History Film / ToraToraTora

* GetOut: Cordell Hull basically says this after reading the memorandum from Nomura:

* ForegoneConclusion: Textbook example.

** 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]]Especially funny for naval history buffs as ''Enterprise'' and ''Akagi'' look nothing alike - the poor guy must have been really over-eager.[[/note]]

''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]]None other than Creator/AkiraKurosawa was supposed to direct the Japanese half, and Kurosawa spent two years in pre-production, but conflicts and budget arguments between him and his American producers led to Kurosawa getting fired just two weeks into filming.[[/note]] This technique would be repeated with its [[SpiritualSuccessor pseudo-sequel]] ''Film/{{Midway|1976}}''. 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 AlwaysChaoticEvil at worst. It may have helped end that era.

* BattleEpic: 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.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlcsnap-2011-06-22-08h57m46s196_7571.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The Japanese military planning the attack on TheBigBoard.]]

->''I fear all we have done is to [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant awaken a sleeping giant]] and filled him with a terrible resolve.''

* PuppetKing: 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.

** Their Japanese counterparts, with one notable exception, believe that the Americans will be cowed into compliance with a single decisive blow.

''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]]None other than Creator/AkiraKurosawa was supposed to direct the Japanese half, and Kurosawa spent two years in pre-production, but conflicts and budget arguments between him and his American producers led to Kurosawa getting fired just two weeks into filming.[[/note]] This technique would be repeated with its [[SpiritualSuccessor pseudo-sequel]] ''Film/{{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 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).

!!This film provides examples of:

* CurbStompCushion: The Japanese achieve total surprise in their attack on the American military installations, and the ensuring fight generally proceeds [[CurbStompBattle 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, and they completely miss the three American carriers which had put to sea on their own missions.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Admiral Yamamoto.

** 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. Still worse, the radar operators have no radio; to make their report, they have to hike down to the nearest gas station and make a phone call.

* 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.

* SittingDuck: 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.

* TooDumbToLive: 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.

-->'''Hull:''' In all my fifty years of public service, I have never seen a document so crowded with infamous falsehoods and distortions, on a scale so huge that I never imagined until today that any government on this planet was capable of uttering them.\\

* WarIsHell: 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.