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Film / Tora! Tora! Tora!

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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."
Admiral Yamamoto

Tora! Tora! Tora! is a 1970 film telling the story of the attack on Pearl Harbor from both the American and Japanese perspectives. Unusually, the film was made by two almost independent units — an American unit directed by Richard Fleischer, and a Japanese unit directed by Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda.note  This technique would be repeated with its pseudo-sequel Midway. The original idea was to blend the two stories seamlessly, until Fleischer realized it would be better to let the two halves retain contrasting styles.

The film is noted for being remarkably even-handed in an era in which war movies were often gung-ho and treated the Germans/Japanese as disposable Mooks at best and Always Chaotic Evil at worst. It may have helped end that era.


It was filmed before CGI was invented. The scenes of the bombing of Pearl Harbor were among the most complex ever successfully attempted before CGI; specially modified American planes "played" Japanese aircraft, and real explosions were choreographed.

Tora! Tora! Tora! is a member of the "historical" school of war movies, alongside The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far and Battle of Britain. The filmmakers didn't use the bombing of Pearl Harbor as a backdrop to a fictional story; the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the events leading to it, in their full sweep, is the story.

The title is the Japanese code-word used to indicate that complete surprise was achieved. "Tora" is Japanese for "tiger", although The Other Wiki mentions that it was also shorthand for "Totsugeki rageki" — meaning "surprise attack" (more appropriate given the purpose of the mission).


Compare Pearl Harbor.

Not to be confused with the Depeche Mode song, which is based on the film.

Tora! Tora! Tora! provides examples of:

