Proof of the Man

This movie is actually pretty good and absolutely interesting to watch. It's also told a story of tragic fate that whoever involved in it would suffer and pay for the inevitable consequences as a chain-link domino falling one after another. There are several flaws that I think if edited smartly or more carefully enough, this movie could even become better; i.e., the two fashion shows are way too long, they just slowed down the flow of this movie. The fashion shows also felt repeatedly boring and cliched. Hiring some American Hippie-like men to play the vicious lowlife American GI Joe is a disastrous joke. Long hairs and unshaved beard, messy uniforms, Jesus. The young Japanese detective is acted like a Yakuza. The editing is also a bit of messy. But all of these shortcomings won't impair the whole movie's interesting scenarios. George Kennedy in this movie also performed well. Broderick Crawford is just too old to play that captain role, way passed the police retirement limit. A nostalgic movie about the 70s' of the 20th Century. Highly recommended.

Living in Japan in the late 1970s, I saw Ningen no Shomei heavily advertised on TV and saw people carrying the souvenir booklet around. The tag line, which translates as "Mother, whatever happened to my straw hat?" became a running joke. Well, I had to see this pop culture phenomenon myself. It begins with the murder of a half-Black, half-Japanese man in the Hotel New Otani (not an inn). Seeing this movie in a theater full of Japanese people was an interesting experience, because I found myself laughing at the plot and the production values. In particular, there's a flashback in which a Japanese man is being beaten up by some American GIs during the Occupation. Not funny in itself, but what made me laugh, sink down in my seat and cover my mouth to avoid being heard was the fact that these supposedly 1940s GIs all had 1970s beards and hair. Or shall I mention the time when a character makes a confession, which is immediately followed by a thunderclap out of nowhere? What about the murder victim walking toward the Hotel New Otani, which has a round penthouse-like structure on its roof mumbling "Sutoroo hatto, sutoroo hatto" or "Straw hat, straw hat"? This is from a character who is supposed to have grown up in the U. S. Poor George Kennedy and Broderick Crawford must have been desperate for money to appear in this convoluted mishmash, especially the final scene in which George Kennedy's character is walking through the ruins of the South Bronx and is stabbed to death by a Black man who calls him "Japanese lover!" This plot must have some sort of basic appeal to the Japanese, because it has been made into three movies and a TV miniseries.

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. I saw both version and the impact of the film wasn't destroyed on the U.S. cut version. The film is about a Black man (played by singer Joe Yamamura) 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. Yamamura sings a catch title song in English, but he is badly dubbed in the U.S. version. The film is highly recommended!

Proof of the Man-S0E0

Trailer—Proof of the Man