Tora Tora Tora (1970) ♡ MOVIE REACTION - FIRST TIME WATCHING!

Thank you for watching my reaction as I watch "Tora Tora Tora" for the first time! ♡
🎬 P A T R E O N 🍿
for uncut, full-length movie reactions, early access and behind-the-scenes goodies check out my patreon! ↬ / centane
WATCH ME LIVE ON TWITCH ↬ / centane
🍿 anime channel ↬ / @centaneanime
🎮 exclusive playthroughs ↬ / @kamillaa
Join our Community Discord ↬ / discord
🩷 social media 🩷
linktr.ee/centane
↬ instagram: / stinekami
↬ twitter: / kcentane
💌 business inquiries:
[e-mail]
#moviereaction #firsttimewatching #toratoratora

[@masudashizue777]

Unlike that other popcorn flick, "Tora, Tora, Tora" was a serious effort to recreate the events surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack. There's no comparison.

[@nickmitsialis]

I view it knowing the history BUT, you see people trying to head off the drift towards war or perhaps prepare for what's coming. It's like watching an accident in slow motion. You wish cooler heads would prevail but you know how it will turn out.

[@mattp6089]

Pearl Harbor sucked... And this movie didn't.

[@IcyTorment]

It's amazing that they actually thought that adding a romance subplot would improve the story.

[@helifanodobezanozi7689]

"Pearl Harbor" was exactly what it was envisioned to be and did it quite well making $449,000,000. This movie (Tora, Tora, Tora) is a docu-drama and it (Pearl Harbor) was a summer box-office movie for teen audiences. While this movie is more historically accurate, it is by no means, "better." Apples and oranges.

[@abellseaman4114]

@@helifanodobezanozi7689 IT IS ABSURD that a film maker would play fast and loose with historical facts and then present their LOW QUALITY JUNK AS HISTORY as was the case with Pearl Harbour!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@tehawfulestface1337]

The film Pearl Harbor is almost a cartoon if you compare it to Tora, Tora, Tora. Pearl Harbor was made for today’s audiences, while Tora, Tora, Tora would probably bore today’s audience. Sad. No CGI. Practical effects and actual stunt flying. Every effort to get accurate American planes. While they took the time and effort to make Japanese ones with American planes heavily modified to make them look Japanese. Like the Longest Day, known American and Japanese actors were cast. As a young lad I have watched many of these actors in many classic films. With just dialogue this film succeeds in creating tension, of missed chances, mistakes made, time running out. Heroes in the right places thwarted by lazy incompetents higher up the chain. Then the short battle scene at the end that has never been eclipsed. Well done, Kamilla. You really got into the film.

[@jimhsfbay]

To quote Team America: World Police…Pearl Harbor sucks.

[@Ranid-eq6so]

​@@jimhsfbayGood job, you beat me to it!

[@mrtveye6682]

I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark when he made Pearl Harbor. I miss you more than that movie missed the point and that's a lot girl. And now, now you've gone away and all I'm trying to say is Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you. I need you like Ben Affleck needs acting school. He was terrible in that film. I need you like Cuba Gooding needed a bigger part. He's way better than Ben Affleck, and now all I can think about is your smile and that shitty movie too, Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you. Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies. I guess Pearl Harbor sucked just a little bit more than I miss you.

[@actaeon299]

"Pearl Harbor (the movie)" was a "love story" with inconvenient war scenes interspersed. "Tora Tora Tora" is pretty much the "definitive" movie of the story of Pearl Harbor. Not quite a "documentary", it keeps the viewer interested in the story. Also, it did NOT attribute the Japanese as all caricatures.

[@brianwilson9206]

@@tehawfulestface1337 Pearl Harbor the movie was a joke. They couldn’t even decide if it was a war movie or a love story, oh btw let’s throw in the battle of Britain AND the Doolittle raid to boot..🙄

[@mikealvarez2322]

The woman flying the trainer with her student pilot was Cornellia Fort. She narrowly escaped a collision with a Japanese bomber and she and her student were almost killed when a zero fighter strafed them after they landed. Cornellia signed up for the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, WASP. Their job was to fly planes to needed destinations. She was killed in a midair collision with another plane in 1943. She was 24 years old.😢 28:49

[@user-gt2uf8cq9y]

The midair collision was the result of her being sexually harassed by a male pilot, in the air, bumping her wings etc.

[@mikealvarez2322]

@@user-gt2uf8cq9y That's horrible. She was very pretty. I hope the bastard rots in hell.

[@QBAN2010]

Glad you mentioned that Mike! Seemed like fiction but everything you say is true!!!!

[@TheLucanicLord]

No doubt the critical drinker thinks she was a DEI hire.

[@jeffcoat1959]

They portrayed her as much older in the movie.

[@MayhapsYes]

2:00 I'm sorry but the movie Pearl Harbor is a love story masquerading as a war movie.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

A pud story you say? Agreed.

[@davidmarquardt9034]

@MayhapsYes Pearl Harbor (2001) Has the most savage and yet funny review by a critic. I believe he described it as "A torrid tropical, paradise, love affair; rudely and violently interrupted by a war breaking out at the same time." Soap opera, yes/historical accurate, no.

[@billolsen4360]

Also, watch "From Here To Eternity" from 1953 to get more perspective on the Pearl Harbor attack. It's a couple of love stories too, but pretty gritty on the military side of things.

[@usgreth]

I was going to say I don't know why they bolted that romantic drama to it, but actually it is pretty obvious. Titanic was released just a few years before as both a historical movie and a romance movie and it did really well for it.

[@cardiac19]

Not a very good love story at that.

[@ericlarsen1920]

This is a much more accurate depiction of the lead up to and the attack on Pearl Harbor than the recent Pearl Harbor movie.

[@mikealvarez2322]

The movie PEARL HARBOR is a joke. It is the worst movie about the attack ever made.

[@alanholck7995]

Large portions of Pearl Harbor are complete fiction.

[@DEWwords]

@@mikealvarez2322 , it's embarrassing to look at--- the CGI is awful! And the actors posing in front of blue screens...

[@mikealvarez2322]

@@DEWwords words cannot describe how bad PEARL HARBOR is.

[@jimmers123]

@@DEWwords unwatchable garbage, especially seeing modern Destroyers and Frigates in the background shots.

[@Ჽum]

One of the most historically accurate war movies ever made, and one of my personal favorites. Critically it didn't get the praise it deserved at the time of it's release since it is fairly long, but it's by far the most realistic depiction of the events leading up to Japan's attack, and of course the attack itself. I read a ton about WW2 throughout my youth (was planning on majoring in history, but now I'm studying finance/econ instead), so even though I have that Gen Z attention span, I personally never had any problem with the pacing of it.

[@brianwilson9206]

@@Ჽum A bridge too far from s another fairly good depiction with a 💩load of stars.

[@tvc184]

@@brianwilson9206 And The Longest Day. Both A Bridge Too Far and The Longest Day from history books written by Cornelius Ryan.

[@seekexplorewander]

@@brianwilson9206 And the Longest Day.

[@roberttaylor5997]

@@brianwilson9206 Also The Battle of Britain. And Midway.

[@cold-warfool7512]

After this one you should definitely watch, The Battle of Midway (1976).

[@BillMartin-h2g]

Keep in mind, this was not CGI. Those were actual pilots, flying actual planes, performing choreographed maneuvers for cameras.

[@Tuning3434]

That B-17 landing with jammed landing gear was a real accident that happened during filming. When the film crew heard of the failure, they quickly set up camera's to film the landing. This was possible as the plane was kept flying as long as possible to burn off as much fuel as possible, allowing crew to prepare. Damage was minimal and repearable. The US director told that the scenes with one P40 model crashing into other P40s was unintentional and stuntmen where actually running for their lives. We should appreciate what risks people took to tell stories to the public: 20th Century Fox wanted to make an epic that revised Kimmel's and Short's role, as just after the attack, both where scapegoated for being unprepared, while in reality there was a major communications breakdown in the US government and military service. Leaving everyone to use their judgement against what they expected (e.g. attacks on Wake Island, Guam and Philippines) hindered by the strained resources in the run-up to the war. )

[@BillMartin-h2g]

@Tuning3434 Yes, it's disgaceful how Kimmel and Short were treated. They weren't even allowed courts martial, denying them the opportunity to cross examine accusers or present witnesses in defense, and all aspects of inquiries and investigations declared classified.

