After months of sitting on the news, I can finally let the cat out of the bag of something that I’m extremely honored to have been a part of especially with my love of film. A few months back I was contacted by good friend Rob Buscher about an opportunity that he knew would be right up my alley. Having spent time trying to find a project to work together on, he knew that I would be up for what was to come. Arrow Video had secured the rights to the film, Proof of The Man (1977) and asked us to do the audio commentary. Movie mogul Haruki Kadokawa changed the landscape of Japanese cinema for good when he introduced the concept of the blockbuster to the country with this gripping crime drama featuring an all-star cast.
The film which was directed by Junya Satō, starring George Kennedy and Yūsaku Matsuda and soundtrack scored by the legendary Yuji Ohno and follows mixed-raced Johnny Hayward (Flower Travellin’ Band vocalist Joe Yamanaka) who heads from his Harlem home to Tokyo, he becomes the victim of a brutal stabbing in the elevator of a plush hotel hosting a catwalk show by elite fashion designer Kyoko (Mariko Okada). That same night, Kyoko’s son with her powerful politician husband Yohei (Toshiro Mifune) is involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident and flees the country. Suspecting the incidents may be linked, Detective Munesue (Yusaku Matsuda, The Game Trilogy) heads to New York to investigate Johnny’s background. Here he is partnered with local detective Ken Shuftan (George Kennedy, Airport), whose own links to Japan dredge up painful memories from Munesue’s childhood.
Adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by Seiichi Morimura by director Junya Sato (The Bullet Train, Manhunt) and screenwriter Zenzo Matsuyama (The Human Condition trilogy), and shot on location in Japan and New York by veteran cinematographer Shinsaku Himeda (Pigs and Battleships, Vengeance is Mine), Proof of the Man is a compelling exploration of racial identity and the trauma of the postwar occupation period framed in the form of a whodunnit. Arrow Video is proud to present the film for the very first time outside Japan for the home-video market in a brand new transfer sourced from a new 4K restoration by Kadokawa.
The film feels very Blaxploitation’esque because of the funky Yuji Ohno soundtrack, fashion and scenery, yet very much Japanese at the same time as crime drama films of the era.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
High-Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original lossless mono audio
Optional newly translated English subtitles
Brand new audio commentary with Asian American film scholar Rob Buscher and DJ Skeme Richards
Taking the Big Apple, a brand new video introduction by Asian film scholar Earl Jackson
A Japanese Blockbuster, a brand new filmed discussion with critics and Junya Sato biographers Tatsuya Masuto and Masaaki Nomura
Original theatrical trailers
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film critic Michelle Kisner and scholar Alexander Zahlten
The Blu-Ray drops September 9th, 2025