TORA! TORA! TORA!

(September 1970, U.S.)

In 1991, when I was still in college, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was fifty years-old. Hard to believe that TORA! TORA! TORA! is now a movie that's fifty years-old (just goes to show you what makes a man like me feel older) and released in a year when 20th Century Fox had war on its mind with other popular releases like M*A*S*H and PATTON. Still, even after all these decades, this film which depicts the legendary attack from both sides, American and Japanese, is a whole lot better than Michael Bay could have ever hoped to achieve with his 2001 epic PEARL HARBOR (and I actually like that movie).

Without going into any historical detail (that's for my readers to research on their own), the pace of the film is told as if it were a point-by-point countdown to the inevitable day of December 7, 1941. There's virtually no civilian life or reaction in this story, concentrating solely on military strategy from both the American and Japanese forces, each of them gearing up for what they fear will be the prelude to a long, destructive and catastrophic war.

While the film's opening disclaimer insists that its depiction is based on historical accuracy, that of course, is always subject to interpretation and acceptance. One must always expect a certain level of Hollywood liberties in any story that's (supposedly) based on true events or facts. While the film's characters are plentiful and leave a little something to be desired in terms of being able to identify with them on any level, the events of battle are authentic looking and exciting to watch, all in the days long before CGI. One of the more interesting points of accuracy is the final line of the film in which Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto says, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant." A version of this quotation is also said in PEARL HARBOR and the 2019 version of MIDWAY (haven't seen that yet). Did Yamamoto really say this? There is no recorded evidence to prove such a statement, but it has apparently embedded itself into Hollywood folklore when making a World War II combat film about the Japanese.

Not well received in 1970, TORA! TORA! TORA! is still one of the most spectacular war films ever made, in my opinion, and clearly makes a point of attempting to carefully recreate an event of historical significance with vivid action scenes of aviation and strategic planning, despite a rather slow-moving plotline (slow or not, it's still a whole lot better than investing one's time in a love triangle between Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale). And by the way, if you remember a TV mini-series called PEARL originally aired on ABC in 1978 (aired again in 1991 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the event), you'd be interested to know that the scenes of the attack was footage originally taken from TORA! TORA! TORA!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Isoroku Yamamoto: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."