MMG - Rate this movie.... Tora Tora Tora

[Chunks]

My 2nd favorite war film, just behind BOB.

Chunks

[svengi]

One of my favorites growing up! I agree with many previous posters, the movie still holds up well, which is pretty amazing. This movie was an important first step for many younger people who hadn't been around for the actual events or previously been taught about them.

[oz rb fan]

probably my favorite historic movie,and a lot better than most that followed.

[Mudge]

Liked the movie. (Don't like the "reenactment" at airshows but that's another thread.) IIRC my father, (who's career in the Navy was radio and ran the Navy radio school at Ft. Wright, NY in '39-'40), said the same thing about the actual morse that was being sent.

Mudge the geezer

PS...Just something I remembered. When we lived at Ft. Wright, which is on Fisher's Island, we used to go down to the beach a lot. We'd find pieces of lifeboats and life jackets washed up on the shore. At the time, (I was 5) I didn't understand why they were there. I found out later. Ships sunk in the Atlantic. Sad.

[DarenC1]

A friend of mine asked for a list of films with which to attempt a WW2 film marathon in chronological order (in other words, from 1939 to 1945).

He didn't have Tora! Tora! Tora!

I told him it's quintessential for a war film marathon - equally as important to any list as Saving Private Ryan.

I'll be interested to know what he, as a non-warbird fan, makes of it, but I still think it's a cracking film, some 15 years after I first saw it!

[Chris Brame]

I admit to being obsessed with this movie - so much so that in 1978 I saved every cent from my first job to buy a VCR to record it when WGN had their annual airing on December 7th. Got $700-something saved up by December 1st and bought my first RCA Selectavision (along with VHS blank tapes at $12 a pop!) in time to record it, and soon had every shot and line of dialogue committed to memory.

Also - let's track the movies and TV shows that used TTT as 'stock' footage:

Midway
Final Countdown
Baa Baa Blacksheep (TV)
Australia
Pearl (TV)
Winds of War (TV)
others????

One more: the miniseries The Last Convertible had a shot that hasn't been seen anywhere else: an aerial view taken at Ford Island showing burning P-40s and PBYs. Probably why the shot wasn't used in the original movie.

[DarenC1]

It's been a while since I saw it, but I'm not sure Australia used stock footage from Tora!.

Pearl Harbor, maybe?

[Dave Homewood]

According to IMDb, scenes from Tora, Tora, Tora were:
Edited into
Midway (1976)
- Most sequences of the Japanese air raids on Midway are stock shots from 20th Century Fox's Tora! Tora! Tora!
All This and World War II (1976)
"Pearl" (1978)
"From Here to Eternity" (1979)
The Final Countdown (1980)
"The Winds of War" (1983)
Australia (2008)
- Japanese bombing scenes

Referenced in
Shaft (1971)
- On theater marquee.
Sexual Liberty Now (1971)
- It is asked why the violence is G-rated.
"Mary Tyler Moore: Just Friends (#4.11)" (1973)
- Rhoda says that on her tummy television this movie's title is "Tora, Tora, T--"
"Magnum, P.I.: Torah, Torah, Torah (#5.21)" (1985)
- title reference
Memories of Videodisc (1986) (V)
Kiss Daddy Goodnight (1987)
- playing at the discount theater
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Crawling Eye (#2.1)" (1989)
- Joel mentions the film by name.
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: Godzilla vs. Megalon (#3.12)" (1991)
- Joel mentions it.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: Operation Double 007 (#6." (1993)
- Crow: Tora! Just the one.
"Animaniacs: Guardin' in the Garden/Plane Pals (#1.22)" (1993)
- In the segment "Plane Pals" Dot shouts "Tora! Tora! Tora!" on the plane.
"NYPD Blue: Torah! Torah! Torah! (#3.2)" (1995)
- title reference
"Saturday Night Live: Mike Myers/Aerosmith (#22.16)" (1997)
- Mentioned on Sprockets
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Giant Spider Invasion (#9.10)" (1997)
- Tom: "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: Prince of Space (#9.16)" (1997)
- Crow (sings): "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gorgo (#10.9)" (1998)
- the title is mentioned
Pearl Harbor (2001)
"The Directors: The Films of Robert Altman (#2.9)" (2001)
Baadasssss Cinema (2002) (TV)
- On theater marquee.
A Decade Under the Influence (2003)
- mentioned in documentary
Tsukuru to iu koto wa subarashii! Kurosawa Akira: Shikisai wo te ni ireta Kurosawa Akira (2003) (V)
- Behind the scenes.
The 100 Greatest War Films (2005) (TV)
- One of the films on the list
"Tory! Tory! Tory!" (2006)
- Title reference
"The Simpsons: Pranks and Greens (#21.6)" (2009)
- "Tora Tora, Toilet" appears on Bart's "Upcoming Pranks" list.
"Jeopardy!: Episode #26.121" (2010)
- Subject of a $1,600 clue in the category "20th Century Fox History"
"Saturday Night Live: Helen Mirren/Foo Fighters (#36.19)" (2011)
- Referenced in "The Roosevelts" segment

