Poll: Favorite Dramatized Pearl Harbor-Themed Film

[Ken_McAlinden]

Well, which is your favorite? Will you be watching one tonight?

Regards,

[Ed Bishop]

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, there is no substitute. Yeah, there's a soap opera element to it, but also a tenseness that defines the time in which it's set, as if a lot were at take long before the attack. And while it isn't graphic as later films, nor try to be educational, it's the most impressive. TORA! has some fine elements to it, but seems just too literal in showing both sides and their strategems. History lessons can make educational cinema, but rarely make good cinema that also entertains...at least doesn't often work for this kid.

IN HARM'S WAY seemed to me like a potboiler update of FHTE, and a pretty poor one at that, even if the cast was a fine one. Never liked it, though it's well photographed.

:ed:

[Ken_McAlinden]

For the record, "From Here To Eternity" is my favorite, but I am in the middle of watching Howard Hawks' "Air Force" for the first time. It is one of those great Warner Brothers propaganda films that is way more entertaining than such a film has a right to be. I Tivo'd it off of TCM a couple of nights ago, and will watch the second half tonight. "The Winds of War" was a television miniseries, but I figured its legend loomed large enough to include it in the poll. It's amazing how soapy a lot of the films made about the subject have been. Even "Air Force" has its melodramatic plot points.

Regards,

[chip-hp]

... I am in the middle of watching Howard Hawks' "Air Force" for the first time. ...

Is that the one where a group of B-17s (w/o guns) arrive in Hawaii in the middle of the attack on Pearl Harbor? ... if so, I always enjoyed watching it when it came on TV in the '50s ... FHTE is a great movie! ... but for pure Pearl Harbor film, I would have to choose TORA ...

[Ken_McAlinden]

Is that the one where a group of B-17s (w/o guns) arrive in Hawaii in the middle of the attack on Pearl Harbor? ... if so, I always enjoyed watching it when it came on TV in the '50s ... Yep, that's the one. It has some terrible historical inaccuracies (lots of references to Hawaiian-Japanese saboteurs with exploding fruit trucks and other such nonsense that supported the wrong-headed ideas behind internment camps), but viewed in its context and wartime release date, it is a really skillfully made piece of "propagantertainment".

Regards,

[JorgeGvb]

I voted for The Final Countdown. The movie is purely fiction of course, but it was very interesting. Tora, Tora, Tora was a great movie too.

[Ron Stone]

I'll be amazed if anyone votes for PEARL HARBOR -- one of the worst blockbusters in recent memory not about a meteor.

[dwmann]

Voted for IN HARM'S WAY, although it isn't really about Pearl Harbor, and isn't very historically accurate. I just never seem to get tired of it. But it's JOHN WAYNE.

Tora! Tora! Tora! is the best PEARL HARBOR film, but seems a bit fragmented, and isn't as FUN as IN HARM'S WAY. #2

From Here to Eternity is the film classic of the bunch, and Sinatra's performance is incredible. However, Lancaster's performance seems a bit heavy-handed at times. #3

I'll give #4 to The Winds of War, which managed to capture the feel of Wouk's novel fairly well.

Pearl Harbor (2001) doesn't even deserve to be on the list.

[Ed Bishop]

Burt Lancaster always acted that way, always seemed a bit pushy and forced most of the time, though it's the swagger and stare you remember...but when it worked, it worked very well(ETERNITY, ELMER GANTRY), and he held his own against Monty Clift, which at the time was no easy thing! :edthumbs:

AIR FORCE I haven't seen in many years....but do remember it as being a pretty fine film, but it was also done by Howard Hawks during his peak years, when he was really creative, gun-ho, and had real authority(that is, he hadn't directed LAND OF THE PHARAOHS yet! :laugh: ) What a hoot-owl!! Camp classic! :biglaugh:


:ed:

[fjhuerta]

OK, fess up. Who voted for Pearl Harbour? :D

[Ben Sinise]

Tora! Tora! Tora! for me, Ken. It just has that feel of authenticity about it. I like the closing line from Yamamoto predicting that Japan had awoken a sleeping giant; nicely understated.

[SonicZone]

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, there is no substitute. Yeah, there's a soap opera element to it, but also a tenseness that defines the time in which it's set, as if a lot were at take long before the attack. And while it isn't graphic as later films, nor try to be educational, it's the most impressive. What Ed said. :agree:

[Tony Caldwell]

Tora, Tora, Tora.

[JonUrban]

Tora, Tora, Tora - but ya gotta love The Final Countdown! :D

[grbl]

Gotta go with From Here to Eternity.

[Ken_McAlinden]

Voted for IN HARM'S WAY, although it isn't really about Pearl Harbor, and isn't very historically accurate. I just never seem to get tired of it. But it's JOHN WAYNE.That's why I hedged a bit and said "Pearl Harbor-themed". Sort of like how "The Killing Fields" isn't a Vietnam war film per se, but its plot (which has a much stronger connection to reality than "In Harm's Way") takes place directly in its wake.

Regards,

[guy incognito]

OK, fess up. Who voted for Pearl Harbour? :D

Pearl Harbour? The early-'80s punk singer?

I know she had a bit part in Scorcese's The King of Comedy, but...

[Captain Groovy]

I'm ashamed to admit that as a movie buff I've only seen 2001's "Pearl Harbor."

But then again, I'm a comedy movie buff - and that one slides nicely into that category.

I didn't vote.

JEFF!

[JFS3]

"Tora! Tora! Tora!" is by far the best movie about the actual attack, and will probably remain so for some time as Hollywood's not going to be putting up any more money for the subject anytime soon after the Bruckheimer atrocity (That's the most polite term I could think of to describe it).

However, I do have to admit that "1941" is one of my favorite cinematic guilty pleasures ("Don't you dare fire that gun in this house!"; "I'm a bug!").

James

[JohnG]

I enjoy "The Final Countdown".

[ksmitty]

Tora ! Tora ! Tora ! is in my opinion the best of them . Great drama that instensifies as things lead up to the attack.

[Rachael Bee]

Now that the Pearl has been bombed, who's ready for Midway?