Tampopo (1985)

A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.

Director:

Jûzô Itami

Writer:

Jûzô Itami

Stars:

Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto

6 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Gorô
Nobuko Miyamoto	...	Tampopo
Kôji Yakusho	...	Gangster in the White Suit
Ken Watanabe	...	Gun
Rikiya Yasuoka	...	Pisuken
Kinzô Sakura	...	Shôhei
Yoshi Katô	...	Master of ramen making
Hideji Ôtaki	...	Rich Old Man
Fukumi Kuroda	...	Gangster's Mistress
Setsuko Shinoi	...	Rich old man's mistress
Yoriko Dôguchi	...	Girl Oyster-fisher
Masahiko Tsugawa	...	Supermarket manager
Chôei Takahashi	...	Company executives
Akio Tanaka	...	Company executives
Yoshihei Saga	...	Company executives

Storyline

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, the main story is about trucker Goro, who rides into town like a modern Shane to help Tampopo set up the perfect noodle soup restaurant. Woven into this main story are a number of smaller stories about the importance of food, ranging from a gangster who mixes hot sex with food, to an old woman who terrorizes a shopkeeper by compulsively squeezing his wares.

---

Plot Keywords:

waitress | ramen | food | noodles | breaking the fourth wall | 

---

Taglines:

The first Japanese noodle western!

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The noodle cook in the train station is quite realistic. Japanese train stations are filled with small noodle-shops, diners, and lunch-stands, especially since many trains do not offer food for sale on board.

---

Goofs

When the gangster tickles his mistress by placing the bowl of prawns in cognac on her bare stomach, the sound of her laughter doesn't match up with her mouth movement.

---

Quotes

Old gentleman: Tampopo! Congratulations!

---

Crazy Credits

The entire closing credit sequence is a shot a woman breastfeeding her child; the camera slowly zooms in on the baby's mouth sucking his mother's breast.

---

Connections

Referenced in At the Movies: Big Business/A Taxing Woman/The Presidio/Bull Durham/Travelling North (1988)

User Reviews

Itami's style fits nicely

The way each scene in Tampopo seems to lead into the next really jarred me when I first started to watch it. Movies with multiple plot lines will often create glaring differences between the scenes, but Itami did the opposite. Ending the bicycle workout scene (with Goro and Tampopo) with the business party walking into the restaurant where the "How to eat Italian food" lesson took place, which, upon conclusion found the camera following a waiter BACK to the business party all occurred seamlessly and left a grin on my face no one else in the room understood. In fact, the pace of the film is very conducive to the second and third viewings. Well, that's my excuse for why none of my friends found it quite as entertaining.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

September 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tampopo: A Ramen Western

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,410, 23 October 2016

Gross USA:

$224,097

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$375,971

Company Credits

Production Co:

Itami Productions, New Century Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1