  • Abandon Ship: Shouted on at least one American ship during the attack.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The Japanese achieve near total surprise, allowing them to devastate the American fleet and airbases.
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: The military band speeding up the national anthem? True story. Military bands do not stop playing the national anthem under any circumstances, and bands have been known to speed things up when the men needed to get to their stations due to a crisis.
  • Anachronism Stew: Mostly averted, aside from some modern ships in the harbor ... but when the Japanese aircraft fly over the island en route to the harbor, they memorably fly over the huge white cross erected at Schofield Barracks to commemorate the people who died in the attack they are supposedly about to make. A microwave relay tower is also clearly visible in the same shot.
  • Anti-Air: Quite a number of American anti-aircraft guns are shown, ranging from water-cooled .50 caliber machine guns to 3-inch and 5-inch dual-purpose guns. Unfortunately, they're unable to prevent Japanese planes from further damaging the American fleet and airbases.
  • Armchair Military:
    • The US top brass seem very reluctant to act on intelligence.
    • Their Japanese counterparts, with one notable exception (Yamamoto, who spent time in America), believe that the Americans will be cowed into compliance with a single decisive blow.
  • Artistic License – Music: The military band is not actually playing anything in the national anthem scene when it starts to speed up, even though the conductor is actually keeping time with the speeding music. It is most apparent when the cymbal player is distracted by the Zeroes flying next to them and is half-heartedly crashing whenever he feels like, despite the song having cymbal crashes at typical times.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: A Japanese bomber drops an armor-piercing bomb that sets off the powder magazine of the battleship Arizona. The resulting explosion blows the ship apart, resulting in over a thousand officers and crew killed.
  • Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Trope Namer, and Admiral Yamamoto's memorable closing lines when he hears that America learned of the attack before they could deliver their official declaration of war.
  • Badass Bystander: Doris Miller, a black Navy cook, takes up a machine gun on the West Virginia after the gun crew are killed, and manages to shoot down one of the Japanese planes.
  • Battle Epic: truly epic, with filming in the US, Japan, Hawaii, culminating in an actual recreation of the Pearl Harbor attack filmed on location using more than thirty airplanes.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty!: invoked There's no evidence that Yamamoto spoke the "sleeping giant" line in real life, but it did sum up his feelings about the war pretty well.
  • Bittersweet Ending: While the Japanese manage to destroy huge numbers of American planes and severely damage most of their battleships, they fail to take out the American carriers (which were still at sea at the time of the attack), as well as missing other important targets in the harbor such as the sub pens and oil storage facilities. This would come back to haunt them a few months later. On the American side, despite the heavy losses, the attack only strengthens their resolve and puts an end to both isolationism and the Great Depression. And we all know how the war eventually went for both sides.
  • Captain Obvious: Justified. An officer who tried to pass up a warning earlier that morning angrily points out the window during the attack as proof to one of the Obstructive Bureaucrats there was reason to be concerned about an attack.
    Lieutenant Kaminsky: You wanted confirmation, Captain? Take a look! There's your confirmation!
  • Coming in Hot: Oboe One's B-17 is unable to lower one of their landing gear due to damage from a Japanese fighter, so they bring it in on one wheel and drop the other wing right onto the pavement. Another B-17 attempts to land but is waved off because they've got a fighter on their tail.
  • Cool Plane: Several, but most notably the A6M2 Zero and the P-40 Warhawk.
  • Crying Wolf: Decrypted Japanese diplomatic messages, plus observations of their military movements, lead the US military to think Hawaii and the Philippines are going to be attacked ... on 30 November, 1941. When an attack is predicted again a week later, there is an uphill battle to get anyone to take it seriously.
  • Curb Stomp Cushion: The Japanese achieve total surprise in their attack on the American military installations, and the ensuring fight generally proceeds the way you'd expect it to from there, with some notable exceptions, including planes shot down by anti-aircraft fire, and a small handful of American fighters making it into the air to shoot down some of the attackers. The Japanese also leave the refinery containing Pacific Fleet's reserve fuel untouched (which could have slashed the operational range of the US Pacific Fleet in half for months), and they completely miss the three American carriers which had put to sea on their own missions.
  • Damage Control: Numerous sailors are seen fighting fires, references are made to counterflooding on listing ships, etc.
  • Danger Deadpan: The officer in command of the battleship Nevada. The base is under fierce attack, his ship is in flames and sinking, and he is calmly issuing orders maneuvering the ship through the harbor and beaching it so as to avoid blocking the channel.
