Susumu Terajima. In the DVD comme ...

as Atsushi Yokowatari * Nao Matsushita as Michiko Asaeda * Seiichi Tanabe as Tomoya Saeki * Maki Horikita as Sayaka Koori * Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as Johnny Hayward

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Proof Of The Man Films directed by Junya Satō Japanese films set in New York City Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in fiction Films scored by Yuji Ohno English-language Japanese films 1970s Japanese-language films Foreign films set in the United States