[@alexhale2696]

Naval Japanese personnel that were apart of the Pearl Harbor attack were used as advisors for this movie. That's why it's one of the most accurate and best war movies ever made. *also, if you do watch Pearl Harbor, watch the Director's Cut.

[@keithralston1133]

You couldn't pay me to watch that piece of garbage.

[@HollywoodMarine0351]

Avoid watching PH.

[@Ambaryerno]

Although the better recommendation would be to not watch Pearl Harbor at all.

[@donsample1002]

Though one of those advisors was very much into self promotion of his own importance of the “If only they listened to me, we would have done even more damage!” type. He was also a big influence on the 70s _Midway_ film. He’s the pilot depicted at the end asking why they aren’t launching a third attack wave.

[@raymondsmith7993]

@@keithralston1133 What do you find it hard to believe that P-40 fighter pilots could switch over to flying a twin engine bomber and learn to takeoff from a carrier in a week or two?

[@gkiferonhs]

This is one of the most historically accurate movies about WWII that has been made. It is also cool in that it was filmed as two movies with the Japanese parts filmed with all Japanese actors, director, etc. and the US parts filmed here.

[@spasjt]

You are the first person I have found that has reacted to this movie!!! And it is, as you have seen for yourself, amazing and totally worth watching. Most people want to watch 2-3 screens at once but you can't do that with good movies and be expected to follow everything.

[@bobschenkel7921]

"Tora Tora Tora", Japanese for "Tiger Tiger Tiger", is one of if not THE best war movies ever made. It is so superior to "Pearl Harbor" that I suggest you give that movie a miss. The quality and authenticity of "Tora Tora Tora" is spectacular, ALL the effects, except for a few miniature shots, are real, there was no CGI at the time, so all effects were practical. BTW, those guys were really running for their lives in the airfield attack scene. A radio controlled plane went out of control and had to be blown up by the effects crew. And that plane landing on one wheel was a real stunt performed for the movie, not stock footage. Thank you for your sometimes quiet reaction, once the attack began, the on-screen action was saying all that needed to be said.

[@tomw324]

It looks like a real B17 with one gear down up to the point of touchdown however after that it really looks like a large well done model. Not sure they would have actually done something like that, even in the 70s, with a real B17. Now the crash landing of the B17 in the opening of 12 Oclock High in the 50s is definitely a real one.

[@bobschenkel7921]

@@tomw324 Hey Tom, I have the Blu-Ray DVD of "Tora", and in the commentary, Director Richard Fleisher says the B-17 landing on one wheel was a real stunt, done by their pilot, and filmed by five different cameras. They only used two shots in the movie, but it was dome FOR REAL.

[@williamivey5296]

​@@tomw324 The one crashing is real. It looks different because they had only minutes to get a camera in position and no real choice of lenses. To frame it properly the had to crop and print from what they got.

[@williamivey5296]

​@@bobschenkel7921 A stunt pilot recreated the event right to the point of one wheel in contact with the runway. The crash was footage taken of one of the planes actually crash landing when it first arrived from California with a stuck gear. The story was written up in an issue of American Cinematographer when the film was released. I still have that issue.

[@williamivey5296]

The signal was sent as a two character code which is the phonetic form of "Tiger" and the characters abbreviated the codeword "totsugeki raigeki" or Lightning Attack. Pretty cool

[@martensjd]

I was in 6th grade fall of '70. A local movie theater had a special daytime showing of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" for students at our school, and we got a field trip out of it. This was in Blacksburg, VA, and apparently the teaching staff at our school thought it was important enough for the kids to see. n hindsight, I agree.

[@mikematusek4233]

I was in 4th grade when it hit.

[@porflepopnecker4376]

My Dad was a Marine stationed at Pearl Harbor when the attack happened. Over the years our family was often awakened at least once a week in the middle of the night by his horrible nightmares. He didn't talk much about it, but he did mention once that one of his worst memories was of seeing men swimming in water burning with oil. We all watched this movie on TV one night and it was an emotional experience for him.

[@solvingpolitics3172]

I could only imagine his pain. My father was decorated for valor as a Forward Mortar scout on Iwo Jima. He suffered from severe PTSD the rest of his life.

[@mikealvarez2322]

@@porflepopnecker4376 My late father-in-law was a waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator. He was stationed in N. Africa and later Italy. He served from beginning to end of the war. Ann, his wife told me that Jim only talked about the war a couple of years after he came home and only did so for a few months usually after having "a bad dream". She promised him she would not tell anyone about his experiences during the war. The only thing he ever said to me was, "Thank God you never have to see what a Bf109 20mm cannon can do to a man." Ann did tell me that the nightmares subsided as time went on. Another interesting thing about Jim, he never went back up in an airplane after the war. All the vacations the family took were by car. He lived a good life after the war. He went to work for GE, adopted a brother and sister (my wife), and became a lay preacher. His younger brother fought in Korea and was decorated for valor and earned a Purple Heart. No one in the fàmily knew these things until after his death.

[@CrustyRetiredMarine]

The first Japanese POW was a shot down pilot, who was quickly dispatched by a Marine corporal and his bayonet. I didn’t say he was a POW for long.

[@CrustyRetiredMarine]

@@solvingpolitics3172the Battle of Iwo Jima has been described as “throwing raw meat at a brick wall.”

[@dennissipsy3152]

This was such a well done and accurate film portrayal that we watched it in college in our WWII class. We home schooled our kids, and watched this every December 7th. I bought the kids cheap plastic machine guns that used to be sold at the dollar store, and we'd hide behind the sofa for protection. As soon as the air raid started, we would return fire at the big screen until the raid ended. The movie is long and drawn out for a little kid, but they would be willing to sit through it for the action at the end. My youngest son is now deployed to Poland as a SAW gunner in the Army. He texts me every year on 12/7, reminding me to "never forget."

[@dougearnest7590]

47:57 "Are you two going to take on so many people?" Yep. IIRC, there were seven or eight Air Corps pursuit (fighter) pilots who managed to get airborne during the attack. Not all were in the proper uniform. Some had been partying all night long and were still in "formal" uniform, or at least partially dressed. One was said to be wearing tuxedo pants and a pajama top, and one took off in purple pajamas with a .45 strapped to his hip.

[@Ryan_Christopher]

Air Battle over the Philippines was just as crazy. While what few American Airmen engaged with P-40s, Philippine Air Force crews engaged with P-36 “Peashooters” which were already obsolete and were being used as Trainers.

[@robertstallings7820]

@@Ryan_Christopher Fact Check: The Boeing “Peashooter” was the P-26, not P-36. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-26_Peashooter

[@tehawfulestface1337]

@@Ryan_ChristopherMy parents were young kids when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. My dad witnessed a dogfight where a Zero won and shot down the defending fighter in flames. My mom told me stories of the liberation with American planes flying treetop level, the people cheering them on. Beautiful fighters in silver with a distinct sound from twin engines. The Filipinos called them ‘double bodies’! I grew up calling the P-38 Lightning ‘double bodies’!

[@MightyDrakeC]

Interesting. I had read that there were only two planes to get airborne during the raid. I am sure I read that in a couple of places. I wonder why so many got it wrong

[@dougearnest7590]

@@MightyDrakeC - I'm only speculating, but possibly because most of them were working singularly or in pairs - taking off from different fields, etc. and not attacking as a squadron. So most stories will be about two pilots. Also, there's the awful Pearl Harbor movie.

[@coldflamebluedragon196]

An all time classic movie that never gets old

[@OhArchie]

I lived in Hawaii as a kid, my dad was a Naval officer. When we first got there we lived temporarily in a small hotel that sat directly across from the naval shipyards at Pearl Harbor. From the balcony of our room we watched as they filmed this movie and I vividly remember watching Japanese zeros fly over the line of ships as they re-enacted the attack for the cameras. Also, did you notice that Admiral Halsey was played by James Whitmore, who also played Brooks on "The Shawshank Redemption"?

[@jeffburnham6611]

My Dad was stationed on Oahu in the 1960's. He told me as an Engineer they were tearing down some old barracks that still had bullet holes from being strayed by Japanese planes that day. The airfields were a primary target that day.

[@edb6690]

We stayed at that hotel too when we were first arriving in Hawaii. My dad was stationed there from 66 to 69. I remember there was a sugar cane field across the street we used to go play in during the day. We used to break open the cane stalks and chew the sugar off the fibers.