  • Daylight Horror: An idyllic tropical lagoon enjoying a peaceful Sunday morning is suddenly transformed into a hellish war zone, with multiple ships sunk, an airbase effectively knocked out, and over a thousand unprepared American soldiers, sailors, and airmen perishing in a matter of minutes.
  • Dramatic Irony: See Crying Wolf.
  • Eagle Land: Most of the Japanese officers see America as Type II. Yamamoto, however, sees far more Type I.
    • This is very much Truth in Television; the Japanese Army saw a fight with America as a sideshow, keeping the decadent Yankees occupied while the real war in China was won. Yamamoto had spent years as an attache in America, and he knew firsthand what sort of resources America could call on.
  • Every Bullet Is a Tracer: Inverted, oddly enough. There was tracer fire at Pearl Harbor, but not in this movie.
  • Fighter-Launching Sequence: Most of the American fighters are destroyed on the ground, including many trying to get into the air.
    • The Japanese get one when they launch their planes from their carriers, though.
    • The Americans actually do get one successful launch sequence...with only two P-40s.
  • Flat Character: One of the problems pointed out in reviews is that few of the people portrayed in the film get any backstory or character definition. Most of the main protagonists can be described in single words (Admiral Kimmel is worried, Admiral Yamamoto is brooding, and so on). The fact most of them are wearing military uniforms makes it hard to distinguish who's supposed to be who anyway unless you've studied the attack fairly thoroughly. The US cast consists almost entirely of character actors, reportedly because the producers felt that stars would distract from the documentary feel of the film.
  • Foregone Conclusion: Textbook example.
  • Fragile Speedster: The Japanese Zero fighter. Demonstrated when two P-40s take a few down in only one or two bursts. (In Real Life, once the Americans deployed aircraft such as the P-38 Lightning, F4U Corsair, F6F Hellcat, and P-51 Mustang—just as fast, if not faster than, the Zero, but not nearly as fragile—the air war in the Pacific got really lopsided.)
  • Friend or Foe: The Japanese force is spotted on radar, and the sighting is called in. The officer who receives the report assumes it is a formation of friendly B-17s expected that morning.
    • Also happens on board the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi, when the pilots are practicing at identifying the various American ships that might be in the harbor. Some of the men correctly guess a couple of battleships, and then the officer holds up a silhouette of an aircraft carrier. One pilot excitedly shouts "Enterprise!" and then is informed that it's actually a picture of his own ship. Everyone else laughs at him.note 
  • Geisha: Briefly seen when Fuchida and his men are practicing bombing runs at a sleepy Japanese port that strongly resembles Pearl Harbor. Geisha girls from a nearby geisha house lean out the window, cheering the pilots on.
    Fisherman: Navy pilots attract geisha girls but they frighten the fish.
  • Get Out!: Cordell Hull basically says this after reading the memorandum from Nomura:
  • Glass Cannon: The "Val" dive bombers and "Kate" torpedo bombers are shown to be capable of devastating both American ships and bases with their ordnance, but once they come under attack by P-40s or are hit by Anti-Air fire from the ground, they are shown smoking and/or going down. And unlike the Zeroes, they are very much incapable of outrunning or outmaneuvering American fighters.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Related to Flat Character. You can tell that Admiral Halsey is a no-nonsense badass because he spends a high-level Navy briefing chewing on and waving around a big ol' cigar.
  • Guy in Back: The Japanese "Val" Dive Bombers and "Kate" Torpedo bombers each have rear gunners in order to defend against enemy planes. It does little when several of them are attacked by two P-40s late into the film.
    • Averted with the B-17s coming in from San Diego. They're only on a transport run, so they have no extra crew, much less machine guns, to man.
  • Hollywood History: Largely averted, as the film attempts to portray real events realistically.
  • Hope Spot: Two USAAF P-40s manage to scramble into the air and take down a few Japanese planes. They are forced to retreat eventually though due to being outnumbered and low on ammunition.
  • Interservice Rivalry:
    • Quite a bit of political in-fighting between the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy in the lead-up to the attack. The army, for example, calls for an alliance with Germany, which the navy opposes. This has gotten Yamamoto's life threatened in Tokyo.
    • Between the US Army and Navy, as well. When one of the Navy analysts wants to radio Pearl Harbor a potential alert, he's told conditions are preventing communication. He then suggests using the Army, and that is automatically dismissed without even trying.
  • Just a Kid: One reason why the report from the USS Ward regarding a Japanese submarine is dismissed is because her CO is "just a green kid". Of course, her CO (Lt. Cmdr. William Outerbridge) is absolutely right.
  • Killed Offscreen: Not a person, but rather, the USS Oklahoma, which was attacked by torpedo bombers off-screen and is shown capsized during the middle of the attack.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: Admiral Nagumo calls a halt to the attack after two waves, deciding that conserving his forces after an evidently successful attack on the American base is preferable than risking the fleet being found and attacked by the missing US aircraft carriers and/or US submarines.
