Tora! Tora! Tora! | Rotten Tomatoes

Tora! Tora! Tora!

G

Released Sep 23, 1970

2 hr. 23 min.

War

History

Drama

List

55%

29 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

This dramatic retelling of the Pearl Harbor attack details everything in the days that led up to that tragic moment in American history. As United States and Japanese relations strain over the U.S. embargo of raw materials, Air Staff Officer Minoru Genda (Tatsuya Mihashi) plans the preemptive strike against the United States. Although American intelligence agencies intercept Japanese communications hinting at the attack, they are unwilling to believe such a strike could ever occur on U.S. soil.

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Critics Consensus

Tora! Tora! Tora! is scrupulously accurate and lays out of the tragedy of Pearl Harbor with intricate detail, but the film's clinical approach to the sound and fury signifies little feeling.

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Joel H

Possibly the best war movie ever made. No CGI, and historical accuracy above and beyond any other movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/28/24

Full Review

Blu B

A classic war flick. It's the second half that really saves this. Solidly edited, paced, and acted well. The cinematography is really good and the special effects are absolutely jaw dropping. It's incredible watching the destruction and grand scale of the attack. That being said most of the problems this film has are in the first half. It's VERY dry and stale until the intermission. The music isn't bad but is barely used and really needed to be used more especially in the first half to help make this less dry. It feels like your watching a doucmentary simliar to All the Presidents Men type of style. I will say this is extremely accurate to what actually occured and doesn't sensaionalize anything and sticks strictly to the facts. For better or for worse. Also, it needed even more of a star studded cast to really help make these performances stand out and more memorable as some are more stand out than others. It can get very in the weeds with every little minute detail and while thats appreciated, I feel there are certain things that could've been cut to help speed things up or more importantly make it less dry. This really needed a Speilberg type of human connection in the first to truly make it incredible. That being said, it is 100% worth it to sit through the slog because the second half is incredible and some of the best special effects I have ever seen. This is defintely for people who want to learn more for education than entertainment about Pearl Harbor, as well as war movie fans, and any fans of any actors in this. If there is ever a case for staying with a ok movie the whole way, this is it.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/13/24

Full Review

Jim P

This is the best movie about the Pearl Harbour attack. Seen from both American and Japanese points of view. Lots of detail and great action scenes!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/02/24

Full Review

James W

Classic WWII movie. Good story, great action. Still good today, stands the test of time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/27/23

Full Review

jerry m

I was a kid when I saw this movie in Time Square New York on the big screen in Cinerama and the movie blew me away. I had to see it again a week later. They edited together actual footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor and special effects that won the Oscar that year. All the scenes were based on real documented events in detail. It's probably the most technically meticulously produced movie ever made and it still is a marvel even today. Considering that they didn't have computer CGI back then it is an incredible statement. LB Abbott came out of retirement to create the special effects. Okay so I'm a nerd. Most viewers complain the movie takes too long to get to the actual battle so I guess it helps to be a history buff. For me the whole experience was riveting

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/29/23

Full Review

Steve P

One of the best historical accounts of the Pearl Harbor attack, and the events that led up to the action. It shows our leaders carelessly taking action, without preparing for reaction. The movie was slow at times, but it did a pretty good job of showing how inneptitude on some of the American leaders part, and luck on the Japanese part, led to a horrible disaster. The movie also did a good job showing how each side underestimated the other's resolve, and willingness to fight.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/02/23

Full Review

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Richard Fleischer

Director

Toshio Masuda

Director

Kinji Fukasaku

Director

Martin Balsam

Adm. Husband E. Kimmel

Sô Yamamura

Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto

Joseph Cotten

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson

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Variety Staff

Variety

Both overall director Richard Fleischer and his Japanese counterparts do a dull job, and the monotonously low-key tone of scene after scene almost suggests that each was filmed without a sense of ultimate slotting in the finished form.

Jul 8, 2008

Full Review

Clark Collis

Empire Magazine

This big-budget, noble-but-dull account of the run up to Pearl Harbour is high on historical veracity but low on drama.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 30, 2006

Full Review

Time Out

The climax, in particular, manages to be more than just a shoot-out, with Fleischer's intelligent direction generating a real feeling of chaos and apocalypse.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Penelope Houston

The Spectator

Even the air-raid, one of those all- out bits of Hollywood destruction staging which offer plenty of time for sour speculation on the sheer cost of so much bang-bang cinema, should leave human casualties taking second place to the material smash-up.

Jul 9, 2018

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Directors Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda have infused Tora! Tora! Tora! with an excessively dry and deliberate pace that results in an almost interminable first hour...

Rated: 2/4

Jul 28, 2015

Full Review

Burl Burlingame

Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Prior to "Tora!" movies showing the attack were jingoistic propaganda; afterwards, the attack was an excuse to indulge in Hollywood's fascination with American self-loathing.

Rated: 3/4

Dec 20, 2012

Full Review

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Synopsis

This dramatic retelling of the Pearl Harbor attack details everything in the days that led up to that tragic moment in American history. As United States and Japanese relations strain over the U.S. embargo of raw materials, Air Staff Officer Minoru Genda (Tatsuya Mihashi) plans the preemptive strike against the United States. Although American intelligence agencies intercept Japanese communications hinting at the attack, they are unwilling to believe such a strike could ever occur on U.S. soil.

Director: Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda, Kinji Fukasaku
Executive Producer: Darryl F Zanuck
Screenwriter: Larry Forrester, Hideo Oguni, Ryûzô Kikushima
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox, Toei Co. Ltd.
Rating: G
Genre: War, History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 23, 1970, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 8, 2013

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