[@edb6690]

Our first navy housing near Pearl Hzrbor was old WWII housing. They were arranged in half circles with a bomb shelter we surrounded. We used to climb all over them and once we got the air vent cover off and tied a rope and dropped into the hole. We climbed down but forgot a flashlight so we could only see like a foot around.

[@ControlTouchMaster]

What makes Tora Tora Tora so good is that it’s filmed in both the USA and in Japan showing the attack from both the Japanese and American perspectives. The film is a masterpiece.

[@themooseisloose94]

My Dad has VHS copy of this film and it was one of the first war films I ever saw. It is so good and holds up well even today. So good to see a reactor on YT watching this

[@williamivey5296]

Minoru Genda, who is referred to in the movie as a planner of the attack, served as a technical advisor on the film. He was on the American carrier standing in for a Japanese carrier when they were launching the planes into the dawn and is said to have exclaimed, "That is just what it looked like!" His name was left out of the credits to avoid a confrontation with US veterans' groups who might have protested the film. It was less than 30 years after the event, after all.

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

"The American carrier standing in for a Japanese carrier" Wait, you mean they didn't dredge off the coast of Midway Island to find a Japanese Aircraft carrier to make this movie pass your standard of realism?

[@SPOCK_TALK]

Now you have to react to "MIDWAY" 1976 version. An all-star cast: Charlton Heston, Robert Mitchem, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, James Colburn, Tom Selleck, Robert Wagner, Erik Estrada and many more.

[@thunderstruck5484]

Saw at the theater with Sensurround!

[@MuncleJim]

I was also going to suggest this one because I also remember seeing in the theater as a kid. I haven’t seen the more recent move ‘ Pearl Harbor’ so I can’t say if it’s worth seeing or not.

[@Ambaryerno]

In this case, the more recent 2019 movie is actually better despite its flaws. It covers a LOT of history that the 1976 film left out. And no random cuts to stock footage of 1950s jet aircraft crashing.

[@jonc7739]

There's also a more recent version with Woody Harleson and Dennis Quaid that is worth watching as well.

[@pattheriot3963]

I'm hesitant to recommend the 1976 Midway film. It was clearly made on the cheap with little footage of the battle being original and most of it being taken from other films.

[@dietpepsivanilla3095]

The two fighter pilots that got up, George Welch and Ken Taylor shot down seven planes between them. Welch was one of the top aces for the U.S. with 16 confirmed kills, including his four at Pearl Harbor.

[@DetTigerFan]

I remember when our 7th grade class saw it in the theater, when these two P-40's took off it was one of the few times during the movie we cheered.

[@marke8323]

Yamamoto attended and eastern U.S. college and served as a Diplomat for the Japanese Government in Washington D.C. He personally advised against an attack on the U.S. but did as he was ordered to do. He told his people that for 6 months to a year he could control the Pacific but any longer than that the American Manufacturing capability would overwhelm Japan. He called the attack as "Waking the sleeping Tiger"

[@davestang5454]

The Japanese made the same stupid strategic errors that the Germans made. They tried to take over too much territory, much of which they did not need and which made it very difficult to control their gains. This required an overload on their manpower and resources. 6 months of "good times" was about right. Midway really spelled the beginning of the end for the Japanese naval forces.

[@Ambaryerno]

The "Sleeping Giant" quote may have been invented for the movie. There's no record of him having ever said it, though he may have privately had a similar sentiment.

[@ericsierra-franco7802]

​@@AmbaryernoExactly! Yamamoto never said.

[@ericsierra-franco7802]

​@@AmbaryernoExactly! Yamamoto never said.

[@larrybremer4930]

I was looking to make this exact same comment. Japan had the best Naval Aviators on Earth when the War started and were equipped with very good aircraft for the time and had meaningful superiority compared to the US Pacific Fleet with the Allies Navies largely redeployed into the Atlantic for convoy duty and many US ships going to the Allies in Lend Lease. Yamamoto knew once hostilities started the US could both quickly build up and replace lost ships where Japan's own shipyards production was anemic by comparison. The numbers say it all. From 1942 to 1945 Japan completed 5 new carriers (which I believe all were laid down prior to Pearl) while the US produced 151 of which around 40 were fleet carriers and the rest being smaller escort carriers. The other problem was brain drain. Japan invested a lot of training on a few professions like pilots and mechanics while the US operated huge programs and constantly rotated people between active duty and training instructors so actual insights were passed to the new guys. Again in Japan the training of qualified people to fill those critical roles was too small to sustain the losses. At Midway in particular Japan lost the bulk of its veteran aviators and support specialists that kept them flying. Even if they could replace the material, they could not replace the trained and experienced men they lost. For those reasons Yamamoto knew he could leverage his advantages only as long as he held them and he knew one way or the other either Japan's losses would lose that superiority, or just the vastness of production and training resources for the US would overpower them. In the end both came to pass. It is easy to see through the lens of history that the Axis powers had no chance of prevailing because in the end all of WWII was a war of attrition, and the Allies had more money and manpower to throw into the grinder. The US also gave the Allies one final Ace because our factories and production were well out of reach of any serious enemy attack.

[@Nomad-vv1gk]

This movie was released September 23, 1970. The scene where the military band keeps playing "The Star Spangled Banner" even while they are under attack is in keeping with military code: when the US national anthem is played, it must be played through regardless under any circumstance. So, when the conductor starts frantically accelerating the piece's tempo as the Japanese attack begins, he is keeping to military protocol while trying to give himself and the band the soonest opportunity to take cover.The top speed of the U. S. battleships was 21 knots, the Yorktown class aircraft carriers top speed was 32.5 knots.

[@Swamp_Fox]

I was stationed at Schofield Barracks and arrived in Hawaii on December 7th, 1988. While I was on the island, they were still finding torpedoes in the harbor and ammunition buried by the front gate at Schofield. You should watch Midway when you can; it's another fantastic movie from this time period.

[@gazoontight]

The black man manning a machine gun during the attack was Mess Attendant Doris Miller, who received a Navy Cross for his actions that day. The actor who announces the attack on the USS Nevada is the same one who played Senator Geary in The Godfather Part Two and General Corman in Apocalypse Now.

[@darthrevan4933]

Also correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t he a cook at the time and just jumped on the gun in the middle of the attack?

[@gazoontight]

@@darthrevan4933 He was a Mess Attendant; yes, he worked in the kitchen.

[@peterandjunko]

@@darthrevan4933yes you are correct. The 4th Gerald Ford class aircraft carrier will be launched in 2029. Name: USS Doris Miller.

[@rollmops7948]

the actor playing Amiral William F. Halsey (the one with big eyebrows) was the old man Brooks, who hanged himself in the "Shawshank Redemption"

[@WarrenBridges-um5cg]

@rollmops7948 James Whitmore. I first saw him in the 1954 science fiction "THEM!!"

[@GunnyDeuce44]

That would be James Whitmore. An absolutely terrific actor who could pull off any role.

[@rustygunner8282]

And his son, James Whitmore Jr. played a Marine Corsair pilot on “Black Sheep Squadron”.

[@GunnyDeuce44]

@@rustygunner8282 Exactly right! In the first and by far the best season of the show (Fall of 1976) he played Captain James ”Jim” Gutterman who was the Executive Officer of the Squadron. Also in the first few years of NCIS he directed a huge percentage of the episodes.

[@Grynslvr2]

In 1970 I was a high school freshman (9th grade) in a Texas high school with about 3,400 students. All, yes all of the history classes were taken by school busses to see this movie in the theater, in shifts, for a couple of days. The school paid for the movie tickets. That was the only time in 12 years of public school that we ever went out to see a movie. This movie was considered educational material by the school. That was how good this movie was.

[@captainkangaroo4301]

I vividly remember seeing this movie in the theater when it came out with my older brother. He died in Vietnam 6 months later. It was a great memory of him that night.

[@paulfeist]

Taken as a whole (there ARE nits to pick... but on the whole) this movie is one of the BEST historical docu-dramas ever made. This movie could be used to teach a class on the proximal causes of the Pacific War, and the start of the theater of war in the central pacific and the attach on Pearl Harbor. All of that aside... it's one heck of a suspenseful thriller! You know what's going to happen, but you're still on the edge of your seat waiting for it!

