Tonight I will be watching the 1970 war film Tora Tora Tora, Directed mostly by Richard Fleischer. Fleischer did all the American scene, and although originally Akira Kurosawa was to do all the Japanese scenes, they were eventually done by Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda. Kurosawa only took the job as he was told David Lean was doing the American stuff. When Twentieth Century Fox found out Kurosawa was attempting to cast friends and business associates, including some high-level industrialists, in key roles in the film's Japanese segments as a quid-pro-quo for later funding of future films, they used this as the reason to give him his desire; to be FIRED. Only 1 minute of his work is included in the film although he used sizable chunks of the budget.
Four cinematographers were involved in the main photography: Charles F. Wheeler, Sinsaku Himeda, Masamichi Satoh and Osami Furuya. They were jointly nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
As no flyable Zeros, Kates and Vals were available anywhere, several American trainers (AT-6's and BT-13's) were converted at about 30k$ a piece. These planes were also used in other war films like The Battle of Midway before being sold off to private buyers like the Confederate Air Force. They are pretty much all still flying today.
The Battleship Admiral Yamamoto met his officers on was a full scale replica, complete from bow to stern, and had even a mock-up plane on a catapult. It was built on a beach in Japan, next to the replica of the aircraft-carrier "Akagi." The Akagi set consisted of about two-thirds of the deck and the island area.
Although the "one wheel up" emergency landing by a B-17 was NOT an unplanned accident during filming, (The director states it was planned for and covered with five cameras to make sure it was captured) the P-40 crashing in the flight line was an unplanned accident - it was a life-sized mockup powered by a gasoline engine turning the propeller and steered by using the wheel brakes, just like real airplanes, but was specifically designed not to fly. The aircraft shown was loaded with explosives which were to be detonated by radio control at a specific point down the runway. Stunt actors were strategically located and rehearsed in which way to run. However shortly after the plane began taxiing down the runway it did begin to lift off the ground and turn to the left. The left turn would have taken it into a group of other mockups which had also been wired with explosives, but weren't scheduled to be destroyed until later. The explosives in the first P-40 were detonated on the spot in order to keep it from destroying the other planes, so the explosion occurred in a location the stunt men weren't prepared for. When it looks like they were running for their lives, they really were. This special effect was filmed with multiple camera so that it could be reused in other shots in the film, as were all the major special effects.
The mockups of the American ships in Pearl Harbor were constructed upon ocean-going barges which were extremely expensive to rent, causing director Richard Fleischer to comment during production, "If the Japanese had attacked us with ocean-going barges, we couldn't afford to make this film!". The budget of about $30 mil dollars was recouped in the US alone(although it was deemed a failure), the film was very much more popular abroad, and especially in Japan, although Tatsuya Mihashi, who played Commander Genda, had been a highly popular and prolific actor throughout the 1950s and 1960s, but after completing this film, it would be 10 years before he would appear in another film. The Japanese must not have appreciated his role
Admiral Yamamoto laments the fact that the Americans did not receive the declaration of war until after the attack had started, noting that nothing would infuriate the Americans more. He says: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." ...Although he is quoted as saying this at the time, he did not. It is believed to have been his feelings on the matter, and it has been suggested that he wrote in down in a diary, so who knows.
If he did, HE WAS WAY RIGHT
Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten, E.G. Marshall, James Whitmore and Jason Robards head an impressive cast in, what is still to this day the definitive film version of the infamous Pearl Harbour attack.
Originally Posted by struth
Tonight I will be watching the 1970 war film Tora Tora Tora, Directed mostly by Richard Fleischer. Fleischer did all the American scene, and although originally Akira Kurosawa was to do all the Japanese scenes, they were eventually done by Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda. Kurosawa only took the job as he was told David Lean was doing the American stuff. When Twentieth Century Fox found out Kurosawa was attempting to cast friends and business associates, including some high-level industrialists, in key roles in the film's Japanese segments as a quid-pro-quo for later funding of future films, they used this as the reason to give him his desire; to be FIRED. Only 1 minute of his work is included in the film although he used sizable chunks of the budget.
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was wondering why I was perspiring like it was going out of fashion......ah well the balvenie has now turned into Buffalo juice.lol
..star trek v the final frontier is coming on film four shortly so will watch that til the heid settles.
The Equaliser - AWESOME!!
Beautifully atmospheric and action-packed throughout, with some superb acting from DW, who is one cool dude for a 60-year old!