Tora! Tora! Tora!

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Template:Infobox Film Template:Nihongo is a 1970 film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the series of American blunders that unintentionally improved its effectiveness. The title is the code-words that were used by the Japanese to indicate that complete surprise was achieved, using a repetition of the Japanese word for tiger. At the time it was released into theaters, it was a financial disaster but over the years, purchase of the recorded versions allowed a profit. The movie was critically acclaimed for its vivid action scenes (in fact several later films relating to World War II in the Pacific would use footage from Tora, Tora, Tora) as well as its almost documentary accuracy. Its most famous line, however, though widely assumed to be a quotation, transpired to be fictitious.

The film is a dramatization based upon the actual history of events leading up to the attack, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. While later research has proven many beliefs of the time to be incorrect, nothing in the film was disproved. The commanders in Hawaii, General Short and Admiral Kimmel, though scapegoated for decades, are accurately portrayed as taking the best defensive measures possible for the apparent threats, and not being warned of the increasing risk of aerial attack, obvious in Washington but invisible in Honolulu.

The shallow water of Pearl Harbor is identified as a natural defense against aerial torpedoes. Unmentioned in the final film, the Japanese modified their torpedoes to not dive so deeply.

1 The Storyline
2 Production and filming
3 Cast
4 Screenshots
5 See also
6 External links

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The Storyline

The film opens aboard a Japanese battleship, flagship for Admiral Yamamoto. Soon he orders the planning of an attack on American forces, and we follow this through the various stages. After a look at the state of American defenses in Hawaii, we look into the American intelligence efforts in Washington, where the Japanese Purple Code has been broken.

As the Japanese prepare for the attack, Admiral Kimmel and General Short do their best to enhance defenses. Short calls for aircraft to be concentrated in the middle of their airfields, to protect them against sabotage. A few are moved to outlying airfields, including two young Army lieutenants who are sent to Haliewa.

Once the attack is launched, American response is desperate and only partially effective.

At the end, Yamamoto is quoted as saying "I fear that all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve." In fact, while this reflects Yamamoto's feelings, the quote is now believed to be a fabrication.

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Production and filming

The film was created in two separate productions, one based in the United States, directed by Richard Fleischer, and one based in Japan. The Japanese side of the production was initially directed by Akira Kurosawa, but after two years of work with no useful results, 20th Century Fox turned the project over to Kinji Fukasaku who completed it.

The screenplay was written by Ladislas Farago, Larry Forrester, Ryuzo Kikushima, and Hideo Oguni, based on the book by Gordon W. Prange. Charles Wheeler, the cinematographer, was nominated for an Oscar. The film contains second unit and miniature photography, shot by Ray Kellogg. The film score composer was Jerry Goldsmith.

The "Japanese" aircraft used in the film were actually modified American planes.

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