[@johnbruin5547]

You mentioned submarines. I highly suggest you watch "Das Boot" (1981) It's a classic war thriller.

[@bigsarge8795]

+ 1 for Das Boot. It is the GOAT of submarine films.

[@aclark7243]

Another vote for Das Boot. It is a unique film seeing the submarine war in the Atlantic from the point of view of a German crew.

[@thomasfahey8763]

But please, for the love of god not the director's cut.

[@becool4223]

Tora Tora Tora is still the definitive movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor. This movie ticks off the historical facts one after another as best they were known from the historical accounts, no other film has ever even attempted to be as true and accurate as this one...and they also attempt to show the events from both sides filming the Japanese perspective in Japan with a Japanese director, cast and crew.

[@Varzaak]

I taught and or studied history for over 50 years. This is about as close as to what actually happened that you will ever get. Seen this probably 30 times including its theatrical release on my own time. Best war movie made outside of Tora Tora Tora is: Waterloo with Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer, Zulu with Stanley Baker and Michael Cain, Gettysburg with Tom Berringer and Jeff Daniels, and finally Patton with George C Scott. After those films you start getting more and more into fantasy. I would also recommend the HBO mini series John Adams with Paul Giamatti.

[@tomw324]

Also A Bridge too Far. The John Adams series is excellent!

[@jamesoliver6625]

This movie is unbelievably more true to history that the movie "Pearl Harbor." The dialog has many expressions included known to have been uttered by the people portrayed. The problem was that in Japan, as a practical matter, the Army was in charge, and General Tojo as head of the Army AND Prime Minister, was fresh off of a decade of military success in China and Manchuria.

[@8.6hba1c7]

この映画をチョイスするのがすばらしい。

[@Bill-v7p8x]

Another reason I think the 70s is one of the greatest decades for movies! As a history buff (and Navy vet), I appreciate how it blended historical fact to create a complex yet interesting story. For example, the woman in the biplane (forgot her name for the moment) did actually get into that situation while some of the many errors made along the way by both nations led to the end result. Plus I love how it shows (implicitly at least) how Kimmel and Short were left out to dry. My favorite line is when the Navy LtSG tells Richard Anderson's Capt, "You wanted confirmation? There's your confirmation!"

[@Otokichi786]

"Tora! Tora! Tora!": What is a youngster doing watching this "old, long, 'Roger Ebert called it dull,' sorta accurate" World War II movie? Thank you for screening this old tale, since not even Turner Classic Movies shows it any more. 2:05 Comparing this "seen from both sides" movie to "Pearl Harbor" (2001) is like comparing middle school fan fiction to "Victory at Sea" combat footage. (In short, no comparison at all. "Tora! Tora! Tora!' is "History writ with lightning.";) I saw both productions' Wheeler Field attack movie aircraft circling overhead in 1969 and 1999. "Pearl Harbor" is pure soap opera with "sex among the parachutes" and way too many factual errors onscreen. In 1941, the American people were firmly Isolationist, wanting nothing to do with "another European war." The Pearl Harbor attack did indeed "wake a sleeping giant and fill it a terrible resolve." 35:00 U.S.S. Ward fired the first shots of The Pacific War/World War II. The IJN midget submarine wasn't found until 2002, with a shell hole just below the conning tower.

[@rbravender1]

As near as I can tell, the only thing “Pearl Harbor” gets reasonably right is the destruction of the Arizona

[@gmatgmat]

When Tora Tora Tora was filmed, I was in Aiea HS just above Pearl Harbor so we could see the planes flying near by. As the Japanese planes flew by, a fellow student quipped, “Uncle, don’t miss.”. If you grew up then, there were lots of actors from TV and films. Neville Brand, the guy who tried to raise the alarm usually played tough guy villians.

[@robbyrob0723]

Much better depiction than Pearl Harbour movie

[@karidrgn]

That film is such a joke. You can see modern missle cruisers as the planes fly by.

[@kenbattor6350]

I saw this in the theater when it came out (I was 13). It was amazing. It still holds up over 50 years later.

[@jtommygun]

"Tora Tora Tora (1970)" is a remarkable well done movie, it shows the historical events pretty accurate, without too much drama depicting heroic americans of bad japanese, While "Pearl Harbour 2001" is Romance/War movie the drama is very heavy in the film, but the par that involved the actual attack on Pearl Harbour was very good. The Battle of Midway is another historic event that produce another good movie: "Midway (1976)" and his newer counterpart: "Midway (2019)" both are awesome.

[@tvc184]

I read reviews on it many years ago (before internet) and some critics criticized the movie for being too accurate. They were saying that it was more like a documentary instead of entertainment. They failed to see (in my opinion) that the accuracy was what made it great. Certainly it wasn’t 100% but it followed history very closely.

[@karidrgn]

the pearl harbor movie wasn't accurate at all. When the planes fly through harbor you can see modern missle cruisers in the background.

[@warheadsnation]

@@karidrgn The US Navy destroyers you see in Tora Tora Tora are also postwar ships, but it's not a big problem. Getting the aircraft as close to accurate as they did was great. Sacrificing that B-17 in the stunt was horrible.

[@stevetreloar3129]

Great job you appreciated all of the technical and historical features that set this film above the others!

[@timroebuck3458]

This beats PEARL HARBOR all to pieces. This is the straight no nonsense story without a sappy fake romance story. Music in this movie is gut wrenching.

[@bowman05]

A fabulous score by Jerry Goldsmith.

[@Ambaryerno]

I'm SO glad to see someone reacting to this movie. This film is THE most accurate recounting of the events leading up to Pearl Harbor, and its history still holds up today. They used extensive model work to recreate the ships of Battleship Row, and large-scale sets to recreate parts of the Japanese battleship Nagato. Almost every named character in this film depicts a real person. The Ben Affleck Pearl Harbor is Hollywood fluff. THIS movie is HISTORY, and it's by FAR superior than Affleck's Titanic wannabe. At one point, legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was to direct the Japanese segments. Unfortunately his erratic behavior, constant rewrites, and just plain difficult behavior led to his being fired after he spent months shooting, and only had about 15 minutes of usable footage. The Japanese Army and Navy had an INTENSE inter-service rivalry that widely impacted their strategy throughout the War, usually to Japan's detriment. The breaking of Japan's naval codes would prove to be INCREDIBLY important during the War, and was critical to the American victory at the Battle of Midway in June, 1942. So, there are NO actual Japanese aircraft in this film. At the time of filming, there were no airworthy Zero fighters anywhere in the world. Since then, two have been restored to flyable condition. However, there are no intact survivors of the two Japanese bombers: The B5N torpedo bomber, and D3A dive bomber. Every Japanese aircraft in the film was modified from either American AT-6 or BT-13 trainers. They did have a number of flyable American aircraft, including P-40s, a PBY Catalina, (the plane Kimmel is aboard during his arrival) and B-17s. Yamamoto really didn't want war, and he did indeed say the quote about dictating peace terms in the White House. In fact, the US used this as propaganda during the War, to help paint the Japanese as aggressors (when in fact Yamamoto said it to establish how naive the rest of the leadership was about a war with America). He held IMMENSE respect for the United States, not just as a military power, but the American people themselves. The "unsinkable" battleships discussed in the briefing were the giant Yamato and Musashi. Their 18in guns were the largest ever mounted in a battleship, and though shorter than the American Iowa-class, they had a higher displacement. Neither ship survived the War, appropriately being sunk by concerted air attacks. Musashi took 17 bombs and 19 torpedo hits to put down in October, 1944. Yamato, sunk in 1945, took 12 bombs and 7 torpedoes to finish off. Her wreck was discovered in 1982. The flashcards being held up with ship silhouettes were a real thing. Every warship, even of the same class, has a slightly different silhouette due to variations in armament and changes made during construction (USS Hornet, for instance, was a few dozen feet longer than her sister ships Yorktown and Enterprise). The funny thing about this scene is not only does Enterprise look DRASTICALLY different from the Japanese carrier Akagi, but it wasn't even Enterprise on the flash card! The silhouette was of an Essex-class carrier. For decades there was controversy over whether or not USS Ward actually sighted and fired on a Japanese submarine approaching the Harbor. However, the wreckage of the submarine was finally located in 2002, confirming that Ward did indeed sink a Japanese submarine and thus firing the first shots of the War between the US and Japan. The Japanese airstrike is shown overflying a large white cross in the mountains. That cross didn't exist at the time because it was erected AS a memorial for the Pearl Harbor attack. It's a popular myth that one of the B-17s used for filming actually had a mechanical malfunction and had to land with one wheel up, and this was captured for the movie. However, the footage was actually filmed during the War itself. Kimmel actually WAS struck by a spent round, and he really did say that line. And he's not wrong: Had he been killed, he would likely have never been scapegoated for the attack as he and Short were. Only six US fighters managed to get airborne during the raid. The pilots depicted in the film, George Welch and Ken Taylor, were the direct inspirations for the characters played by Affleck and Hartnett in Pearl Harbor. Welch was credited with shooting down four of the attacking aircraft. Taylor was officially credited with two, but also claimed four. The four by Taylor do appear to be corroborated by Japanese records. Welch ultimately shot down 16 enemy aircraft by the end of the War. Welch shot down two more aircraft after Pearl Harbor, bringing his final record to six assuming his claim of four at Pearl Harbor is correct, making both men aces. Taylor and Welch both survived the War. Taylor passed away in 2006, and Welch was killed in a test flight of an F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter in 1954. The dogfight in Tora! Tora! Tora! was not filmed using model work, but using real airplanes and pyrotechnics. Despite the severe damage inflicted at Pearl Harbor, the attack was in many ways a failure. Nagumo's decision to withdraw, rather than launch a third wave, meant the dry docks and oil storage were not destroyed. This allowed the US to refloat and repair many of the ships damaged and sunk in the harbor, and kept Pearl Harbor functional as a forward naval base. Had those facilities been destroyed, the US would have been restricted from operating from the West Coast, greatly reducing their range. Additionally, the absence of the American carriers would be a critical respite; the battleship was already rendered obsolete by naval airpower by the time the War began, and it was the American carriers that would strike the devastating blows at Midway, and led the Allied counteroffensives that began at Guadalcanal. There's no evidence Yamamoto ever actually said the "Sleeping Giant" quote, though he may had those feelings about the aftermath of the attack. Of the American survivors of the raid, there are only 16 still alive.

