Tora! Tora! Tora!

1970
PG
2h 24m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

38K

YOUR RATING

Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten, Jason Robards, E.G. Marshall, Tatsuya Mihashi, Koreya Senda, Takahiro Tamura, Eijirô Tôno, James Whitmore, and Sô Yamamura in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Home Video Trailer from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

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2 Videos

83 Photos

Historical Epic War Epic Action Drama History War

The story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness.The story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness.The story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness.

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 7 nominations total

Videos2

Photos83

+ 76

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The previous war epic by Darryl F. Zanuck, The Longest Day (1962) was an extreme success. As stated by his son, producer Richard D. Zanuck, this was because it was about victory. He noted in contrast that Tora! Tora! Tora! is about defeat. Although the film made a great deal of money, it did nowhere near as well as The Longest Day. In Japan, however, the film was a smash. For the Japanese audience, it not only depicted a battle victory (after twenty-five years of films depicting defeat) but it also put the attack on more understandable footing; identifying not only the villains but also the motivation of those who believed that their actions were honorable.

Goofs
As the bombers fly toward Pearl Harbor, they pass over the white cross at Scofield Barracks (Kolekole Pass) that was erected in memory of the people killed in the raid.

Quotes
[last lines]
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: I had intended to deal a fatal blow to the American fleet by attacking Pearl Harbor immediately after Japan's official declaration of war. But according to the American radio, Pearl Harbor was attacked 55 minutes before our ultimatum was delivered in Washington. I can't imagine anything that would infuriate the Americans more. II fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

Crazy credits
For the U.S. version of the film, the next to last of the main credits reads "Japanese Sequences Directed by Toshio Masuda Kinji Fukasaku" and the last credit reads, "Directed by Richard Fleischer." For the Japanese version of the film, the next to last credit reads, "American Sequences Directed by Richard Fleischer" and the final credit reads, "Directed by Toshio Masuda Kinji Fukasaku."

Alternate versions
The original release included a line by Admiral Halsey (James Whitmore) saying that after the war, Japanese will only be spoken in Hell. This line is removed from later releases.

Connections
Edited into Battle of Midway (1976)

Soundtracks
At Last
Music by Harry Warren
Played during the cocktail party on Saturday night, Dec. 6.

User reviews229

Review

Featured review

How It All Began

This is one of my favorite war films. What makes it so great is that just like "The Longest Day" this film looks at the events that led up to and during one of the most momentous moments in the history of not only this country, but Japan as well. I also loved the acting in it. Martin Balsam and Jason Robards should have been nominated for their performances as Admiral Kimmel and General Short, respectively. Also, I wonder how much different it would have been if Akira Kurosawa had directed the Japanese scenes as he originally was supposed to. I also wonder if the fact that it dealt with one of the darker chapters in American history had something to to with its poor box office showing on this side of the Pacific (ironically, it was a box office smash in Japan). However, it is still a great film and I especially loved it at the end when Yamamoto made his famous comment "I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with terrible resolve." How right he was.