Tora-san's Love Call

Tora-san's Love Call (男はつらいよ 寅次郎恋歌, Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro Koiuta) aka Tora-san's Love Song^[1] is a 1971 Japanese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Junko Ikeuchi as his love interest or "Madonna".^[2] Tora-san's Love Call is the eighth entry in the popular, long-running Otoko wa Tsurai yo series.

Tora-san's Love Call
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Yoji Yamada
Written by	Yoji Yamada Yoshitaka Asama
Starring	Kiyoshi Atsumi Junko Ikeuchi
Cinematography	Tetsuo Takaba
Edited by	Iwao Ishii
Music by	Naozumi Yamamoto
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	November 20, 1971 (1971-11-20)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Synopsis

Hoping to find rest from his wandering life, Tora-san returns home. He becomes infatuated with a widow and leaves to travel again, keeping his feelings secret.^[3][4]

Cast

• Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō^[5]
• Chieko Baisho as Sakura
• Takashi Shimura as Hyōichirō Suwa (Hiroshi's father)
• Shin Morikawa as Tatsuzō (Torajiro's uncle)
• Chishū Ryū as Gozen-sama
• Gin Maeda as Hiroshi Suwa
• Yasukiyo Umeno as Tsuyoshi Suwa
• Takanobu Hozumi as Osamu Suwa
• Yoshio Yoshida as Director of travelling company of actors
• Chieko Misaki as Torajiro's aunt
• Hisao Dazai as Tarō Ume

Critical appraisal

For his work on Tora-san's Love Call, and the previous two entries in the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series, Tora-san, the Good Samaritan, and Tora-san's Shattered Romance (all 1971), Yoji Yamada tied for Best Director at the Mainichi Film Awards with Masahiro Shinoda.^[6] The German-language site molodezhnaja gives Tora-san's Love Call three and a half out of five stars.^[7]

Availability

Tora-san's Love Call was released theatrically on November 20, 1971.^[8] In Japan, the film was released on videotape in 1983 and 1995, and in DVD format in 1995 and 2008.^[9]