[@Ambaryerno]

USS Arizona Of the 2403 fatalities in the raid on Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona's 1104 dead made up nearly half. The bomb that struck Arizona penetrated her upper deck armor near Turret 2, and detonated in her forward magazine. The explosion tore the ship apart. Because of the severity of the damage, she was deemed unsalvageable, and was left at her moorings since she was clear of the operable parts of the channel. She has been declared a war grave, with many of her dead left inside her hulk, and her memorial is one of the most recognizable monuments to World War II. Pearl Harbor survivors have been granted the special honor of having their cremated remains interred aboard her. Arizona continues to leak oil into the harbor. USS California California had approximately 100 killed in action during the raid. She settled at the bottom of the harbor, but was able to be refloated, repaired, and refit. She returned to duty in 1944, supporting landings throughout the Central Pacific, before participating in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This was one of the largest naval battles in history, and California she was one of several Pearl Harbor veterans to fight the last engagement between battleships during the Battle of the Surigao Straight. California survived the War, was decomissioned in February, 1947, and ultimately scrapped. USS Enterprise Although Enterprise was not in the harbor during the raid, she was operating near Hawaii, and sent a number of aircraft to Pearl Harbor for shore leave just before the attack began. The planes arrived during the attack, and several were shot down by the Japanese. More tragically, some of Enterprise's fighters were sent over afterwards, and were shot down by nervous American anti-aircraft gunners. Enterprise herself would go on to become the most decorated ship in the history of the US Navy, earning 20 battle stars. She fought in every major naval campaign in the Pacific, including the pivotal Battle of Midway, where her aircraft were responsible for sinking three of the four Japanese carriers (Yorktown's bombers sank the fourth). Enterprise was severely damaged at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and the Battle of Santa Cruz in the second half of 1942, and the Japanese thought they had sunk her no less than three times, earning her the sobriquet "The Grey Ghost." Her war ultimately ended in 1945 when she was struck by a kamikaze off Okinawa. Enterprise survived and was repaired, but returned to duty just as the War was ending. Her final mission was as part of Operation Magic Carpet, returning Allied military personnel to the United States following the Japanese surrender. Obsolete by War's end and unable to handle the new generation of jet fighters emerging after the War, Enterprise was decommissioned in 1947. After efforts to secure funding to turn her into a museum failed, she was scrapped in 1958, a major travesty. USS Maryland Maryland was relatively lightly damaged, and her repairs were completed by February, 1942. She played a supporting role during the Battle of Midway. Her first offensive action occured supporting landings on Tarawa in late-1943. As with California, Maryland participaed in the Battle of the Surigao Strait as part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. After the War, Maryland participated in Operation Magic Carpet, before decommissioning in 1947. She was scrapped in 1959. USS Nevada After repairs and refit in October, 1942, Nevada's first action came in May, 1943 off Alaska, before being transferred ot the Atlantic for convoy duty. She also participated in preparations leading up to the invasion of Normandy, and was one of the five battleships that provided fire support during the D-Day landings. This made Nevada the only battleship to be present at both Pearl Harbor and Normandy. Following support of invasions in Southern France, Nevada had her guns relined, at which point the guns of her Number 1 turret were replaced with guns that were formerly used by USS Arizona (which had been removed before the raid for relining). Nevada later participated in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the War, Nevada was selected as a target ship during the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests in 1946. Even the atomic bombs were not sufficient to put her down, and she was ultimately expended as a gunnery target by USS Iowa in 1948. Her wreck was located in 2020. USS Oklahoma Oklahoma capsized due to torpedo damage, and her 415 dead was second only to Arizona. Many of them were trapped below decks and continued to knock on pipes and the hull for days after the raid. After the raid, Oklahoma was deemed salvageable, and after considerable effort managed to be righted and refloated. However, the Navy ultimately deemed her too old and damaged to be returned to service, so was decommisioned and spent the rest of the War tied up in the harbor. In 1947 she was rigged for towing, but en route she began taking on water and sank. Her wreck has not been located. USS Pennsylvania Pennsylvania was in dry dock at the time of the raid for refit. As a result, she survived the raid with only light damage, and was the first of the Pearl Harbor battleships to return to service. She saw combat throughout the Pacific, and participated in the Battle of the Surigao Strait. Pennsylvania was the last major US warship damaged during the War, when she was struck by a torpedo days before the Japanese surrender. Pennsylvania was designated a target ship for Operation Crssroads alongside Nevada, and surviving both blasts was scuttled in 1948. USS Tennessee USS Tennessee suffered relatively light damage during the attack, but was trapped by Maryland, Oklahoma, and West Virginia until they could be moved clear. She was repaired alongside Maryland, and after brief service returned to port for modernization. Tennessee participated in numerous battles throughout the Pacific, including Tarawa, Kwajalein, and, as with many other Pearl Harbor veterans, Surigao Strait as part of Leyte Gulf. Following the War, Tennessee was decommissioned in 1947, and scrapped in 1959. USS Utah Already aging by Pearl Harbor, Utah had been redesignated from a battleship to an anti-aircraft training ship, and in fact the Japanese didn't even consider her a target. Nonetheless, she mistaken for one of the active battleships and attacked, and partly capsized. An effort to right Utah was made after the attack, but these efforts failed, and was abandoned. Since Utah cleared her berth and had no military value, she was left where she settled. Because of the location of her wreck, Utah is inaccessible to civilian visitors and she is often called the "Forgotten Memorial." USS Ward The destroyer USS Ward officially fired the first shots of World War II for the United States when she sank a Japanese midget submarine attempting to enter the harbor. After the raid, she served on transport and escort duties. She was struck by a kamikaze while supporting landings at Leyte on December 7, 1944, and sank after being scuttled bythe destroyer O'Brien (commanded, coincidentally, by William Outerbridge, who commanded Ward herself at Pearl Harbor). Her wreck was discovered in 2017. USS West Virginia During the attack West Virginia suffered numerous torpedo hits, but was prevented from capsizing through prompt damage control action. Perhaps her most notable part in the raid was the actions of mess attendant Doris Miller, who manned an anti-aircraft gun despite no training in the weapon (seen in the film). Miller was the first Black recipient of the Navy Cross, and is believed to hhav only been denied the Medal Of Honor because of his race (Miller was later killed in action when USS Liscome Bay was sank by a submarine in 1943). West Virginia was refloated by May, and sent for repair and refit. She returned to service in late 1944 where she participated in the Battle of the Surigao Strait. West Virginia was at the head of the American battle line, and was the first of the Pearl Harbor veterans to open fire on the Japanese column. West Virginia fired the final salvo in the battle, making her the last battleship to fire her guns against another battleship. West Virginia continued to see action through the end of the War. She was decommissioned in 1947, and scrapped in 1961. The Kido Butai Of the six Japanese carriers involved in the strike on Pearl Harbor, none survived the War. Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi, and Kaga were all sunk in a single day's action at the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942 (Enterprise accounted for Hiryu, Akagi, and Kaga, while planes from Yorktown sank Soryu). Shokaku was torpedoed by the submarine USS Cavalla during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, in June, 1944, which decimated the last of Japan's carrier air power. So many Japanese carrier planes were shot down in the battle it came to be known as "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot." Her sister ship, Zuikaku, survived until the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where she was sacrificed as a decoy intended to lure Halsey's carriers away from Japanese surface ships approaching the island of Samar, and attempting to slip through the Surigao Strait. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto Yamamoto would not survive the War. American codebreakers discovered his travel itinerary in April, 1943 and, in what was codenamed Operation Vengeance, launched an airstrike to intercept his transport plane. 18 P-38 fighters of the 339th Fighter Squadr, 347th Fighter Group, took off from Guadalcanal, and attacked off Rabaul. Lt. Rex T. Barber shot down Yamamoto's transport, but credit for the victor was shared by another pilot, Thomas Lanphier despite criticism of Lanphier's claim. The wreckage of Yamamoto's plane is still in the jungle outside Panguna.

