Released: October 1970

Directed by: Toshio Masuda, Kinji Fukasaku, Richard Fleischer.

Cast: Martin Balsam, Soh Yamamura, Joseph Cotton, Tatsuya Mihashi, E.G. Marshall, Takahiro Tamura, James Whitmore, Koreya Senda, Jason Robarts.

I have always found the Pearl Harbor story fascinating. As a 13-year-old it was likely the ships, airplanes, and explosions. But I wanted to know more, so I did something dangerous, I began to read books. What I learned over the years was a fascinating and complicated story revolving the Dec. 7^th attack, too much for any one movie. However, TORA! TORA! TORA! does an excellent job and is arguably one of the most historically accurate films ever made.

The story is boldly told from both Japanese and American perspectives, treats each side fairly, good or bad. TORA! TORA! TORA! gives us the names of the key players but doesn’t overwhelm us with names of minor characters, dates and times and just lets the events unfold with slowly building tension. Jerry Goldsmiths brilliant score, ominously in the background builds and builds until it hits a crescendo and cuts out to the sound of a Japanese attack plane firing up its engine. This is real, Pearl Harbor will be attacked.

The one thing TORA! TORA! TORA! lacks is a central character(s) with an emotional center to follow.

On the American side we have Col. Bratton (E.G. Marshall) who is convinced of the worst but is frustrated that the people who should be in the know aren’t, and his conclusions about an imminent attack are not taken terribly seriously. The politicians know better. We learn next to nothing about Bratton and his convictions, only that he is very good at his job.

Admiral Kimmel (Martin Balsam) in command of the Pacific Fleet is seemingly powerless as Washington fails time and again to inform and issue proper orders to the people who need to know this stuff the most, himself and General Short (Jason Robarts) who commands the Army in Hawaii. Again, we learn little about these men, both seem capable but frustrated.

On the Japanese side, Japanese Ambassador to the United States, Nomura (Shogo Shimada) is a fascinating character. A man who wants peace with America more than anything else but must convey information and demands that will surely lead to war. He is portrayed as a conflicted, sincere man in a position he does not want to be in.

Finally, Admiral Yamamoto (Soh Yamamura) the most interesting, and complicated character in the film. Yamamoto is the closest to a character with some depth, giving us an opportunity to understand. He knows attacking Pearl Harbor is not the greatest strategic move, but duty forces him to proceed and do the best job he can. This is strongly conveyed. A man having to do an amazing balancing act of duty knowing that they cannot win.

In TORA! TORA! TORA! Yamamoto famously says, ‘I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.’ Historically Yamamoto never said this, however the line is so brilliantly written that it sums up accurately what he knew and felt.

Of course, TORA! TORA! TORA! is a docu-drama with many characters to follow. So, it really can’t take the time to get into the things that make these guys tick. That would disrupt the building tension and make the film over three hours long. Ultimately it is Yamamoto who is the center of the film. Although the others are filled with conflict, frustration, and doubt, it’s Yamamoto’s conflict that matters the most. The guy who must make the attack happen, starting a war Japan cannot possibly win.

TORA! TORA! TORA! is a spectacular film, with the final third of the film devoted to the Pearl Harbor attack. An amazing combination of both real and miniature recreations. I didn’t realize until recently, although there was extensive miniature work done for the film, these shots, as great as they are, are used sparingly. Everything else is real.

I’ve seen this film many times, and occasionally while watching I find the diplomatic and planning sequences more interesting than the execution of the attack itself. It’s a complex story and needs these sequences to make sense of what follows. A proper documentary will be more thorough for sure, but nothing will be more spectacular and realistic than TORA! TORA! TORA!.

Post-script: Col. Bratton ended up buried behind a desk for the duration of the war, where he could stay out of trouble. Admiral Kimmel and General Short were made the scapegoats for being ‘unprepared’ at the time of the attack. Ambassador Nomura was allowed to return to Japan in 1942 and maintained a positive relationship with the United States for the rest of his life. Admiral Yamamoto was killed when his plane was shot down in April 1943, a little less than a year after the tide had turned against Japan. Just as he had predicted.

TORA! TORA! TORA! is available on DVD and Blu Ray from Fox Home Video.