Tora! Tora! Tora! | Historical Errors

The movie Tora! Tora! Tora! Was meant to be a historically accurate movie but the movie had mistakes in it. Several factor mainly this movie being about the Japanese made me choose it. The Director Richard Fleischer came to making this film in kind of a weird way. Tora! Tora! Tora! Doesn’t show any real bias toward the Japanese or the American sides. The film did a great job in the way reflect the time period in which it was made. This movie had a bunch of factual errors in it for being a historical movie. I think the thing that the Author Richard Fleischer was trying to prove was that the director was trying to show a real actuate idea of what happened in Pearl harbor without any Opinion getting in the way.

The film starts with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto being appointed to command the Japanese First Fleet and Admiral Husband E. Kimmel to be in command the United States Pacific Fleet located in Pearl Harbor. There are alternating scenes between events in Japan, Hawaii and Washington D.C. The scenes with the Japanese are spoken in Japanese and have English sub-titles. In the begging there are scenes that show a lot of Tension between the US and Japanese Military. While W Tensions rise between the two countries and the two sides are finding no diplomatic solution war with the U.S. becomes inevitable Admiral Yamamoto makes attack plans in an event that the Japanese Army’s leaders prevail. At the same time U.S. military strategists and intelligence monitor Japanese military activity and communications, trying to predict Japan’s future plans. Later in the film, the Japanese Navy’s strategy and plans of the are being intercepted by a large number of officers the American military in Hawaii and the politicians and the secret service men in Washington D.C. When the Japanese fleet sails towards Hawaii, they receive a message called “Climb Mt. Niitaka”, which authorizes the attack to proceed. In Hawaii Kimmel gives orders to his aircraft carriers to go out to sea in order to prepare for Japanese fleet movements in the Pacific. Kimmel decides to leave all of the slower battleships in Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941 before dawn the Japanese launch their attack from six carriers northwest of Oahu. When the sun rises over the Hawaiian Islands the Japanese air commander gives the felt a message “Tora, Tora, Tora” which meant that no U.S. air support has noticed and that the American fleet knows nothing of the upcoming ambush.

There were several reasons why I chose this movie. One of them was that it had to do With Japanese things and I like Japanese things. The fact that this film is made by an American person and a Japanese person made it interesting to me. Also the fact that I wanted to get an idea of what happened in Pearl Harbor. These things made me choose my movie.

The Director Richard Fleischer came to making this film in kind of a weird way. At first he wanted to make a documentary of Hitler and Nazi Germany. And then he took at Japan but he knew very little about Japan and how it worked. So he started researching about Japan and became fascinated by their culture. So he decided that he was going to make a documentary about Japan. This Documentary won an Academy award for the best feature film of the year. After that He made another Film on Japan with Elmo Williams that he was proud of. So after that he worked with some Japanese film director to make Tora! Tora! Tora! This film was made in a weird way by Richard Fleischer.( Fleshicer, Richard)

This Movie really doesn’t show any bias to the Japanese or the Americans. The main reason for this is that the Japanese part where made by a Japanese film director and the American parts were made by Richard Fleisher, so there was no bias of either side. Also bloth directors where only showing their own country so there wouldn’t be one directors opinion getting in the part of the other county. Also both film directors tried to make the film as historically accurate as possible so there wasn’t any option in the movie. Tora! Tora! Tora! Doesn’t have bias view points in either the American parts. Or the Japanese parts.

The film does a great job in the way reflect the time period in which it was made. Most of the things such as the type writer room, the way the people dressed, and the war things like plans and battle ships where all correct. They were off on a couple things like the angled run ways ever were there they only had the straight ones back then. So for the most part they got the things that happen back then right with a few mistakes.

This movie had a ton of factual errors in it. In one of the scenes there was a damaged B-17 bomber that had a zero on its tail and the tower told it to go around. This would happen because a B-17 can’t out run a zero, he would have just landed and get the hell out there as fast as possible. Another Mistake was that the first time you see Washington DC one of the building is the Museum of American history, this wasn’t built until 1959. Another one like I said before was that the since with the Japanese fighter taking off on the angled deck. During the war they only had straight decks the angled one didn’t come until after the war. Then there was the time where the when the Japanese planes arrived at Hawaii. They flew into the mountainous area near Schofield Barracks. Problem was that there was a white cross memorial that identifies the location of first appearance of the Japanese planes on Oahu. (Snadys, Jon)

Obviously it couldn’t have been there during the attack. Also with the since with the Japanese sub and the American destroyer the destroyer show was a much newer one the real one was one back from World War One. One other mistake is that the radar show in movie at Ahou point was not the right one. The real was a newly devolved scr-270. When the Japanese planes where taking off there were a bunch of different planes such as the Zero, Kate, and Val but the only planes deployed at first where the Zeros and then the other planes took off.( Westerman , Olav).

Another Mistake is when Yamamoto is Another error is that some of the Japanese bombers are seen with only a pilot when they would also have a gunner and a radio operator. he is wearing bars like American officers when Japanese officers wear medals. Before the attack the bugler blows a correct call but in the real life the flag must be raised before the bugler blows. Also during the attack Doris Miller was on the USS West Virginia during the attack but in the movie he was on the USS Arizona. (Myserty Of Pearl Harbor)

Another error is that some of the Japanese bombers are seen with only a pilot when they would also have a gunner and a radio operator. In the movie there was very little some compared to the real attack. Also the since where the b-17 bomber had trouble landing was wrong during the real attack none of the planes had trouble with their landing gear. During the attack on Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack a band on the deck that is playing the Star Spangled Banner just plays the song faster, obviously in real life any sane person would stop and man their battle stations. The movie misquoted admiral Yamamoto famous speech about the chances of success with the war with America the movie said “If we must, we can raise havoc with them for a year… after that, I can guarantee nothing.” While in real life he said “I can run wild for six months… after that, I have no expectation of success.” ( iMDb)

A movie about Pearl Harbor without opinion or bias was Richard Fleischer’s goal. Several factors mainly this movie being about the Japanese made this movie my choice. The Director Richard Fleischer came to making this film in kind of a weird way. Tora! Tora! Tora! Didn’t really bias opinions toward the Japanese or the American sides. The film did a great job in the way reflect the time period in which it was made. There was a bunch of factual errors in it for being a historical movie.