[@chuckwilson4186]

Saw this as a 10 yr old in a theater… the first time surround sound was offered in the theater .. big speakers hung on the walls..,, yes it was a very long movie .. the sound was ( at that time incredible) .. we were clued to our seats .., this is one of the best movies ever made ! Bar none ! ….

[@davestang5454]

Two biggest blunders in World War 2: Japan declared war on the U.S. and Germany declared war on the U.S. That was the beginning of the end for both empires.

[@iKvetch558]

By the time of the Japanese attack, the US and Germany had been fighting an undeclared war in the Atlantic for several months, with US warships having been sunk already in October. War between the US and Germany was inevitable as soon as US cargo ships were carrying war cargo all the way to Britain, Germany could not allow that to happen without trying to stop it, so they were inevitably going to have to pursue unrestricted submarine warfare against the USA...and that was the primary reason for the German declaration. Even if Japan had not attacked, the US and Germany would have been at war within 2 or 3 months at the most.

[@davestang5454]

@@iKvetch558 Don't agree. There was nothing inevitable about the U.S. declaring war on Germany on Germany declaring war on the U.S. Actually, Hitler could have ended the conflict in early 1941 and the allies would have accepted a peace settlement with zero American military involvement in Europe. Unfortunately for Germany, Hitler was a moron as a commander. It was the Japanese conflict that was far more likely for the Americans but would have never happened if the Japanese incursions only spread to the west.

[@iKvetch558]

@@davestang5454 Yes...perhaps in early 1941...but not once US ships and German subs were in combat in the Atlantic. As long as the war in Europe was going on and US ships were carrying cargo to England and the USSR, war between the US and Germany was going to happen. By the time of December 1941, war between the US and Germany was at most 2 or 3 months away.

[@youngsteph1]

The biggest blunder was Germans declaring on Russia. Made no sense & had them fighting on two fronts.

[@lazydaisee3997]

Umm...the USSR has to get mentioned here... Germany had Europe sewn up, could've consolidated and taken the UK, prevented any invasion...but they threw EVERYTHING at Stalin. The biggest army the world has ever seen walked into the Soviet Union and was ruined... Operation Barbarossa was basically 20x bigger than D Day and was Omaha beach meets Groundhog Day...and by the time the Americans landed at Normandy the Red Army and the winters had already claimed most of Germanys armies and tank divisions (and maybe 30m Soviets?) and Zhukov was chasing the survivors to Berlin...many of the troops the Americans faced were school children with not a single day of action... No movie, TV, doco etc will ever capture even a fraction of the true scale of what happened in the USSR.

[@markboyles8019]

It WAS a nice landing. My favorite cinema clip ever. My dad was flying that plane. I grew up around those B-17s. Some of them are still around and some of the "Japanese" planes are still flying.

[@reinholdmueller4882]

Great reaction and a Happy New Year! Tora, Tora, Tora is far superior to more recent narrations. Imagine being surprised and unprepared by your enemy 2 years into a global war! But seriously, I like it when a battle is explained, narrated, and shown from different and opposing sides. It reminds me of *A Bridge Too Far* from 1977.

[@Manu-rb6eo]

And the longest day

[@ajvanmarle]

One of the best war movies ever made. It's so sad it never got the recognition it deserved. Incidentally, the incident at 19:07 actually happened. The instructor later signed up with the women air corp, the WASPs.

[@sirderam1]

When the Japanese aircrew were laughing during the attack they were not necessarily laughing because they were killing people. They were just happy that their mission, to sink the American ships, was proving such a success - and probably also that they themselves had survived. The laughter of these mostly very young men would have been as much a release of tension as anything else. They didn't go to Pearl Harbour to kill people, they went to sink ships. Killing people was just an unfortunate side effect.

[@tehawfulestface1337]

Well said. That was true for all airmen. Americans, British, Germans, surviving deadly anti-aircraft fire to finally get close enough to attack the target, more often missing, so when they do get a hit, relief and celebration! The thought that they killed people would sink in if they make it back home alive.

[@Centauri012]

Totally different ballgame when you're in the air and can't physically see the people that are being killed from your bombs. To the Japanese, they were all just targets.

[@Saboteur709]

I was 8 years old and I saw this movie in the theatre with my father. It was the only time we went to the theatre together. He was in the Navy stationed in Hawaii around the time of the attack.

[@jamespfp]

2:15 -- RE: Is "Tora Tora Tora" a better depiction of the events of Pearl Harbor than "Pearl Harbor"?; A: Unquestionably Yes although there are obvious limitations from the period in which it was produced. By the end of the century special effects had undergone a complete revolution thanks to "Star Wars" and Industrial Light and Magic setting a high bar. "Pearl Harbor" comes across much more like a propaganda film from the 1940s than "Tora Tora Tora", and the level of respect given to the Japanese point of view in this film is remarkable.

[@andrewfabyo8761]

That is one of my go to classics. Never gets old watching. It is a triumphant film. Watching from Anchorage, Alaska.

[@jankannemacher3929]

Another famous quote by Admiral Yamamoto is this one: "In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success." Yamamoto knew that Japan couldn't win a war with the US. I think his main plan was removing the US ability for strategic actions in the Pacific, reaching all planned invasion targets in southeast Asia, and maybe negotiate a cessation of hostilities from a position of "this here is now ours, and you can't do anything about it". That plan already fell flat by missing the US carriers at Pearl Harbor, and instead of the US being unable to do strategic actions, losing four of six fleet carriers (Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu) at Midway half a year later crippled Japan's strategic strength.

[@thunderstruck5484]

Saw at the theater! This and The Battle of Britain had great stunts and practical effects, thanks for sharing your reaction!

[@Semi-C-Samurai]

I saw it in the theater down the street from my house as a kid. I wonder if she even realizes that all the effects are "practical": no CGI of any kind back then! Real planes and model ships....real fire and real explosions!

[@ColdWarShot]

This is the definitive work on Pearl Harbor. The Script was based off the work of Historian Gordon W Prange (who is credited as a consultant). Prange was General Douglas MacArthur’s Official Historian during WWII and his fluency in Japanese, meant he got to interview many key Japanese figures from high ranking Military officers to Politicians. After WWII he continued his study and research on the Pearl Harbor attack, accumulating nearly 1 million pages of material before he died. His two Doctoral Students finished his magnum opus: At Dawn We Slept. Highly recommended reading it.

[@GSMSfromFV]

And then Prange wrote a follow-up book, "Miracle at Midway."

[@ColdWarShot]

@ yep! I have three of his books: At Dawn We Slept Miracle at Midway Pearl Harbor: Verdict of History

[@chefskiss6179]

Fantastic selection. Thank you to the patreon member that got this happening!