Featured in
Pacific Inferno (1979)
- before opening credits
The Cable Guy (1996)
Day of Infamy (2001) (V)
The 100 Greatest War Films (2005) (TV)
- Clips are shown

Spoofed in
Howard the Duck (1986)
- When Howard is flying the ultralight aircraft he dives down and yells, "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
A Man Called Sarge (1990)

[Dave Homewood]

A couple of queries:

Does anyone know which US Navy carrier was used for the scenes where the Japanese aircraft are taking off into the sunrise? According to the director's voice over on my DVD it was on its last voyage from the USA to Honolulu before retirment and they hired it to transport all their US-built Japanese aeroplanes to Hawaii on, and for the amazing filmed scenes of the take off.

Also regarding the real life story, did Admiral Yamamoto serve in World War One? I see on Wikipedia he joined the Japanese Navy in 1914. I am curious as to whether he saw active service? The Japanese were on the Allied side in WWI, and it was apparently Japanese ships that carried a lot of the New Zealanders to their fateful landing at Gallipoli in 1915, I'm told.

I note that the Japanese naval practices seen in the film seem pretty much just like the Royal Navy. I guess they must have based their Navy on the RN? I know they certainly trained pilots with the RFC and RAF in WWI, some of whom went onto big things in WWII as leaders.

[JDK]

I note that the Japanese naval practices seen in the film seem pretty much just like the Royal Navy. I guess they must have based their Navy on the RN? I know they certainly trained pilots with the RFC and RAF in WWI, some of whom went onto big things in WWII as leaders.

I'd be wary of over simplifying Japan's complex naval history - it has a critical role in Japanese identity, right down to today in school children's 'sailor suits'. (See the original 'divine wind' and the Russo Japanese naval battles of 1904-5.)

However, on topic, Japanese naval aviation received a lot of guidance and help from the Royal Navy in the 1920s, including many aircraft types that Britain sold to Japan including (IIRC) licence production. As we know, the Japanese had developed beyond their mentors in the application of naval air power by 1941. An example of that was the Japanese observation of the Taranto Raid by the RN providing a template for the Pearl Harbor attack.

Regards,

[Jollygreenslugg]

G'day folks,

I'd be wary of over simplifying Japan's complex naval history - it has a critical role in Japanese identity, right down to today in school children's 'sailor suits'.

Indeed. The history of the IJN from the nineteenth century up until 1945 is a fascinating story. I'd strongly recommend Stephen Howarth's 'Morning Glory', which taught me a great deal when I read it as a sixteen year-old in 1987. A good 300-odd page primer, which explores the complex background, pressures, influences and circumstances behind Japan's rapid change from isolated nation in the 1850s to world power less than a century later.

The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty was a big part of this history, with its resultant loss of 'face' for the Japanese.

Anyway, well worth a read for an introduction to the history of the IJN.

Cheers,
Matt

[Steve Nelson]

Does anyone know which US Navy carrier was used for the scenes where the Japanese aircraft are taking off into the sunrise?

Every reference I've ever read says it was USS Yorktown CVS-10, a WWII Essex Class carrier retrofitted with an angled deck.

Of course, a lot of the non-flying carrier deck scenes were shot on the mockup carrier seen in the photos above. I'm curious..does anyone know if any of the carrier landing scenes were shot on the mockup, or were all flying scenes shot on the Yorktown? They certainly did a great job blending the scenes shot several months and thousands of miles apart.

SN

[Dave Homewood]

But the carrier in the film has a straight deck, not a retrofitted angled deck as you suggest.

Was the Yorktown preserved or scrapped?

[Steve Nelson]

The dawn takeoff scenes were shot on an angle-deck ship, but the deck was repainted to resemble a Japanese straight-decker. It's not really noticeable in the deck level or catwalk shots (which are intercut with shots of actors and parked planes on the mockup Japanese carrier in Japan) but there's one higher altitude overhead shot of an aircraft taking off where the overhang on the port side can be clearly seen.

I would post a pic, but none of my media player programs includes screen capture capability (anybody know of free software to capture frames from a DVD?)

SN

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

But the carrier in the film has a straight deck, not a retrofitted angled deck as you suggest.

Was the Yorktown preserved or scrapped?

It is at Patriots Point in South Carolina.

Here is a link with intel about it being used in the movie.

http://yorktownsailor.com/yorktown/tora.htm

http://www.patriotspoint.org/exhibits/yorktown/