Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful love story, great acting, beautiful scenery.
Review: This movie was nomiated for Best Picture, Best Actor(Marlon Brando), Red Buttons won Best Supporting Actor. Very moving love story, Brando is an Air Force pilot who is sent to Japan to rest up during the Korean War. He meets a Japanese actress (who hates Americans) and falls in love. The background is beautiful, some big stars had roles in this film. Brando is wonderful, as well as his co-stars.
Rating: 
Summary: The movie is a 5 star CLASSIC - this DVD is 3 stars !!
Review: This review is mainly about this DVD presentation. The movie is an outstanding 1950's Hollywood Classic Film dealing with bigotry, cuturial hatred & inter-racial marriages of the Post War Japan between U.S. military men & Japanese women. This movie does "James A. Mitchners - Novel - Sayonara" a respectable transition to the big Screen. The movie is worth the price of admission alone!!!!Unfortunately - MGM did this WideScreen Technicolor 147 minute classic movie a disservice when transferring it to a digital format!! First of all the true WideScreen is reduced to 4:3 Letterbox format. (this is a inferior True letter box picture -horizontal black bars on 4:3 tvs & horizontal & vertical black bars on WideScreen 16:9 HDTV's (postage stanp size)). Also by not being digitally enhanced for real WideScreen HDTV your Technicolor Pallet of vivid color is reduced to washed out presentation. A real shame because the Japanese ornate costumes, lavish Landscapes & exotic botanical gardens colors are lost. Also the only extra feature is a trailer. Again, "Sayonara" is an outstanding 5 star movie with an allstar cast starring Marlon Brando, James Garner & Red Buttons. At the very least rent this Hollywood Classic it is worth the viewing. I hope MGM re-releases this film at a later date with all the extras to justify this films cinematic value & beauty. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Beautiful in Every Way!
Review: This tender story is timeless. The beauty of Japan and it's seasons, natural wonders,people, dance,music and architecture are all captured inthis unique film. The message of love is so strong! It is a wonderful film and a must see for everyone!
Rating:
Summary: Different ending
Review: This was my favorite movie when I was a teenager. I watched it nine times. (It came on many times on my black and white t.v.
I was shocked to see a different ending. In the version I watched in the 60"s. Marlon Brando and his true love realize they can't be together and say Sayonara.
I don't see anyone mentioning the new ending where they say they are gong to go to the US together.
Am I wrong?
Rating: 
Summary: Lush Romance Deals with Prejudice, Cultural Stereotypes
Review: Very enjoyable film with good acting. Is portrayal of conditions in postwar Japan accurate? Is this really what went down, how people acted then? Was the U.S. Army really this involved in the soldiers' private lives? Were whites really this prejudiced? Were Japanese women really that submissive? What did Japanese audiences think at the time this film was released? It was probably a very enlightened film for its time and earnestly made a case for overcoming the racism portrayed by Americans here. The women look absolutely gorgeous in their makeup and theatrical costumes. Does anyone know if there really is a 'Matsubayashi' theatrical troupe as shown in the movie?
Rating:
Summary: An under seen masterpiece!
Review: When I mention the film Sayaonara to anyone who likes a good flick, the first thing they say is "never heard of it". Then I lend it to them and and they are simply speechless! Sayonara is a film that made such a strong impression on me the first time I saw it some 15 years ago, that I never forgot it and till this day I can recall the dialogue, scenery, and characters like it was yesterday. This film has always been a favorite of mine. I have a soft spot for a well made epic love story and the plot of a G.I. in a foregin land falling for a mysterious and beautiful woman. Then the realization of both characters knowing that their love may not be possible and may cause nothing but anguish and harm is simply amazing and heart felt! This film is up there with the "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" (AND THAT MOVIE IS AMAZING!!!) as a total tear jerker. The scene where brando must follow Japanese custom and remove his shoes in his lovers house for the first time is just an all around exhale of human emotion. I cry till this day and can't wait to cry over the film in a more clearer transfer of the characters facial expressions of their emotions on screen-a CLASSIC!
Rating:
Summary: An under seen masterpiece!
Review: When I mention the film Sayaonara to anyone who likes a good flick, the first thing they say is "never heard of it". Then I lend it to them and and they are simply speechless! Sayonara is a film that made such a strong impression on me the first time I saw it some 15 years ago, that I never forgot it and till this day I can recall the dialogue, scenery, and characters like it was yesterday. This film has always been a favorite of mine. I have a soft spot for a well made epic love story and the plot of a G.I. in a foregin land falling for a mysterious and beautiful woman. Then the realization of both characters knowing that their love may not be possible and may cause nothing but anguish and harm is simply amazing and heart felt! This film is up there with the "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" (AND THAT MOVIE IS AMAZING!!!) as a total tear jerker. The scene where brando must follow Japanese custom and remove his shoes in his lovers house for the first time is just an all around exhale of human emotion. I cry till this day and can't wait to cry over the film in a more clearer transfer of the characters facial expressions of their emotions on screen-a CLASSIC!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story...
Review: When I was a teenager, James Michner was publishing his early books, "Fires of Spring" "Tales from the South Pacific" "Bridges at Toko-Ri" "Sayonara" "Until They Sail" and "Hawaii." I saved my allowance and bought all these books, and though I've traveled extensively and moved many times, I've hung onto them. They affected my life more than anything else I've read, and they point to the fact that the issues so often seen as "arising" in the 1960s (racism, sexism, pacifism) were really issues in the 1950s. Sayonara stars Marlon Brando as Major Lloyd Gruber, a U.S. Air Force field officer stationed in Japan, who is destined to follow in his father's footsteps and become one of the "joint chiefs" if he plays his cards right. Toward that end, his father does not want him to do anything to jeopardize his career--especially the unthinkable--marry "indigeous personnel" as the Japanese were called in U.S. occupied Japan. Lloyd is to marry a young woman who is the daughter of a fellow senior officer. I won't tell you how the story develops but just say the book and the film are different. James Michener was in the Navy and he married a Japanese woman. He went on to teach English in Texas and put together a handsome collection of Japanese prints when they were inexpensive. Michener never forgot his WWII experiences and he captured them in his books. In the fifties, military personnel began to marry War Brides as they were called. By the 1960s when I was a Marine officer's wife, many of my fellow wives were from foreign countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. I did not understand why the U.S. had race problems since the military was so well integrated--at least in base housing. One of the most touching sights I recall from those days was the Japanese wives leaving the PX theater in tears after the showing of Sayonara, which was playing in military theaters 20 years after it opened. This is a beautiful film, and shows a Japan that is still recovering from the aftermath of war, but nevertheless beautiful. It is difficult to understand how the people who created the tea ceremony could also have produced such fierce warriors. It's important to remember that Sayonara takes place a mere 8 years after the end of WWII. The Bataan Death March and other atrocities were still pretty fresh, and yet the American public loved this film and loved Michener's books. Their response says much about their ability to forgive.
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