[@DisgruntledHippo]

Yes! Ugh! This is such a good movie! So is the original Midway. From what I remember this movie is a two in one where all the Japanese parts and American parts were filmed separately by their own crews and directing units? Or maybe that was just Midway?

[@Ჽum]

Yep, Kurosawa was originally the one chosen to direct the Japanese section but he was replaced by Fukasaku (another powerhouse of a Japanese director). Though Kurosawa still did all of the pre-production and refined the screenplay, and many people who participated in the planning and fighting of the attack served as technical advisors on both sides (including Minoru Genda, who led the attack).

[@jimglenn6972]

Midway is a descent movie but it does have a love story in it. However it does have Mr Miaigi in it!

[@BillMartin-h2g]

@jimglenn6972 Arnold from Happy Days?

[@jamesstrickland517]

This movie has always touched me deeply as my father's ship was with one of the carriers when this happened, he spent all of WWII in the Pacific on various ships, two of which were sunk, he survived which in itself is amazing as he was a Machist Mate. And was a major reason for me joining the Navy right after H.S. In 1975.

[@Scott-Inc]

Not as Hollywood-glamorous or big-screen captivating as Pearl Harbor, but Tora! Tora! Tora!-meaning “Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!”-is a far more accurate portrayal of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The phrase, a Japanese call sign, signified the attack had begun, and the film focuses on historical authenticity rather than dramatized spectacle. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@ryankeyes3101]

If you liked this movie I recommend Battle of Britain from 1969 or Where Eagles Dare from 1968 both are extremely good.

[@TimRobinson-hc7mt]

I just checked to see how accurate this movie is to the real event it was ranked the BEST of all historical movies made so now I want to see your reaction to this epic classic

[@larrybremer4930]

It is both interesting and true that the US fired the first shot in the war with Japan, and the two men in the midget submarine were the first casualties. I also love the quick insert of Doris Miller (a cook/steward) manning the machine gun. At that time blacks were precluded from combat roles in the Navy. He was decorated with a Navy Cross for his actions that day, credited officially for shooting down at least one aircraft but possibly as many as six despite having never been trained in gunnery. Another interesting bit of trivia, the scene where the two guys are running for their lives when the airplane crashes into the fuel truck were really running for their lives because the entire stunt went totally awry The crash did not go off as planned with the unmanned plane veered to the side unexpectedly hitting the truck rather than the parked aircraft farther down field.

[@bc64100]

i heard he might have gotten two planes but i might have heard wrong

[@regould221]

The story that the USS Ward sunk a sub wasn't fully believed until 2002 when a midget sub was found in the water off Pearl Harbor with a hole in the coning tower. Almost exactly as this movie showed.

[@larrybremer4930]

@@regould221 One is the official number attributed to his Navy Cross, two is the generally considered accurate number based on witness accounts, and six is a number that has been floated at the upper limit of plausible but not substantiated, but 6 would mean he alone shot down nearly a quarter of the aircraft Japan lost in the battle which I don't think withstands the sniff test.

[@davidsandberg6179]

I’m so happy to see you’ve watched this … so few reactors have done so, and I wish more would. As others have said, for the most part this is a very accurate telling of the actual historical events, unlike that more recent PH movie which is a waste of time for anyone who cares at all about the history (history which, as you’ve seen here, is plenty dramatic enough on its own). This movie also does a good job of not portraying most of the Japanese characters as faceless villains; in fact the Japanese scenes in the movie were directed and filmed by a separate, Japanese film crew. And most of the effects were practical, which, although maybe not as “glossy” as those in modern movies, feel far more real … because they are more real, of course. A movie like this with practical effects could never be made today, because there aren’t enough of the planes from that era still flying anymore to do it. The only way to get a better understanding of this battle would be to pick up a book on the subject, IMO.

[@SurvivorBri]

I couldn't click on this fast enough. It's one of my favorite war movies. I did a term paper on the Pearl Harbor attack in college. I pulled from every source I could, including watching this movie. Great choice. It's a thousand times better than the Michael Bay movie. I hated that one. I'm glad you were moved by it.

[@andrewwinter7843]

So I am at the point where they talk about two main pulses. You are about to witness the finest aerial choreography ever filmed. Some of the footage you are about to see, were gags that went horribly wrong. No one was hurt but some of those guys who look like they are fleeing for their lives, really ARE fleeing for their lives!

[@mikealvarez2322]

Kamilla, the Japanese had pulled a Pearl Harbor style attack before. In 1904 they attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur without a declaration of war thus destroying their Pacific Navy. The Russians then sent their Baltic Fleet to recapture Port Arthur. The Japanese ambushed the Baltic Fleet destroying it and winning the Russo-Japanese war. Interesting note: The Japanese tried the same tactic with the US. They severely damaged our Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor then tried to ambush our carriers in the Battle of Midway. BTW, a very good and basically historical movie is MIDWAY.

[@Otokichi786]

1932 Pearl Harbor attack: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hp61dWBrnc-La9E

[@barreloffun10]

I think they refer to this in the film, something about flying a battle flag that Admiral Togo flew.

[@mikealvarez2322]

@@barreloffun10 I think you are right..

[@larrybremer4930]

The Russian Navy was 100% incompetent. There are some great videos about the comedy of errors when the fleet deployed such as firing on unarmed non combatant fishing vessels (and still losing the engagement since they failed to land a single shot) and later shooting at (and hitting) one of their own ships mistaking it for an enemy, and lastly using signal lamps warning a Japanese warship to be on the lookout for enemy Japanese warships.

[@mikealvarez2322]

​@@larrybremer4930 Thanks for the information. I'll do a web search on the Russo-Japanese War. I just remember it from what I learned in highschool back in 1961. We studied briefly due to Teddy Roosevelt's involvement in the Peace process. I had a great history teacher. He was in the Navy during the war. Served on a destroyer and was at Okinawa and some of the other campaigns like the Gilbert Islands. He told us stories about how storms used to toss the "tin can" he was on all over the place.

[@TheShawna1]

You have to watch it multiple times you miss so much... it seems you learn something new each time you watch it!

[@place_there9104]

One of my old bosses was a diplomat with the US Embassy in Tokyo when this movie was released in 1970. He saw it with one of his colleagues in a movie theater there. The Japanese audience cheered the sequences where the Japanese planes were destroying the American ships and planes. The two Americans in the audience cheered when the American planes destroyed the Japanese planes while the rest of the audience was silent. Many people alive seeing the movie back then had lived through WWII, which is a testament to the accuracy of this movie in how that history was portrayed. The intense rivalry between the Japanese Army and Navy was vividly depicted in this movie. This sometimes descended into assassination, which explains that one sailor's joke about Yamamoto having the entire fleet to protect him at the start of the film. Even during the war the lack of cooperation between the two rival military services greatly hindered the Japanese war effort. Even their military research efforts were completely divided and never communicated with each other.

[@ronmaximilian6953]

The Americans were the opponents of the Japanese Navy in World War II. The Japanese Army were their enemies

[@andrewwinter7843]

The briefing with Admiral Kimmle. The background shot of Battleship row. Japan at that time had become MASTERS of using miniatures in their films. They are AMAZING in the Old Godzilla films and other monster films. That image of Battleship row is a testament to their expertise. It is PERFECT.

[@mikealvarez2322]

The movie title was also the code word for the Japanese to attack. The word itself means "tiger", but it's also the abbreviation for "lightening attack".

[@anpanmanmiru]

This was a code used to select a method of attack depending on the situation at Pearl Harbor. This was an abbreviation of two words: "Totsugeki" (Assault) and "Raigeki" (Torpedoes first). Other ciphers such as "TOKI-TOKI-TOKI" were also prepared. It means "Totsugeki" (Assault) and "Kyukoka-Bakugeki" (Dive bombing first).

[@mikealvarez2322]

@anpanmanmiru I didn't know that. Thanks for the additional information.😊

[@honndawakenomikoto]

"Tora Tora Tora..." means "I have succeeded in the surprise attack". The original meaning is "charge, torpedo attack," but this is the first time I've met someone who knows that. "To To To..." means "All troops charge." When pronounced, Tora certainly corresponds to the Japanese word for tiger, but in reality it is a combination of "To" and "Ra", with "To" meaning charge and "Ra" meaning torpedo attack. In Japanese, charge is called "Totsugeki" and torpedo attack is called "Raigeki". This signal is made up of the first letters of both words.