  • Let's Split Up, Gang!: Oboe Flight, a formation of unarmed B-17s arriving from California, scatters when they encounter the Japanese attack. Justified in this case, as the bombers are unarmed and have no escorts, so splitting up is their only hope of any of them surviving as a formation of unarmed bombers would be an irresistible target to the Japanese fighters.
  • Lightning Bruiser: The American P-40 Warhawk, compared to the Zero used by the Japanese. This is demonstrated when the two P-40s that manage to get airborne are able to not only absorb damage from the Japanese machine-guns, but also outrun them when being chased, allowing them to get away.
  • Majored in Western Hypocrisy: Inverted. Admiral Yamamoto was a liaison officer in the US, and studied at Harvard, and declares that the Americans are a proud and just people. He's also one of the few Japanese commanders who understands exactly what they're getting themselves into.
  • Mercy Kill: Discussed by Admiral Kimmel when he gets hit by a spent bullet shell during the attack.
    Kimmel: It would have been merciful had it killed me.
  • More Dakka: The American P-40 Warhawk fighters are shown tearing into Japanese bombers with their six machine guns.
  • My Country, Right or Wrong: Admiral Yamamoto. Unlike his fellow officers, he doesn't believe the Americans will simply fold over even if the attack succeeds, and he knows what resources the United States is capable of bringing to bear, yet he never shirks his duty to his Emperor and his government.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: The entire attack could be considered this on account of what happens to the attackers later on.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • An American flying teacher's reaction when her training plane is suddenly surrounded by numerous Japanese warplanes heading for Pearl Harbor.
    • Everyone at the harbor has a Mass "Oh, Crap!" when the attack starts.
    • Yamamoto, (as shown with sleeping giant line) when learning that the Pearl Harbor attack occurred before the formal declaration of war was delivered to the U.S. Realizing that the U.S. would undoubtedly enter the war, plus the fact that the key aircraft carriers and hangars were not destroyed in the attack, he knows that Japan is basically screwed in terms of winning the war.
  • Old-School Dogfight: One happens between two P-40s and a squadron of Zeroes late into the attack.
  • One Sided Battle: The American forces on Oahu are caught completely by surprise, and as a result are unable to respond effectively once the Japanese start going after their ships and bases.
  • Point Defenseless:
    • The American defenders are caught by surprise, and the Japanese attackers are on top of them before they can open fire. Even so, they still manage to tag a few of the enemy planes.
    • Once two Army pilots get up in the air, the tail gunners on the Japanese planes prove unable to deter them.
  • Poor Communication Kills:
    • Admiral Stark dithers instead of informing Kimmel of the Japanese ultimatum. An Army officer in Washington fails to loop his Navy counterpart in on the fact that they are trying to pass a warning message to the US forces in Hawaii, due to the assumption that the Navy personnel would face the same difficulties they were in passing the message along. It gets worse: They send the message by telegraph, but they don't mark it urgent, so the message sits in a pile for some time before it is delivered — after the attack.
    • Radar spotted the Japanese first wave on its way in; when the crew report it, they are told it's the expected B-17 flight, and not to worry about it.
    • On the Japanese side, their effort to synchronize the timetable so that their declaration of war comes immediately before the Pearl Harbor attack fails miserably. The attack goes off without a hitch and on schedule; however, for some reason the Japanese saw fit to transmit the declaration via one huge encrypted telegram in fourteen parts, but not to ensure that their embassy was staffed by trained typists with the adequate security clearance to handle it.
  • Puppet King: The Emperor is opposed to war with America. And as all the power in the government is held by the Cabinet, the Emperor's opinion carries shockingly little weight (especially since the Shinto faith considered the Emperor to be a god, a practice which ended after the war).
  • Rays from Heaven: Lieutenant Commander Fuchida notices the morning sun breaking through the last of the storm clouds, and remarks to his comrades that its rays remind him of the Japanese victory flag that was raised when they launched from the carriers. This is regarded by all the Japanese pilots as a good omen: in effect, the blessing of heaven upon their mission to ravage Pearl Harbor.
  • Reading the Enemy's Mail: The American military has the capability to decrypt Japanese diplomatic codes, but this capability is kept very very secret. The President is actually removed from the list of people authorized to handle the decrypted messages after one of his staff members improperly disposes of a decrypted message. This adds to the information lag that contributes to the Americans being unprepared for the attack.
  • Reality Is Unrealistic: The DVD Commentary goes into some detail on a few real events left out of the movie simply because they seemed too over the top to have actually happened.
    • Apparently, Martin Balsam was reluctant to say the line "It would have been a mercy if it had killed me" regarding a spent shell that hits him in the chest. Then he was told that Admiral Kimmel actually said it.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot:
