Human test

... A young black man, Johnny Hayward, was found dead in a hotel elevator. The investigation established that he was injured in a park near the hotel. At the crime scene, things were discovered that suggest that Johnny came to Japan to meet with his mother.

Among the witnesses is Kyoko Yasugi, a famous designer. Investigator Munase recognized her as a former servant of the bar. Because of her, her father died, trying to protect a young woman from the violence of American soldiers. But, having become the wife of Yohei, Kyoko took a prominent place in society. The investigator suggests that Johnny is the son of Yasuga, whom she killed in order to keep the secret of her past. The sudden death of the only witness to the past Yasugi reinforces the suspicion of the investigator. Confirm the version that Johnny is the son of Yasugi can only his father. Murase flies to New York to meet him. There is also Yasugi's son, Kyokhei, who, on the advice of her mother, left for America, whom she loves more than anything else. But Yasugi’s calculation turned out to be wrong. Fleeing the police, Köhei dies in a shootout.

Upon learning of the death of his son, Kyoko Yasugi confesses to his crimes and commits suicide.

• Mariko Okada - Kyoko Yasugi
• Koichi Iwashiro - Kokhei, her son
• Toshiro Mifune - Gong Yohei, her husband
• Joe Yamanaka - Johnny Hayward
• George Kennedy - Inspector Schaften
• Koji Tsuruta - Chief Inspector Nasu
• Yusaku Matsuda - Inspector Munase
• Tori Hand - Inspector Yokodo
• Broderick Crawford - Captain O'Brien
• Junzaburo Ban is the innkeeper

• Kinji Fukasaku - Shibue, lieutenant's assistant
• Tanie Kitabayashi - Old Woman
• Ryoko Sakaguchi - Sumiko

•   - The national premiere of the film took place on October 8, 1977 ^[1] .
•   - the film was shown at the Soviet film distribution since September 1979 ^{[comm. 1] [2]} .

Since 1976, the president of the large publishing company Kadokawa, Mr. Haruki Kadokawa, decided to expand his field of activity, taking up the production of films ^[3] . Having founded the film company Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho, he began producing his own films, becoming the director general and producer of the film studio he founded. It was also natural that this film company was mainly engaged in the film adaptations of the literature that was published by the publishing holding of the founder of the film company ^[3] . One of the popular novelists of the Kadokawa publishing house at that time was the author of detectives Seiichi Morimura , whose total circulation of books exceeded tens of millions of copies. One of his highly-social detectives, “Testing a Man,” was proposed for screening by the marketing department of the publishing house at the initial stage of creating a film company.

And although the film was not quite successful in terms of art, its commercial success was impressive ^[4] .

It should be noted the commercial acumen of Haruki Kadokawa. A good choice of the novel, bet on the most popular stars of Japanese cinema ( Mariko Okada , Toshiro Mifune , Koji Tsuruta ). Involvement in the project of very famous Hollywood actors ( George Kennedy and Broderick Crawford ). Massive advertising of the film in the media (including on television), for which the company spent more than a million yen - an amount twice the cost of the production itself ^[4] . Plus, the spectacular component of the picture itself - murders, violent brawls, chases, the luxurious life of the rich. All these components combined attracted the viewer to the cinema halls. According to the results of the rental, in 1977 the film won first place, attracting 4 million viewers ^[4] , and for the first time in the history of national cinematography walked around the box office Hollywood action movies, before that invariably topping the lists of the most visited films in Japan. Producer Kadokawa will reap the fruits of the success of this project for many years to come, however, his film company will not experience such a sensation in the future and Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho will quietly close in the early 1990s . In 2005, Haruki Kadokawa will revive his brainchild. At the newly opened studio, a high-profile project “ Yamato ” will be launched, on which the director of “Testing a Man” Junya Sato will work, but Kadokawa has not achieved his former success.

Japanese Film Academy Award ^[five]

• Best Soundtrack Award Nomination - Yuji Ono.

• The Test of Man at the Internet Movie Database