Today is December 7 and in this year of 2024, that makes it the 83rd anniversary of the attack on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor by Japan. It was a seminal attack and even four generations later remains in the hearts and minds of Americans; fascinating to historians; and has controversial issues that continue to be researched today. Technology has allowed the finding and inspection of many more sunken warships and other evidence of the attack and documentaries about those efforts. So, on this anniversary, I’m looking at “Tora! Tora! Tora!” from 1970. Out of this day of infamy, the U.S. rose and marched forward to victory.
‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’
(1970; 144 minutes; rated G; directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda and starring Martin Balsam, Sô Yamamura, Jason Robards and Joseph Cotten)
A SOLID FILM ABOUT THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR
(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on Dec. 7, 2019 – the 78th anniversary of the attack. I again expanded the review on Dec. 6, 2024.)
World War II has been fertile ground for Hollywood since the war was literally raging across the globe. The attack that launched the United States into the war has been the topic of many films and on this 73rd anniversary of the Japanese assault on the U.S. Navy one of the most recognizable films about it is “Tora! Tora! Tora!”
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“Tora! Tora! Tora!” is more of a serious look at the political and military time before and the attack than it is a film showing much emotion from its characters or any real personal characterizations. It is based on two books from the time and examines both militaries and politics of both governments leading up to the attack and its immediate aftermath. “Pearl Harbor” in 2001 that starred Ben Affleck had much more emotion, but is an inherently inferior film – except for its much more spectacular special effects, which were nominated for an Oscar.
The film here is even-handed as it explores both sides of the conflict.
“Tora! Tora! Tora!” shows a somewhat unprepared U.S. military whose own intelligence about the upcoming attack is ignored and pre-war military officials making poor decisions that are obvious – in hindsight, of course. It also shows the determination and dedication of both military and intelligence officers on both sides. For the Japanese, it shows the conflict of those for and against war with the United States and its will-emerge trait.
Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, played here exceptionally well by So Yamamura (it’s spelled “Soh” in the film’s credits), is pictured as the brilliant architect of the attack but also someone who doesn’t want to go to war with the U.S. and believes that Japan will be in a conflict it cannot win if they do not achieve victory within a year.
During “Tora! Tora! Tora!,” the action crisscrosses from the Japanese to the Americans – from the military infrastructures to the political leaders and finally to the attack itself. The filmmakers do a good job in building tension within both the Japanese and especially the U.S. administration as the evidence piles up of an impending attack and then is ignored for a variety of reasons – some understandable and others that were just stupid (such as the U.S. Army not being able to put a radar unit on a peak because the Department of the Interior wouldn’t give it a permit to install something in a national park).
The attack scenes showing Japanese aircraft (in real life, U.S.-made trainers made up to look like WWII-era Japanese fighters and bombers) are very good for film production in the day and won an Oscar for the special effects – and was nominated for four more in art, cinematography, sound and film editing.
Here’s a rundown of some of the more recognizable actors in “Tora! Tora! Tora!” Mostly I’ll focus on the actors for the U.S. side as audiences here are more familiar with their work than their Japanese peers. Overall, it is a strong supporting cast that had to make characters memorable without the benefit of showing much emotion. Here we go:
- An Oscar winner (not for this one), Martin Balsam does an acceptable job as “Adm. Husband E. Kimmel,” the commander-in-chief of the U.S. fleet based at Pearl Harbor. Balsam is competent in his role but doesn’t distinguish himself. In real life, Kimmel warned of a possible Japanese air assault on the harbor nine months before the attack but was still relieved of his command 10 days after it. Balsam is a veteran actor who was also in “12 Angry Men” and “All the President’s Men” (click here to read my review) with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. He won his statue for 1965’s “A Thousand Clowns.” He died in Italy at 76 in 1996 of a stroke.
- As I previously noted, Yamamura does a great job here. He is the backbone of the Japanese side of the equation here and does a good job although all of his dialogue is in Japanese and subtitled. Yamamura was also in “Gung Ho” with Michael Keaton and has 124 credits in a prolific career spanning six decades. He died in 2000 at the age of 90 of complications from a heart attack.
- Joseph Cotten plays Secretary of War “Henry Stimson” and, like Balsam, does a credible but somewhat bland job of it. Cotton was in a number of films including “Citizen Kane” and even did an episode of “The Love Boat” in the last year of his career in 1981. Thank you for “The Love Boat,” Mr. Cotton (click here for my look at that iconic series). He died at 88 in 1994 of pneumonia.
