Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
WMB Rating:
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) 
Loading ...Tora! is the quintessential model for a pseudo-documentary war movie, painstakingly attempting to chronicle the events (on both sides) leading up to the infamous 1941 sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
Is this an action-packed thriller that will keep you pinned to the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next? No. Absolutely not. It is however a detailed (and lengthy at 2hrs 25 minutes) look at *exactly how* something like Pearl Harbor happened.
From the Japanese Admiralty planning the attack, through the missteps of the US government and the miscommunication which ultimately might have prevented it, we are shown in great detail the mechanics of how *not* to prevent an invasion.
Sure its easy to say such things in hindsight. And there's nothing that can be said to diminish the importance of the event in US history, but maybe we can learn a few things from it. I think that's the goal of Tora!, to show us what happened that might have been different.
Technically this film is an amazing recreation of the period, from the authentic aircraft and facilities on both sides, to the acting and word-for-word dialog where possible.
I recommend setting up an afternoon to watch the Bruckhemier/Bay fiasco "Pearl Harbor" and then watch this one directly after. See which version of events you think is better told. (Although "Pearl Harbor" does get into the famous Doolittle raid where this does not....)
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Description
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" is the Japanese signal to attack - and the movie meticulously recreates the attack on Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to it. Opening scenes contrast the American and Japanese positions. Japanese imperialists decide to stage the attack. Top U.S. brass ignore it's possibility. Intercepted Japanese messages warn of it - but never reach F.D.R.'s desk. Radar warnings are disregarded. Even the entrapment of a Japanese submarine in Pearl Harbor before the attack goes unreported. Ultimately the Day of Infamy arrives - in the most spectacular, gut-wrenching cavalcade of action-packed footage ever. You'll see moments of unsurpassed spectacle and heroism: U.S. fighters trying to take off and being hit as they taxi; men blasted from the decks of torpedoed ships while trying to rescue buddies; savage aerial dogfights pitting lone American fliers against squadrons of Imperial war planes. It's the most dazzling recreation of America's darkest day - and some of her finest hours.
"Sir, there's a large formation of planes coming in from the north, 140 miles, 3 degrees east." "Yeah? Don't worry about it." This is just one of the many mishaps chronicled in Tora! Tora! Tora! The epic film shows the bombing of Pearl Harbor from both sides in the historic first American-Japanese coproduction: American director Richard Fleischer oversaw the complicated production (the Japanese sequences were directed by Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku, after Akira Kurosawa withdrew from the film), wrestling a sprawling story with dozens of characters into a manageable, fairly easy-to-follow film. The first half maps out the collapse of diplomacy between the nations and the military blunders that left naval and air forces sitting ducks for the impending attack, while the second half is an amazing re-creation of the devastating battle. While Tora! Tora! Tora! lacks the strong central characters that anchor the best war movies, the real star of the film is the climactic 30-minute battle, a massive feat of cinematic engineering that expertly conveys the surprise, the chaos, and the immense destruction of the only attack by a foreign power on American soil since the Revolutionary war. The special effects won a well-deserved Oscar, but the film was shut out of every other category by, ironically, the other epic war picture of the year, Patton. --Sean Axmaker
DVD Information
Binding: DVDAspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Brand: TCFHE
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Original Release Date:
Actors:
- Martin Balsam
- Sô Yamamura
- Jason Robards
- Joseph Cotten
- Tatsuya Mihashi
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