    • Some sources claim one of the five B-17s used in the film actually had a landing gear failure so they rushed a film crew to the airfield to capture the emergency landing while the pilots circled to burn off fuel. Note that the footage of the actual one-wheel landing is lower quality than the rest of the film. Other sources state this is not true, however.
    • The famous scene of the P-40 veering out of control and plowing into the middle of a line of parked planes was an accident (it was supposed to just blow up). The stuntmen seen Outrunning the Fireball really are running for their lives.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: US Secretary of States Cordell Hull is not amused to receive the Japanese ultimatum after the attack on Pearl Harbor. See Get Out! above.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: A base commander, wanting to leave at least some of his planes protected from air attack, sends small detachments of fighters to various outlying airfields. Two pilots, Welsh and Taylor, assume that they are being sent to Haleiwa Field as punishment for fleecing their fellow pilots in poker games. Instead, this assignment allows them to be the only two American pilots shown engaging the enemy in the air. In Real Life they were decorated for it.
  • Red Alert: Three times in the film:
    • The Americans in Hawaii go on full alert when available intel suggests that the Japanese are going to attack... on 30 November, 1941. Obviously, it turns out to be a false alarm.
    • The USS Ward spots the periscope of a Japanese midget submarine attempting to follow an American ship into the harbor. They go to General Quarters, then close with the submarine and destroy it. Their message warning the higher-ups of the encounter is not passed along fast enough.
    • Finally, when the Japanese attack, the Americans finally sound the alarm, but it's too little, too late.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here!:
    • A biplane with a student and instructor pilot are doing their own thing when the Japanese bombers overtake them. The instructor pilot and one of the Japanese pilots stare at each other for a few long moments before the instructor rolls the biplane into a dive and gets the hell out of there.
    • At Oboe Leader's orders, the formation of B-17s (unarmed since they were just on a ferrying mission) scatters when they run into the Japanese aircraft, with the planes making for different airfields in hope of finding a safe place to land.
  • Sinking Ship Scenario: Several of the battleships in Battleship Row, but most notably the USS Nevada, which is forced to beach when the Japanese planes start focusing on her.
  • Sitting Duck:
    • When the attack begins, the US Pacific Fleet is caught at anchor, with most of its sailors and officers expecting to enjoy another relaxing Sunday and thus unprepared for a major attack.
    • The American planes are grouped together in the middle of the airfields to protect from saboteurs, which only serves them up as perfect targets for the air attack. The Air Corps officers are painfully aware of this, but unable to do much about their orders.
    • This also happens to the Japanese bombers who were attacked by the two P-40s that managed to get airborne.
  • Theme Naming: The American battleships were all named for US states. The cruisers and destroyers also had their own themes (cities and troops who died in battle, respectively), but feature far less prominently.note 
  • This Cannot Be!: When the news of the Pearl Harbor attack gets out, one officer initially thinks that it must be the Philippines that are under attack instead.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: The B-17 flight commander, upon realizing that they have just witlessly flown headlong into World War II.
    Oboe Leader: What a way to fly into a war. Unarmed and out of gas.
  • This Is Not a Drill: When the news of the attack starts to filter through.
    • No surprise at this. The real attack was the Trope Namer.
  • This Means War!: Obviously.
  • Title Drop: The Japanese signal that they've achieved total surprise in the attack.
  • Too Dumb to Live: A server in the mess hall exclaims to everyone that the radio is broadcasting an emergency report that Pearl Harbor is under attack. Everyone drops what they're doing, rushes to the windows, and manage to get a glimpse of a D3A dropping a bomb right in front of them... hitting them with a blast wave and a spray of shrapnel and broken glass.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: It seems as though the film averts this, given the apparent success of the plan, but Yamamoto admits they didn't get all their targets, and of course the line about the sleeping giant.
  • War Is Hell:
    • Yamamoto is frustrated with the "Army hotheads" who so eagerly call for war.
    • An old officer watching the Japanese pilots about to take off observes that the men are in such good spirits because they have not yet experienced war.
  • Watching Troy Burn: Admiral Kimmel spends much of the attack watching from his office as his command and career literally go up in smoke, knowing that at this point the only thing he can do is try to keep things from getting worse. When a stray Japanese bullet crashes through his office window and bounces harmlessly off of his chest, all he can muster is a muttered "Too bad it didn't kill me."
  • Weapons Understudies: Then-modern (but still '40s or '50s era) missile destroyers and frigates playing smaller ships in the harbor during the attack. Rebuilt American prop trainers as the Japanese aircraft. Later model B-17s and P-40s portraying earlier war models. In a nice touch, however, the destroyer escort playing the USS Ward had her hull number repainted to match Ward's for the film.


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