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Tora! Tora! Tora! Actors: Martin Balsam, Sô Yamamura, Joseph Cotten, Jason Robards Directors: Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Masuda, Richard Fleischer Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Closed-captioned, THX, Dolby, Widescreen Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Running Time: 149 minutes Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-05-25 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com "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 |
 "Living history...."Unlike the mediocre and Disneyfied 'Pearl Harbor' with its cheesy love story and splashy special effects, Tora! Tora! Tora! actually has the feel that you are reliving history. The drama of the moment when the United States is dragged into World War II does not need embellishment, and the filmmakers here are wise in their use of restraint. You are struck by the missed clues that doomed thousands, the all-too-slow teletypes and relaxation that turns into realization and then to horror. This is a movie that honors the dead, and yet seeks to understand the Japanese as well and portray them realistically. The heroics on the ground in the face of daunting odds and total surprise are inspiring even in their futility. As is the end of the movie, which doesn't feel compelled (unlike in Pearl Harbor) to tell you what happened next. We know what happened next. The country was ripped from its complacency, and was changed forever. And mushroom clouds eventually came to Japan. There is a solemnity to the whole enterprise, an understanding of the tragedy that befell the Navy that day that will live in infamy. You cannot help but be swept away by it. "Exceptional Account of Pearl Harbor"What it lacks in emotional drama, it makes up in painstaking attention to detail. Almost a recreation. Extremely watchable and engaging. Great for historical buffs who don't need love stories and macho Hollywood-military stuff to keep them interested.  "Great Movie on Pearl Harbor."This is a great depiction of what happened at Pearl Harbor. It even gives an inside look at Japanese intentions and war strategies. The battle scenes are true to life and are excellent considering when this movie was made in the late 70's. If you like war movies, this is a good one to own. "Outstanding"As an avid student of history, I've grown used to Hollywood taking liberties when it comes to historical dramas. Sometimes they really go overboard but it's entertaining ("Braveheart" "They Died With Their Boots On") and others they fail miserably ("Midway" "Battle of the Bulge"). This film is the best of both worlds-reasonably accurate and entertaining. And for it's time (1970) the special effects are exceptional-this is how films of this genre should be done. "If ya wanna make comparisons..."While it may not be the action-packed special effects-laden visual extravaganza that "Pearl Harbor" was, I find "Tora! Tora! Tora!" far more dramatic, and better acted. I found the latter's climactic battle sequence far more convincing, in spite of the relatively primitive effects. Then there's the end sequence, which is one of my favorite movie moments, and is one of the most gripping bits of celluloid in cinema history. Also included with this Special Edition release is a commentary track featuring an historian interviewing the director on the making of the movie, the research done to make it historically accurate, and the problems with the Japanese side of the production (e.g. all of the Japanese Navy scenes, initially directed by Akira Kurosawa). Also included is the obligatory theatrical trailer, and a documentary which discusses the many warning signs that the Pearl Harbor attack was nigh, all of which the U.S. military forces ignored. Both the commentary track and documentary are reasonably interesting-- especially if you're into military history and/or moviemaking-- although I won't likely watch or listen to them more than a couple times in my lifetime. `Late |
