Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Directors:

Richard Fleischer
Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Larry Forrester (screenplay) &
Hideo Oguni (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 September 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

The incredible attack on Pearl Harbor.

Plot:

A dramatization of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the series of American blunders that allowed it to happen.

Plot Keywords:

Attack | Pearl Harbor | Japan | Hawaii | Navy

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 7 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Jan. 6

3:30 AM

MAX

Cast

Martin Balsam	...	Admiral Kimmel
Sô Yamamura	...	Admiral Yamamoto (as Soh Yamamura)
Joseph Cotten	...	Henry Stimson
Tatsuya Mihashi	...	Commander Genda
E.G. Marshall	...	Lt. Colonel Bratton
James Whitmore	...	Admiral Halsey
Takahiro Tamura	...	Lt. Commander Fuchida
Eijirô Tôno	...	Admiral Nagumo (as Eijiro Tono)
Jason Robards	...	General Short
Wesley Addy	...	Lt. Commander Kramer
Shogo Shimada	...	Ambassador Nomura
Frank Aletter	...	Lt. Commander Thomas
Koreya Senda	...	Prince Konoye
Leon Ames	...	Frank Knox
Junya Usami	...	Admiral Yoshida

Also Known As:

Tora! Tora! Tora!: The Attack on Pearl Harbor (Australia)

Runtime:

144 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:PG | Brazil:Livre | Australia:G (DVD rating) | Australia:PG (cable rating) | Finland:K-12 | Norway:16 (1972) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | Taiwan:GP | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:16 (f)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Many of the replica Japanese aircraft are owned by members of the Confederate Air Force, an organization that specializes in re-enactments and aircraft preservation. They are used every year in the annual CAF air show, where a re-enactment of the Pearl Harbor attack takes place. This has been going on since 1972.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: As the bombers fly towards Pearl Harbor they pass over the white cross at Scofield Barracks (Kolekole Pass) which was erected in memory of the people that were about to be killed in the raid.

Quotes:

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: [last lines]
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Prince of Space (#9.16)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Chattanooga Choo Choo

An underestimated epic

I have not seen the movie _Pearl Harbor_; nor, for that matter, do I plan to. I do not personally care for films that warp an important historical event to suit a formulaic date-flick format (a certain travesty involving a big steamship comes immediately to mind). If I go to the movie theater to watch a historical account, then that's what I want to see. _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ is exactly that, and more; it very nearly puts you right in the middle of the conflagration.

It continues to be a source of total wonder for me that _Tora! Tora! Tora!_, a movie made nearly thirty-two years ago, is so expertly presented. The reason for this is twofold: usage of lesser-known character actors to keep plot distraction to a minimum, and the usage of vintage working ships and aircraft to keep the realism to a maximum. These two elements merge together to produce what amounts to a cameraman in a time machine filming the actual events on site.

Since this was a collaborative effort between both US and Japanese film studios, the numerous switches between scenes will give you a good look at the differences between directing (and acting) styles. I am constantly amazed at the boldness of the content for a film released in the US during the Vietnam War, and only 25 years after the Pearl Harbor attack itself; compared to the rather wooden Martin Balsam and Jason Robards, Takahiro Tamura's Lt. Commander Fuchida is replete with a charisma I would never have expected from The Enemy. The Japanese side of the tale is laid before you so well that one is sent into the minds of the people involved, a rarity for American war films. (Sometimes it goes a little bit over the edge -- Admiral Yamamoto's comment "I know [the Americans] are a proud and just people" is a mistranslation -- but the general mood is accurately conveyed overall.)

And then there is the beautiful and sometimes chilling scenery. The attack scenes themselves are eye-popping and brazen enough -- an awesome effort given the technology of the period -- but my personal favorite scene is the Japanese lead strike force's departure from their aircraft carrier. Those of you who purchase the DVD version of the movie should crank up the volume at this point. This is a piece of film that most probably can never be shot again: REAL aircraft flooring their REAL engines and taking flight from a REAL ship of war, against the backdrop of the early dawn, one after another, until the sky is alive with what looks like waves and waves of warplanes. Although the aircraft and ships used were modifed American stock, the flags, uniforms, and color schemes are all authentic... resulting in a spine-tingling spectacle of Japanese pilots plunging headlong into what was ultimately a disastrous mistake. They are depicted as human beings, as they should be.

It is an astoundingly accurate presentation of a dark moment in history for both the US and Japan, free of pretense, pandering to the audience, big-bucks megastars, lovey-dovey sappiness, and computer-generated pixels. You don't *need* any of these things to create a fantastic movie; all you need is history, which we all know is stranger -- and scarier, and more engaging -- than fiction. _Tora! Tora! Tora_ should be in every movie fan's library.