Stage-Struck Tora-san

107 minutesCountryJapanLanguageJapanese

Stage-Struck Tora-san (男はつらいよ 寅次郎わが道をゆく, Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō Wagamichi o Yuku) aka Tora-san's Stage-Struck^[1] is a 1978 Japanese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Nana Kinomi as his love interest or "Madonna".^[2] Stage-Struck Tora-san is the twenty-first entry in the popular, long-running Otoko wa Tsurai yo series.

Synopsis

Tora-san returns from his travels throughout Japan to his family's home in Tokyo to find his uncle recovering from an illness. After a family fight erupts, he returns to the road and becomes friends with Tomekichi. When the pair come to Tokyo, they both fall in love with stage dancers.^[1][3][4]

Cast

• Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō^[5]
• Chieko Baisho as Sakura
• Nana Kinomi as Nanako Beni
• Tetsuya Takeda as Tomekichi Gotō
• Masami Shimojō as Kuruma Tatsuzō
• Chieko Misaki as Tsune Kuruma (Torajiro's aunt)
• Gin Maeda as Hiroshi Suwa
• Hayato Nakamura as Mitsuo Suwa
• Hisao Dazai as Boss (Umetarō Katsura)
• Gajirō Satō as Genkō
• Hiroshi Inuzuka
• Raita Ryū as Detective
• Chishū Ryū as Gozen-sama
• Shinobu Azusa as Shinobu Fuji

Critical appraisal

Kiyoshi Atsumi was nominated for Best Actor at the Japan Academy Prize ceremony for his work in Stage-Struck Tora-san and the following film in the series, Talk of the Town Tora-san (also 1978). Yoji Yamada was also nominated for Best Director for these two films.^[6]

Stuart Galbraith IV writes that Stage-Struck Tora-san is one of the weaker entries in the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series. He notes that co-star Tetsuya Takeda, a popular comic actor in Japan at the time, comes across as hammy in western eyes. According to Galbraith, the film works best as a nostalgic look at late-1970s popular culture. The opening dream segment is a spoof of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and there are references to Pink Lady as well as glimpses into Japan's economic situation of the era.^[1] The German-language site molodezhnaja gives Stage-Struck Tora-san three out of five stars.^[7]

Availability

Stage-Struck Tora-san was released theatrically on August 5, 1978.^[8] In Japan, the film was released on videotape in 1996, and in DVD format in 2002 and 2005.^[9]

References

Notes

Bibliography

English

• "OTOKO WA TSURAIYO: TORAJIRO WAGA MICHI O YUKU (1978)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
• "OTOKO WA TSURAIYO -TORAJIRO WAGA MICHI". Complete Index to World Film. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
• Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajiro wagamichi wo yuku (1978) at IMDb
• Galbraith IV, Stuart (2006-03-14). "Tora-san 21: Tora-san's Stage-Struck (Region 3)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2010-01-19.

German

• "Tora-San's Stage-struck" (in German). www.molodezhnaja.ch. Retrieved 2010-01-19.

Japanese

• 男はつらいよ 寅次郎わが道をゆく(1978) (in Japanese). allcinema.net. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
• "男はつらいよ 寅次郎わが道をゆく". Japanese Cinema Database (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Archived from the original on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
• 男はつらいよ 寅次郎わが道をゆく (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
• 男はつらいよ 寅次郎わが道をゆく (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo. Archived from the original on 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2010-01-19.

External links

• Stage-Struck Tora-san Archived 2013-06-15 at the Wayback Machine at www.tora-san.jp (official site)