Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

In 1941, following months of economic embargo, Japan prepares to open its war against the United States with a preventive strike on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor.

Directors:

Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Larry Forrester (screenplay), Hideo Oguni (screenplay)

Stars:

Martin Balsam, Sô Yamamura, Jason Robards

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Martin Balsam	...	Admiral Husband E. Kimmel
Sô Yamamura	...	Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (as Soh Yamamura)
Jason Robards	...	General Walter C. Short
Joseph Cotten	...	Henry L. Stimson
Tatsuya Mihashi	...	Commander Minoru Genda
E.G. Marshall	...	Colonel Rufus S. Bratton
Takahiro Tamura	...	Lt. Commander Fuchida
James Whitmore	...	Admiral William F. Halsey
Eijirô Tôno	...	Admiral Chuici Nagumo (as Eijiro Tono)
Wesley Addy	...	Lt. Commander Alvin D. Kramer
Shôgo Shimada	...	Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura (as Shogo Shimada)
Frank Aletter	...	Lt. Commander Thomas
Koreya Senda	...	Prince Fumimaro Konoye
Leon Ames	...	Frank Knox
Jun Usami	...	Admiral Zengo Yoshida (as Junya Usami)

Storyline

This dramatic retelling of the Pearl Harbor attack details everything in the days that led up to that tragic moment in American history. As United States and Japanese relations strain over the U.S. embargo of raw materials, Air Staff Officer Minoru Genda (Tatsuya Mihashi) plans the preemptive strike against the United States. Although American intelligence agencies intercept Japanese communications hinting at the attack, they are unwilling to believe such a strike could ever occur on U.S. soil.

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Plot Keywords:

naval aviation | attack | pearl harbor | navy | hawaii | 

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Taglines:

From 20th Century Fox. The most spectacular film ever made.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

Japan USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

23 September 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Тора! Тора! Тора!

Filming Locations:

Ashiya, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$80,085 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$29,548,291

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox,Elmo Williams,Richard Fleischer

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min 148 min (Extended Japanese Edition 2009)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) Mono (some 35 mm prints) 4-Track Stereo (some 35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In September 1941, a German submarine fired on the U.S. destroyer Greer, and Roosevelt declared that the U.S. Navy would assume an escort role for Allied convoys in the Atlantic as far east as the United Kingdom and would fire upon German and Italian ships or submarines if they entered the U.S. Navy zone. This "shoot on sight" policy effectively declared naval war on Germany and Italy, and was favored by Americans by a margin of 2-to-1.

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Goofs

When USS Ward commences attack on Japanese midget sub, sub is shown with piece of conning tower missing before Ward hits it with gunfire. As sub is diving after being hit, conning tower is intact.

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Quotes

Hickam Air Traffic Controller: Tower to B-17, there's a Jap on your tail. Juice yer engines and get outta here!

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Crazy Credits

The 20th Century Fox logo does not appear on this film.

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Alternate Versions

The Japanese release runs roughly ten minutes longer and contains two sequences not included in other versions: Admiral Yamamoto visiting the Imperial Palace and talking with Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Kido, and a comical scene between two cooks about the carrier Akagi that explains how the International Date Line works. Also, for obvious reasons, the Japanese characters' dialogue is not given on-screen English subtitles.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Pranks and Greens (2009)

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Soundtracks

Chattanooga Choo Choo
Music by Harry Warren
Played at the dance

User Reviews

Excellent history film

I'll begin my review of Tora! Tora! Tora! by quoting several negative lines from other reviews on here....

1. It's just that it takes too long getting there. I've never before been in the position of wanting American ships to hurry up and sink; it meant the movie would be over that much faster.

2. This movie had great actors, was shot on location for much of it and contained some very interesting history. However, it wasn't a great film, rather it was pretty flat for the first hour and a half.

3. It went into too much detail.

4. Tora! Tora! Tora! is three parts boring history and one part action movie.

End of quotes.

One of Hollywood's greatest problems in making historically accurate films is, many viewers have the attention span of a three-year-old. If they can't stomach an hour or two of history in a film I'd hate to see how they'd handle reading a book.

Tora! Tora! Tora! is a masterpiece in film making. The events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor are just as important as the attack itself. Without the former you can't have the latter. If you enjoy history and don't need events to happen right this instant, it's a must see.