"Was the Making of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" Cursed?" Topic

"The USS Yorktown (CV-10) steamed gently 30 miles off the coast of San Diego on a golden December morning in 1968. As the ship turned into the wind, its silhouette left no doubt as to its pedigree: This was a World War II–vintage Essex-class aircraft carrier, though with an angled flight deck that had been added after the war. But that was only one contradiction on this ship of contradictions.

Painted on the deck were the white lines that Japanese carrier pilots used to gauge wind direction at takeoff. Behind them was a raft of Japanese aircraft, or at least what appeared to be Japanese aircraft. And surrounding the aircraft were throngs of cheering sailors waving their hands and the white baseball caps favored by the Imperial Japanese Navy. These sailors, however, were American—the Yorktown's crew…"

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Armand

Thanks for posting this story. I really enjoyed reading about the details of the production. In 1969 I was a radioman on a submarine rescue ship based in Pearl Harbor. The scene where a submarine is strafed during morning colors was filmed next to where our ship was moored. I well remember the thrill of returning to Pearl after a day of operations and seeing the smoke rising from the former battleship anchorage, "flak" burst dotting the air, and flights of "Japanese" planes overhead. My favorite sight was seeing a PBY float plane skimming over our ship as we passed the end of the Hickam Field runway. Thanks for the memories.

No mention my friend…

Armand

And thank you for sharing them William.

One of the few films i will watch every time it is on.
As noted the conception, execution and artistry of this film has finally become appreciated as it deserved. I hope some of the hundreds of high school students I wrangled into a theater in Galveston appreciated it as much as I did.

(smile)

Armand

I agree. One of the great WWII movies because it was so faithful to the true facts of the story. Every time I watch I appreciate it more and more. I remember going to theatre as an 8 year old and finding Tora! Tora! Tora! very boring until the shooting started. I loved the shooting parts. Now the best parts of the movie for me are the parts I found then the most boring.

What a great review. The reconstruction on three barges was the back half of Nevada not Arizona, but I learnt so much from this. A terrific film, but the extended version for BluRay was disappointing. Yamamoto in the Imperial Palace was worth it but the "comic" sequence of the cooks on Akagi was bizarre. Like Waterloo, one is bound to wonder what film still languishes in archives.

Happy you enjoyed it my good friend…

Armand