Tora! Tora! Tora!

Let's start the Memorial Day marathon a few days early, with a look at Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). This depiction of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor flopped on its initial release, but gained a respectable reputation over the years. It's a middling epic, mixing impressive spectacle and admirable balance with reams of dry expository dialogue. History buffs will love it, but lay viewers might be bored or confused.

Imperial Japan stands on the brink of war with the United States. Premier Hideki Tojo (Asao Uchida) thinks that America threatens Japan's "Co-Prosperity Sphere" in China and Southeast Asia, and orders a reluctant Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Soh Yamamura) to plan for war. Yamamoto envisions a daring air strike on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which he hopes will cripple the US Pacific Fleet and allow Japan time to consolidate their gains in the Pacific. Meanwhile, American authorities seem unable to respond: though intelligence officers have broken the Japanese code, military leaders in both Washington and Hawaii are slow to respond to warning signs, and government officials hold out hope for a diplomatic settlement. A series of miscommunications, mistakes and misunderstandings leaves Pearl Harbor unprepared for attack, setting the stage for an epic disaster on December 7, 1941.

Tora! Tora! Tora! is Fox's attempt to repeat their success in The Longest Day (1962). Talented journeyman Richard Fleischer (10 Rillington Place) directed the American scenes, while the Japanese scenes were helmed by Kinji Fukasaku (The Yakuza Papers) and Toshiro Masuda (Rusty Knife). Though it eschews The Longest Day's all-star cast, it replicates that film's character ensemble, epic battle scenes and efforts at impartiality, with a top-notch production to match.

Unfortunately, Tora! is only a guarded dramatic success. Watching a military disaster unfold can be intriguing, as A Bridge Too Far and Valkyrie demonstrate, but the script (Larry Forrester, Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni and an uncredited Akira Kurosawa [!]) is an awkward mixture of stilted exposition and portentious dialogue that eventually grows tiresome. Many viewers will be thrown for a loop, waiting impatiently for the final attack.

Rest assured, the finale is definitely worth waiting for. The forty-five minute long attack scene makes use of an impressive, seamless mixture of real planes and ships, models, miniatures and matte effects. The explosions have a powerful impact, especially when Japanese pilots score a hit on the flagship USS Arizona. Fleischer finds a lot of telling details amidst the chaos: the USS Nevada's band hurriedly finishing a rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner while being strafed, black cook Dorie Miller (Elven Havard) manning a machine gun on the West Virginia, troops at the Schofield Barracks meeting a nasty fate at breakfast. It's a perfect depiction of harrowing carnage, and definitely one of the best battle scenes ever filmed.

The movie's dual directorship allows for an interesting balance. The Japanese come off sympathetically: despite their aggressive, unjust war aims, we can admire the brilliant strategist Yamamoto, the earnest efforts of Ambassador Nomura (Shogo Shimada) to avert war, and the brave pilots who carry out the attack. But the Japanese make mistakes too: Tojo ignores America's offers to renew negotiations, making war inevitable. The diplomatic ultimatum is delivered an hour too late, allowing America to claim a sneak attack. Perhaps most importantly, Admiral Naguno (Eijiro Tono) refuses to launch a final strike, leaving Pearl's dry docks and fuel tanks intact. Thus, an impressive tactical victory becomes a squandered opportunity.

The Americans come off much worse. Wisely, the film doesn't finger individuals for responsibility, but rather an unwieldy bureaucratic structure. Communications are a nightmare, the chain-of-command is a muddle and poor tactical decisions (bunching planes together to prevent sabotage) ensure the attack's success. This extends even to December 7th: the sinking of a Japanese submarine is ignored, and, most incredibly, a radar officer is told "not to worry" about an incoming flight of Zeros! Admiral Husband Kimmel (Martin Balsam) and General Walter Short (Jason Robards) are so out of the loop they're ready to golf when the bombing starts. The soldiers, sailors and pilots are certainly heroic in action but that, and the absence of America's aircraft carriers, are the only consolation.

Soh Yamamura's sensitive portrayal of Yamamoto dominates the film, a man reluctant to pick a fight with a "sleeping giant" but determined to win all the same. The American cast lacks star power but has lots of recognizable faces: Joseph Cotten (Shadow of a Doubt) and George Macready (Vera Cruz) as oblivious cabinet members, Jason Robards (Once Upon a Time in the West) as the pig-headed General Short, E.G. Marshall (Nixon) as a dogged intelligence officer and Martin Balsam (Psycho), Edward Andrews (Summertime) and James Whitmore (Battleground) as assorted Navy brass.

Tora! Tora! Tora! is an interesting if flawed WWII epic. The lengthy lead-in to the attack might try some viewers' patience, but it's definitely worth the wait.