History Film / ToraToraTora

** On the flipside, the Japanese consider it a great victory -- but Yamamoto points out that the American carriers were never hit. Not only that, but he knows full well that America is ''pissed'', and will recover and fight back with ''everything'' they have. Japan may have won this battle, but they're destined to lose the war.

** 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.

* CryingWolf: 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.

* EagleLand: Most of the Japanese officers see America as Type II. Yamamoto, however, sees far more Type I.

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* ChekhovsGunman: Two pilots at Pearl Harbor are transferred to another airfield. When the Japanese attack occurs, the two pilots take to the sky and fight the Japanese.

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: The B-17 flight commander, upon realizing that they have just witlessly flown headlong into UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

** An [[OldSoldier 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.

-->'''Lieutenant Kaminsky:''' You wanted confirmation, Captain? '''Take a look!''' ''There's'' your confirmation!

* BadassBystander: 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.

** This is very much TruthInTelevision; 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.

** An American flying teacher's reaction when her training plane is suddenly surrounded by numerous Japanese warplanes heading for Pearl Harbor.

* DaylightHorror: 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.

-->'''Lieutenant Kaminsky:''' You wanted confirmation, Captain? Take a look! There's your confirmation!

** 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.

* WatchingTroyBurn: 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."

* BattleEpic: Truly epic, with filming in the US, Japan and Hawaii, culminating in an actual recreation of the Pearl Harbor attack filmed on location using more than thirty airplanes.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: 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.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: The DVDCommentary 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.

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

* BaitAndSwitch: As the attack begins, the Japanese planes fly past a small training aircraft carrying a young man and a sweet little old lady. When the bombs start to fall, and they realise what is happening, the old lady throws the plane into a corkscrew dive to get clear of the action, and it's only then that the audience realises that she is actually the instructor and the young man the pupil.
** Before the Japanese planes catch up to them, it's established in the dialog between the two that the woman is the instructor, and the young man is her student.

* ThisCannotBe: 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.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The movie tries to provide a scene for just about everyone who played a role in the leadup to Pearl Harbor that they can. This sometimes is to the movie's detriment, as some of those scenes don't really do anything other than introduce the character, who doesn't do much. For example, there's one staff officer whose sole purpose on film is to skip dinner because he's busy gushing over how great someone else's proposed attack plan for Pearl Harbor is with no shirt on.

* RealLife/CoolPlane: Several, but most notably the [=A6M2=] Zero and the P-40 Warhawk.

** 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.

* GetOut: Cordell Hull basically says this after reading the memorandum from Nomura. [[TruthInTelevision Yes, he did react this way]]: