Rating: 
Summary: Best portrayal of Pearl Harbor
Review: The attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday December 7, 1941 was one of the most signifcant events of the 20th century. It secured US entry into World War II which in turn helped in the victory in Europe over Nazi Germany. A key feature of this movie is that it was a joint American-Japanese production and hence gives both perspectives and a balanced picture of the story. It is both a historically accurate account of the events and also a gripping and watchable film. The first half of the movie maps out the events leading up to the attack, the question of why it happened is an important point for any event in history but particularly in this case.
The movie's second half is a stunning recreation of the devastating battle. Considering when it was filmed the effects of the battle compare favourably with those of the far more recent Pearl Harbor directed by Michael Bay.
Rating:
Summary: A Slow Moving Film With Great Special Effects
Review: TORA,TORA,TORA is an entertaining movie for those who are interested in the history of World War II and particularly the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It is mostly a slow moving film which finally explodes with vivid action scenes featuring excellent special effects. The large cast includes a mixture of American and Japanese actors led by Martin Balsam, Soh Yamamura, Joseph Cotton, Tatsuya Mihashi, E.G. Marshall and Takshiro Tamura. The movie received an Academy Award for Best Special Effects and was nominated for Best Cinematography, Art Direction, Editing and Sound. The main competition for Oscars in 1970 came from PATTON starring George C. Scott.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Great WWII Movies
Review: Based on research of Gordon Prange, author of "At Dawn We Slept", Tora! Tora! Tora! is a very accurate portrayal of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. There have been several treatments of the famous battle (as one-sided as it was), including the recent (and crummy) "Pearl Harbor" (2001). This is the best. As other reviews have pointed out, the attack was an extremely successful one for the Japanese from a military standpoint. By 1941, the only check on Japanese expansion in the Pacific was the United States Navy. Yamamoto's plan was bold and creative, but it depended a lot upon luck, as the film and the book point out. The United States had installed a radar facility that operated part-time, and did detect the first wave of incoming Japanese planes. The US was more concerned with sabotoge, and parked their planes closely together. The Japanese mini-submarine that was detected and sunk off Pearl Harbor should have raised alarms, but didn't. It all points to a fundamental principal of war. Everyone got complacent. We thought Pearl was too far from Japan to attract an attack of that magnitude. We thought we would see the fleet or at least the Japanese planes long before they would present a threat. Our technology (radar) provided an extra safeguard, but wasn't properly used. Our cracking of the Japanese diplomatic code provided an extra sense that we would know of an attack prior to it happening. I've read the transcript of the congressional inquiry into the attack that was undertaken in the late 1940s. It is fascinating. They point out one of the reasons we were complacent. There had been 'war warnings' sent out several times in late fall 1941, warning of an imminent Japanese attack somewhere in the Pacific. Nothing happened. This bred a laissez-faire attitude toward imminent attack. The only thing that saved the US Navy was the US carriers were at sea, and that main target of the Japanese escaped unharmed, a fact that was to be of great importance to the subsequent conduct of the war. Some reviewers here have expressed surprise that the US was so badly fooled. One reviewer here calls the US's actions 'slipshod and arrogant'. Huh? We prepared for the danger that we expected, not something nobody believed could have occurred. 'Blithely oblivious'? Again, incorrect, as the proceedings of the congressional investigation have pointed out. 'Dry and boring'? What movie did that reviewer watch? 'Incomprehensible decision' to park the planes closely together? How about the dangers of sabotage? 'We didn't expect an attack'? Not accurate at all. The US was painfully aware of the danger Japan presented. The US attitude is understandable, though, when you realize they were viewing a far-off war in Europe, and no one then imagined a war in their own backyard. It is hard to expect the unexpected. Very Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: The Day Of Infamy Recreated To Chilling Perfection
Review: Many films attempt to tell true stories. One of the few that does justice to its subject is Tora! Tora! Tora!, a full-scale recreation of Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to the Day Of Infamy. Verisimilitude permeates throughout the film, from the full-sized mockups of Japanese aircraft carriers and the battleship Nagano to the Japanese Zero, Kate, and Val aircraft and American P-40 Warhawk fighters to the miniature and full-sized models of American battleships. Much of the combat footage was shot at Pearl itself and surrounding Air Force bases, while miniature work blends splendidly into the action. The enormous cast captures the exchanges of ideas and arguments among the various players involved in the attack. The most sympathetic player is Admiral Yamamoto. The film very nicely captures his lack of desire to go to war with an America that could not possibly lose a war with Japan based on the comparative industrial power of both nations. Also captured is the greater bloodthirstiness of fellow Imperial Japanese Navy officers, leading to a chilling scene during final pre-sortie debriefing when Yamamoto orders that the First Air Fleet abort the mission should negotiations with America succeed; fellow officers universally reject such an order, until Yamamoto hisses that any officer unwilling to follow should resign at once. Also captured are the motions of General Walter Short (Jason Robards) and Admiral Husband Kimmel (Martin Balsam), working to second-guess Japanese intentions minus intelligence data available to US Navy intelligence in Washington. Navy intelligence accurately guesses that intercepted Japanese diplomatic messages indicate Tokyo to be preapring for war, but there is never any indication that Pearl Harbor itself will be attacked. But it is, and the attack is brilliantly recreated. Battleships are hit by torpedos and bombs, planes parked together to prevent sabotage are slaughtered trying to take off, and the result is the greatest naval disaster suffered by American arms. But Admiral Yamamoto knows that what will result will be catastrophic for Japan, and the film ends with him staring into the sky - into the future. For sheer perfection, Tora! Tora! Tora! succeeds.
Rating:
Summary: This is the Pearl Harbor movie to see.
Review: Just as I dreaded the prospect of seeing a modern re-make of Psycho, so I dread going to see Pearl Harbor, given the extremely high bar set by its predecessor, Tora Tora Tora. Let me say right at the outset that I consider this one of the best war films ever made. Certainly, it has its weaknesses -- there is not the kind of character development you find in a dramatic film such as From Here to Eternity. Tora Tora Tora is essentially a documentary film, and in that vein it is practically unsurpassed. The technical accuracy is incredible, especially for a film from the days before computer-generated effects. Unlike Pearl Harbor, which attempts to pass off Vietnam-era ships as WWII vintage (promotional shots for the movie show the frigate USS Whipple, commissioned in 1971, being bombed by the Japanese in 1941), the ships in Tora Tora Tora accurately depict the ships that were involved in the attack. They might be miniatures, but at least they're accurate miniatures! And although the Japanese planes are not authentic -- I believe there are only two authentic Zeros still flying in the world today -- the reproduction planes used in the movie are so convincing that they're still being used in vintage airshows today. The sets -- including a full-size mock-up of the Japanese battleship Nagato -- are beautifully executed. And the action sequences are wrenchingly poignant. Part of the enduring appeal of this movie is its balance in depicting very politically sensitive events. Japanese and American movie makers collaborated on the movie, and as a result the Japanese who participated in the attack are neither glorified nor villified -- just men caught in a momentous historical moment, some enthusiastically and some reluctantly. Nonetheless, the full infamy of the attack is impressed on the viewer. Far better to directly and straight-forwardly address these critical aspects of the attack than to avoid or ignore them, which is what I fear may be the case in Pearl Harbor.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive Filmmaking of Historical Events ¿ One of the Best
Review: 1970's "Tora! Tora! Tora!" should have done much better at the box-office on its release. If remembered at all it is noted for its realistic special visual effects of the Pearl Harbor attack. Long forgotten are the performances of the principal actors and the well-constructed screenplay and editing. This is truly a shame because it is one of the most historically accurate film depictions of any World War II event. Accuracy can always be debated considering film length, budget and scripting. On a relative basis to the hundreds of war films produced this is one of the more accurate. The film is really an in-depth analysis of events leading up to and culminating in the unprovoked actual Japanese attack. These events are shown from both sides with Richard Fleischer directing the American sequences and Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku directing the Japanese. What is amazing is just how well these events create true suspense and tension throughout. This is achieved through skillful editing from James E. Newcom, Pembroke J. Herring and Inoue Chikaya from the well-written and researched screenplay by Larry Forrester, Hideo Oguni and Ryuzo Kikushima. The Special Effects are undeniably the best ever produced for a War film made during the 20th century. They combine both close-ups and panoramic views, which give the real scope of the devastation. On the acting front James Whitmore as Admiral Halsey impressed me the most. He seemed like the one high ranking American officer with a good head on his shoulders, decisive and no procrastinator. Also good were Neville Brand as Lt. Kaminsky (up to his neck in bureaucratic procrastination) and George Macready as Cordell Hull. Macready showed restrained outrage and disgust at the document handed him by Japanese Ambassador Nomura (Shogo Shimada). I thought that all the actors portraying Japanese Naval officers were excellent. Once again composer Jerry Goldsmith demonstrates his brilliance as a composer as he calls upon both American and Oriental motifs to tell this drama from both perspectives. Goldsmith brilliantly captures the underlying mood of the Japanese Naval leaders on one side and the perplexed and frustrated United States Naval and Army Intelligence officers on the other. This film brilliantly depicts the greatest act of modern era cowardice perpetuated from one nation upon another in peacetime. For a country that prided itself on the concept of 'honor' this film demonstrates just how dishonorable and cowardly a nation can become under the imperial ambitions of its leaders. As the film reiterates at its conclusion, one man from that country realized that they had awakened a sleeping dragon. This is truly great filmmaking. It also starred Martin Balsam, Jason Robards, Joseph Cotton, Tatsuya Mihashi, Soh Yamamura, E.G. Marshall, Takahiro Tamura, Eijiro Tono, Leon Ames, Richard Anderson, Edward Andrews and G.D. Spradlin. I thought this DVD sounded best in the Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround.
Rating:
Summary: DVD version is spectacular...
Review: What a bonus. I was able to get this film as part of a World War II DVD package. Released in 1970, the film remains comparable to more recent World War II epics. The producers succeed in dramatizing the historical events leading to the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, an event that remains a day of infamy and controversy into the 21st century. While the Japanese sequences are especially well-done, except for Japanese pilots who may be seem as stereotypes from a John Wayne movie of the 1940's. The blundering Americans depicted in the film make me a bit uncomfortable. It's difficult to believe so many people made so many mistakes, considering the political developments in the Far East and Europe during the 1930's. It's a shame that producers didn't make a companion documentary, "The Making of Tora..." It would be very educational to see how the explosions, etc. were shot. "Tora, Tora, Tora" is another good film for World War II buffs, and a good teaching tool for junior/senior high school students -- especially for recuctant learners. Spectacular on widescreen format. Great sound.
Rating:
Summary: Should have been 5 if...
Review: ...this movie, which got awesome air scenes and very well documented background info (politic, diplomatic, and military), had been a couple of minutes longer at the end of 1st part. And showed how Roosevelt, who was informed of the results of the (fantastic) Intelligence work -they even could pin the time of the attack- decided to keep it under wraps: so that, without any prior warning, the damage would be maximum, and the shock upon American people would be such as to suppress the reluctance they still got towards entering the war. One of the best examples of "The end justify the means". The Pearl Harbor story could as well have as title "They were expendable".
Rating:
Summary: One of the Great WWII Movies
Review: Based on research of Gordon Prange, author of "At Dawn We Slept", Tora! Tora! Tora! is a very accurate portrayal of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. There have been several treatments of the famous battle (as one-sided as it was), including the recent (and crummy) "Pearl Harbor" (2001). This is the best. As other reviews have pointed out, the attack was an extremely successful one for the Japanese from a military standpoint. By 1941, the only check on Japanese expansion in the Pacific was the United States Navy. Yamamoto's plan was bold and creative, but it depended a lot upon luck, as the film and the book point out. The United States had installed a radar facility that operated part-time, and did detect the first wave of incoming Japanese planes. The US was more concerned with sabotoge, and parked their planes closely together. The Japanese mini-submarine that was detected and sunk off Pearl Harbor should have raised alarms, but didn't. It all points to a fundamental principal of war. Everyone got complacent. We thought Pearl was too far from Japan to attract an attack of that magnitude. We thought we would see the fleet or at least the Japanese planes long before they would present a threat. Our technology (radar) provided an extra safeguard, but wasn't properly used. Our cracking of the Japanese diplomatic code provided an extra sense that we would know of an attack prior to it happening. I've read the transcript of the congressional inquiry into the attack that was undertaken in the late 1940s. It is fascinating. They point out one of the reasons we were complacent. There had been 'war warnings' sent out several times in late fall 1941, warning of an imminent Japanese attack somewhere in the Pacific. Nothing happened. This bred a laissez-faire attitude toward imminent attack. The only thing that saved the US Navy was the US carriers were at sea, and that main target of the Japanese escaped unharmed, a fact that was to be of great importance to the subsequent conduct of the war. Some reviewers here have expressed surprise that the US was so badly fooled. One reviewer here calls the US's actions 'slipshod and arrogant'. Huh? We prepared for the danger that we expected, not something nobody believed could have occurred. 'Blithely oblivious'? Again, incorrect, as the proceedings of the congressional investigation have pointed out. 'Dry and boring'? What movie did that reviewer watch? 'Incomprehensible decision' to park the planes closely together? How about the dangers of sabotage? 'We didn't expect an attack'? Not accurate at all. The US was painfully aware of the danger Japan presented. The US attitude is understandable, though, when you realize they were viewing a far-off war in Europe, and no one then imagined a war in their own backyard. It is hard to expect the unexpected. Very Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Good story, great fx
Review: I just watched this last week (Mar 2004). It took over an hour for the movie to give you the background before you got close to the battle scene. But the final hour was great, including a scene with a woman flying instructor being dumbfounded as her paltry biplane is taken over by a hundred zeros and bombers. The fx were great, even by 2004 standards. No fake CG stuff, you know all those planes on the tarmac were really blowing up. In todays movies, you just see a big fireball with some unrecognizable parts flying about. In this film, you saw propellers flying straight off the engine, unattached engines sliding into buildings, cowlings popping straight up, and fiery airplanes with no driver hitting other parked airplanes causing a chain reaction explosion. Plus they managed to capture the real sound when each part hit the pavement. I don't remember too many films that ever did that. The fx left me saying "Wow! I bet that was hard to set up!"
| 