- A Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), E.G. Marshall is the most animated and engaged military officer here and he plays “Col. Rufus S. Bratton.” He’s an intelligence officer who is perceived as someone who cries wolf. Marshall gives the best turn of all the actors on the U.S. side, but doesn’t match Yamamura’s effort. Marshall was notable for his portrayal of the prosecutor in “The Caine Mutiny” (click here to read my review) as well as one of the fathers in that great Christmas flick “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (click here to read my review). Marshall was nominated for TV’s “The Defenders.” He died at 84 in 1998 of lung cancer.
- A two-time Oscar nominee (not for this one), James Whitmore plays “Adm. William F. ‘Bull’ Halsey” in a quite uninspired fashion. It’s not his best work and Robert Mitchum would do a much better job as the same character six years later in “Midway” (click here to read my review). Whitmore was in “Planet of the Apes” and “The First Deadly Sin” with Frank Sinatra. His two nominations were for “Give ‘em Hell, Harry” and “Battleground.” He died at 87 in 2009 of lung cancer.
- One actor who did a notable job is Japanese actor Asao Uchida, who plays “Gen. Hideki Tojo,” who was Japan’s minister of war. He does a nice job here with his emotions and especially his expressions. Uchida had a prolific career mostly in Japanese cinema and TV and notched 103 credits before his death in 1996. In real life, Tojo was captured, convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. He was hanged in 1948. As for the actor, he died at 76 in 1996.
The amazingly large cast can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here for the IMDb.com page. Also, the film had three directors: Richard Fleischer for the scenes involving the U.S. and its military and Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda for scenes featuring the Japanese.
Reports about how successful “Tora! Tora! Tora!” was in 1970 can vary by Internet source. Some report that it was a “flop” in North America (although it was in the top 10 box office hits of the year in the U.S.) but all say it was a resounding hit in Japan. For the record, “Tora! Tora! Tora!” earned $29.5 million for ninth place at the U.S. box office, according to Wiki, with the No. 1 film being “Love Story” with $103.6 million. The only other film from 1970 that I’ve reviewed is …
- “Kelly’s Heroes” (my favorite Clint war flick) – click here for my review
Assorted cast notes (via IMDb.com):
- Yamamura’s birth name was Hirosada Koga; Cotten’s middle name was Cheshire; and Marshall’s birth name was Everett Eugene Grunz and his nickname was “Eej.”
- Jamie Farr, that most iconic “Cpl. Max Klinger” of TV’s “M*A*S*H,” has an uncredited role doing several voices.
- Directly from IMDb.com: “The African-American mess attendant who fired the machine gun on the West Virginia was Seaman First Class Doris ‘Dorie’ Miller. He was the first African-American to be awarded the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor in the U.S. Armed Forces Order of Precedence. Without any training, he fired the unattended machine gun at the Japanese aircraft until it was out of ammunition. Cuba Gooding Jr. portrayed him in Pearl Harbor (2001).”
- “Tora! Tora! Tora!” is the final film of George Tobias, who plays a captain in an uncredited role, is in his final film role here. He is most recognizable to audiences as the husband of the snoop neighbor in TV’s “Bewitched.” He was the only actor to play “Abner Kravitz” while two actresses played his wife (the first died of cancer while the show was in production). He was also in “The Glass Bottom Boat” with Doris Day (click here to read my review). Tobias died in 1980 and closed out his career of six decades that began in 1929 with a string of TV roles.
- Robards was a U.S. Navy sailor stationed at Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack. However, his ship was at sea and therefore not at dock in the harbor when the Japanese struck.
- Directly from IMDb.com: “The U.S. Navy’s Office of Information was inundated with complaints from U.S. citizens when the military agreed to allow active U.S. servicepersons to participate in the recreation of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which some viewed as glorifying Japanese aggression and showing Americans as unprepared.”
- The film is reportedly the first major Hollywood film to be shot on Fujicolor.
- Roger Ebert obviously disliked the film because he called it dull and gave it just one-star in his review.
- Finally and directly from com: “Contrary to popular belief, the title of this movie means neither ‘Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!’ nor ‘Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!’ in Japanese. The phrase actually comes from the first syllables of “Totsugeki” (meaning attack) and “Raigeki” (for ‘torpedo attack’) yielding TO-RA, TO-RA, TO-RA, which incidentally has the same pronunciation as ‘tiger’ repeated thrice.”
- Click here for IMDb.com’s extensive trivia page about the film …
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