[@rogervandusen8361]

Your reaction has won you a subscriber. I saw Tora Tora Tora with my parents at a drive-in when I was 5 years old.

[@lawrencewestby9229]

The movie "Pearl Harbor" got a couple of things right, there is a place called Pearl Harbor and the Japanese did attack it. Other than that ...

[@brianwilson9206]

@@lawrencewestby9229 🙄 exactly

[@MrGadfly772]

Thanks!

[@EarlMac555]

I love this movie and Midway 1976.

[@kevincameron8437]

I finally got to go the PH and to Ford island to see all the history from this attack. It was quite breathtaking to walk where history was made. I also was fortunate enough to tour the USS Arizona and to see the bullet holes still in the buildings on Pearl. Great reaction once again.

[@thomastimlin1724]

Doris Miller, known as “Dorie” to shipmates and friends, was a U.S. Navy Sailor recognized for his bravery during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was the first African American recipient of the Navy Cross. He was portrayed here shooting a machine gun on the deck of the USS Virginia. As a mess attendant second class in the United States Navy, Miller helped carry wounded sailors to safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He then manned an anti-aircraft gun and, despite no prior training in gunnery, officially shot down one plane (according to Navy Department Records), but Miller and other eye witnesses claimed the ranges of four to six.

[@bobwallace1880]

He was from Waco, Texas. A forgotten hero. An auditorium in Waco is named after him.

[@ULTRA_2112]

USS Virginia is the wrong ship. The ship Doris Miller was on on December 7, 1941 was the USS West Virginia (BB-48). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_West_Virginia_(BB-48)

[@seannovack3834]

​@bobwallace1880 hardly "forgotten". "U.S S. Doris Miller" is the announced name of the planned 4th Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, set to be laid down next year. A well-deserved tribute.

[@andrewwinter7843]

Yamamoto was a DEDICATED and obidient OFFICER of the Imperial Japanese NAVY. He will obey his orders even at the cost of his own life. And he did. And he died in April 1943 under the guns of American Fighters.

[@2005wsoxfan]

Best Submarine movie = Das Boot.

[@michaelmcgowen8780]

"Tora, Tora, Tora" is, as others have mentioned, one of more historically accurate war movies ever made. "Pearl Harbor" uses the attack on Pearl Harbor as the backdrop for the love story its actually about. I had three uncles who served during World War 2, one of which landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

[@davidkeller6156]

The Japanese officer Fujida, who let the Japanese attack, became a Christian after the war and moved to the U.S. He traveled around the country giving talks and met a number of veterans who he fought against.

[@andrewwinter7843]

My first Father in law was absolutely DRUNK from all the partying that night. He barely made it back to the barracks on his Harley Motorcycle. He left it on a trash heap before staggering off to his bunk in the Barracks. The next morning brought some really alarming up close and personal surprises.

[@markwoodford1171]

First movie about Pearl Harbor from both sides , I think it's the best.

[@kimghanson]

When I was younger, it was a revelation to me that there was often internal disagreements during WWII. I had always assumed that each step was obvious and everyone was onboard. Not so, not so at all. For that reason I understand how you felt when you saw not all Japanese high command and politicians agreed. Yamamoto was just one voice and probably the one that understood America the best, but the war mongers won out. Note that once the order was given, Yamamoto and in fact the entire Imperial Navy acted as if it was the best idea ever conceived. This is the proper way for a military to work. They will fight and bicker until the plan is finalized and then everyone jumps on board to carry it out no matter what doubts they had.

[@dudermcdudeface3674]

There's no question: This is both a classic film overall and both war and history movie canon. Watching this is actually educational. We don't talk about the other one.

[@Miqlintock]

The female pilot was 22 years old. 38:38 Cornelia Clark Fort (5 February 1919 - 21 March 1943) was an American aviator who became famous for being part of two aviation-related events. The first occurred while conducting a civilian training flight at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, when she was the first United States pilot to encounter the Japanese air fleet during the Attack on Pearl Harbor. She and her student narrowly escaped a mid-air collision with the Japanese aircraft and a strafing attack after making an emergency landing. The following year, Fort became the second member of what was to become the Women Airforce Service Pilots or WASP. Fort was working as a WASP ferry pilot on 21 March 1943 when she became the first female pilot in American history to die while on active duty. She was involved in a mid-air collision and crashed ten miles south of Merkel, Texas, in Mulberry Canyon.

[@TimSmith-uc4pk]

You should watch The Final Countdown. It gives a Sci Fi perspective of Pearl Harbor. You may like it. It is a 1980's movie.

[@splitimage137.]

WoW! I guess I forgot about this movie. My grandfather, who served as a dive bomber in WWII, never spoke of the war or watched war movies. But, his very best friend, who never served, but wished that he did, would take me and my little sister to see war movies like this back in the early 70s. like this one and a Bridge Too Far when we were still pre-teens. Kinda weird - but, I guess it's a memory!

[@wembleyford]

Is this a better movie than 'Pearl Harbor'? Literally laughing out loud...

[@chuckvelten5337]

The best thing we ever did was help Japan in Germany build their countries back up after the war. No other country would do that. Also thank you for delving into movies most reactors wouldn't even think to check out. It's nice to see someone not go along with the social media group think. And reacting to things that they see others react to. There are a lot of great movies that came out in the '60s and '70s. That we would love to see many of you reactors check out. Happy New Year to you and yours.

[@andrewwinter7843]

The visual modifications on that plane are so good, you have to be an airplane GEEK to know it ISN"T an actual ZERO.

[@Zebred2001]

That Pearl Harbor movie was godawful unhistorical soap opera! Fun fact; Yamamoto never actually said the 'terrible resolve' quote. It was this movie that created the idea that he did..

[@rs-ye7kw]

As a high school student in the early '60's we were taught in History class that Yamamoto did make that quote and it even appeared in our history books. I'm aware that currently most historians find it questionable and even doubtful that he actually uttered those exact words, but my point is that if we were being taught that in the sixties, then this movie (made in 1970) could not have created the idea that he did. It may not be a true quote, but the origin of the claim that it was what Yamamoto said was around long before this film came out.

[@steelers6titles]

Two formerly mortal enemy nations got together and made the best movie about the most infamous attack in modern history. Tremendous effort.

[@jeffgaboury3157]

In common with so many war movies of the sixties and seventies, Tora, Tora, Tora is effectively a dramatized documentary, rather than a traditional movie. This makes that period something of a "golden age" for such films, where drama takes second-place to a genuine attempt to explain an important historical event, capturing both sides of the story. This alone makes it greatly superior, in my opinion, to melodramas dressed up as war movies, like Pearl Harbor. Other great movies of this type include The Battle of Britain, The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far.

[@ronniecoleman2342]

That hit by Ward on the Japanese mini sub was 100% accurate because they found it with hole in its conning tower from Ward's 5" battery.

[@gmansard641]

Jason Robards, who played General Short, was at Pearl Harbor. He was a sailor assigned to a destroyer, they were at sea when the attack started.

[@montvilleo]

Must have seen this when I was young. But I forgot how in depth they went with this.

[@williamivey5296]

The B-17 skidding in on one main wheel was real - one of the planes being brought over from the mainland had a stuck gear. When the producers heard about it, they rushed a cameraman to the field and he filmed it from a pit near the runway - with a guy behind him ready to pull him down into the pit if the plane veered toward them. They added the cockpit scene and had a stunt pilot skim the runway with another bomber with one wheel up to get the approach footage (coming out of the smoke) and you can see that the quality of that shot is better than the rushed shot of the real crash landing.

[@robruss62]

Love that Nevada got her due in this version. After getting pounded during her attenpted sortie, she returned to service and served at D Day and other actions. She then survived two atomic bomb tests (Nagato, Yamamoto's flagship in this movie, was also nuked twice but sank from damage), she was repeatedly used for weapons tests before being sunk. Of course, West Virginia and California were literally refloated and wirh Tennessee and Maryland and Pennsylvania (plus Mississippi which wasnt af Pearl) went on to take revenge at Surigao Strait.

[@gmansard641]

The historical consultant for this film was Gordon Prange. One of my professors at Ohio University knew him in graduate school, said he was a fanatic for accuracy.