Movie · 1970 · War, History, Drama · 2h 24m · G · English
Curator score: 4.5/10 (58.4K ratings)
The incredible attack on Pearl Harbor.
Overview
In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.5/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.68/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 57%
Metacritic: 46
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Masuda
Production
20th Century Fox, Toei Company, Williams-Fleischer Productions
Cast
Martin Balsam, So Yamamura, Jason Robards, Joseph Cotten, Tatsuya Mihashi, E.G. Marshall, Takahiro Tamura, James Whitmore, Eijirō Tōno, Wesley Addy, Shōgo Shimada, Frank Aletter, Koreya Senda, Leon Ames, Jun Usami, Richard Anderson, Kazuo Kitamura, Keith Andes, Edward Andrews, Neville Brand
Curator Review
Verdict
A sober, unusually balanced war epic that treats Pearl Harbor as a procedural failure on both sides rather than a melodramatic spectacle. It can be dry and methodical, but the attack sequences are still impressive, and the scale, craft, and historical perspective make it a strong watch for war-film fans.
Best for
Viewers who like historical procedurals
Fans of large-scale practical effects and aerial combat
People interested in World War II history
Audiences who prefer balanced, multi-perspective war dramas
Skip if
You want fast pacing or constant action
You dislike expository, documentary-like storytelling
You prefer character-driven melodrama or romance
You want a strongly anti-war or emotionally intimate war film
Overview
Tora! Tora! Tora! is less a conventional drama than a meticulously staged reconstruction. It spends a long time on diplomacy, miscommunication, and military bureaucracy, and that patience can feel stiff, but the film’s rigor is also its identity. It wants to show how a catastrophe becomes possible through a chain of small failures, not a single grand villainy.
Worth noting
What makes it stand out is the dual-perspective structure, which gives the Japanese planning and the American response equal attention. That balance was unusual for a major studio war film of its era, and it still gives the movie a seriousness that many later Pearl Harbor films lack. The attack itself is the payoff: large-scale, practical, and shot with a clarity that makes the destruction feel tangible.
Bottom line
It is not especially warm or emotionally rich, and some viewers will find the first half a slog. But if you appreciate historical detail, military logistics, and old-school epic craftsmanship, it remains a substantial and impressive war picture.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Will Menaker (3.5★) · 229 likes
Admiral Yamamoto and company plan and pull off the Pearl Harbor attack, while their American counterparts completely drop the ball in this patient and detailed historical procedural. Do the Americans at the highest levels of the Roosevelt administration fuck up the copious warnings they had on purpose though? This film doesn't NOT imply this. The first half is very dry, but in the second half they blow up everything and film lots of real airplanes, explosions and property damage. Pretty… more Admiral Yamamoto and company plan and pull off the Pearl Harbor attack, while their American counterparts completely drop the ball in this patient and detailed historical procedural. Do the Americans at the highest levels of the Roosevelt administration fuck up the copious warnings they had on purpose though? This film doesn't NOT imply this. The first half is very dry, but in the second half they blow up everything and film lots of real airplanes, explosions and property damage. Pretty… more
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3.5★) · 146 likes
Action! - The Way of the Yakuza: The Turbulent Battles of Fukasaku
I've known about this film for a while, but only by name. I had no idea what it was about, and so on. And, to my surprise, it was a really interesting (and presumably pretty accurate) look into all the behind-the-scenes events leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack from both the US and Japan's perspectives, which of course gives us a more complete picture of the event.… more
Lebowskidoo 🇨🇦 🎬 🍿🦞 (4★) · 142 likes
This was The Pearl Harbor Movie up until Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor was released. Unlike that movie, Tora! Tora! Tora! is a pretty standard, straight-laced, stodgy and almost documentary-like telling of the events leading up to that fateful day. For a movie title containing three exclamation points, it's a bit of a slog in places.
However, having been to Pearl Harbor and stood on that platform over the U.S.S. Arizona and hearing the horrible events that took place there, I… more
Mr. DuLac (3.5★) · 71 likes
You wanted confirmation, Captain? Take a look! There's your confirmation!-Lieutenant Kaminsky
It's an impressive feat that three screenwriters and three directors were able to come together and make a coherent narrative out of this dense fact based dramatization of the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack. It's a borderline documentary and if it had included any real footage it would probably be classified as one.
The events leading up to the attack would be fascinating just from the US side of… more
Rodrigo Homsi (3.5★) · 71 likes
O Japão de 1942 (já aliado ao eixo), foi um dos poucos países na história a partir para um ataque massivo (Pearl Harbor) depois de sofrer sucessivos embargos estadunidenses.
Um filme recheado de altas patentes das forças armadas americanas fazendo pouco causo dos sinais de ataque de uma nação hostil durante um período de guerra.
Durante o filme é deixado explícito o interesse dos oficiais americanos em serem atacados primeiro com objetivo de mudar a ideia da população americana que resistia a entrada na guerra de forma efetiva.
2006 · Action, Drama, War · 2h 21m · R · Curator 8.5/10 (245K ratings)
A war film that, like this one, uses the opposing side’s perspective to deepen the historical picture.
Topics
war epic, historical drama, procedural, World War II, naval warfare, aerial combat, ensemble cast, practical effects, 1960s-1970s epic, military history