MOVIES
Rustler's Rhapsody
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=rustlersrhapsody.htm
SUMMARY:
Opening Weekend: $2,374,973
1,480 theaters
Domestic Total Gross: $6,090,497
Release Date: May 10, 1985
MPAA Rating: PG
REVIEWS & COMMENTS
http://www.80sreborn.com/rustlers-rhapsody.shtml
Rustler's Rhapsody is one of the best western spoof movies to ever have been put to film, capturing the zaniness of Blazing Saddles while retaining a more subdued flow and presentation. The highly amusing film tells the story of Rex "the Singing Cowboy" O'Herlihan as he experiences the stereotypical villains and scenarios as normally seen in western films ranging from early 40's American westerns to the 60's Italian spaghetti westerns.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089945/usercomments
A beautiful parody of the old-styled westerns, Tom Berringer and company hit the nail on the head with this one. Replete with the usual suspects - the town drunk, the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, the not-so-innocent baron's daughter, and more - it centers around the deadly serious hero, Rex, and the loony situations he encounters and conquers. Berringer's comic timing is right on, also, as is his portrayal of a guy on a white horse who, at one point, comes to terms with his masculinity in a showdown with another 'good guy' who's actually an ex-lawyer (Patrick Wayne). This flick is a hoot.
I think this is one of the cleverest and funniest spoofs I've ever seen, and in many ways even uplifting. I have to imagine that the cast had a great time doing this one, and that there were more than a few retakes because the actors kept cracking up at their own performances, which are hilariously well executed without ever retreating into slapstick. I was especially floored by the sidekick/narrator (that first bar scene is priceless). The humor is ongoing, and the film pokes fun at a dozen social stereotypes using the 1930's Western as a template for the tale.
• AMAZON Page for "Rustler's Rhapsody"
Star Trek
From: www.geocities.com/phineasbg/trekcom.html
Unadjusted
Box Office Ranking
This is the most INACCURATE comparison of the box office success of each film.
NOTE: These figures are NOT adjusted for inflation.
See further down this page for the box office after inflation adjustment.
| Movie |
USA Gross |
International Gross |
Total Gross |
| Star
Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) |
$112,000,000*
|
$63,000,000* |
$175,000,000*
|
| Star
Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982) |
$78,912,963 |
$23,166,295 |
$102,079,258
|
| Star
Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984) |
$76,471,046 |
$15,222,150 |
$91,693,196 |
| Star
Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) |
$109,713,132 |
$37,287,868 |
$147,001,000 |
| Star
Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) |
$52,210,049 |
$19,009,966 |
$71,220,015 |
| Star
Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) |
$74,888,996 |
$22,000,000 |
$96,888,996 |
*During
the era of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the weekly box office charts
on Variety only covered the big cities and not the whole nation. The
national box office was only reported in some articles and only the first few
weekends for each movie. That why even boxofficemojo.com only has the first
few weekends for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it actually earned
much more than the $82,258,456 claimed on that site. This Variety method
was changed to the more accurate method around the Wrath of Khan era
of 1982. The general consensus is that Star Trek: The Motion Picture
earned about $175 million by summer of 1980. However, exact figures are difficult
to obtain.
Mr Majestyk
Charles Bronson plays Vince Majestyk, a melon farmer who encounters hit man Frank Renda (Al Lettieri). They drive around and shoot at each other, with Paul Koslo getting in-between every now and then.
-
Mr. Majestyk began filming in 1973 on a ranch in southeastern Colorado. Because the only crop that was available during the time of filming was watermelons, it was decided that Mr. Majestyk would farm those and not cantaloupes as featured in the original script.
- Mr. Majestyk came from a story by Elmore Leonard. During the 60s and 70s, Leonard built a reputation on his Western novels and for his smart, quirky crime stories. This time he wrote a brief outline of Mr. Majestyk at Clint Eastwood's request. When that fell through because Eastwood was working on High Plains Drifter (1972), producer Walter Mirisch acquired the rights and brought Bronson aboard. Leonard went to work writing a full script from the outline though the final film version departed significantly from Leonard's original conception. "I've never had a good experience as a screenwriter," the writer once remarked. One example is the ending of Mr. Majestyk where a major character was supposed to die; instead the director decided it would make a better ending to let him live. Luckily, Leonard DID have control when he turned his own screenplay into a novel, which was published as a paperback original in 1974 when the movie was released.
- On the first day of production, Charles Bronson got angry about a delay caused by a late transport truck carrying cars necessary for the scene that was to be shot. Finally, he yelled to director Richard Fleischer within earshot of the entire crew, "You know what this company needs - it needs a European first assistant and a European crew!" The crew was so insulted by this remark that at the end of the day, they told Fleischer they would be leaving the production. They were persuaded to stay, but for the rest of the shoot they never spoke to Bronson unless they absolutely had to. Later in the shoot, Bronson commented to Fleischer, "I just don't understand it. Nobody calls me 'Charlie' on this picture. They only call me 'Mr. Bronson'."
- This film was launched in the USA in July 1974, the same month as another Charles Bronson picture, Death Wish. That movie premiered on the 24th whilst this movie was first released just a week earlier on the 17th.
COMMENTS FROM PAUL KOSLO:
http://www.psychotronic.com/psychotronic-interviews/paul-koslo?page=0,4
Al Lettieri was the real Mr. Majestyk on MR. MAJESTYK. He was great. He was this warthog of a guy. This guy's from Sicily, you know: the original GODFATHER-type guy. He says, 'Hey, is that Charley over there?' We said, 'Yeah.' You know MR. MAJESTYK is about a melon grower. This is unbelievable. If I had a picture of this, I would have made a billion dollars. Here, this little warthog of a guy, short guy- not any taller than Bronson, but twice as wide- Lettieri, says, 'That's him over there?' We said, 'Yeah.' He walks up to Bronson, right next to him, and he puts his arm around him, his shoulder, and grabs him by his right arm. And he SQUEEZES him to his right side, and he lifts him right off the ground! He turns around and he's walking past us, singing (to the tune of Melancholy Baby) 'Won't you be my MELON-CHARLEY baaaaaaby!'
He carries him like this - Bronson's feet are off the ground - and Bronson didn't know what to do because he had this death grip on him- it was like a vice. And he walked him down this road, past the limo, about two blocks, carrying him like this. To this day, nobody knows what they talked about.
There were lots of stories on that one, about Bronson being belligerent to the hosts of this big dude ranch they were staying at. The food was incredible and Bronson would send his driver off for some bologna and white bread and say, 'It's because me and my wife can't eat this shit,' the food which they were serving, which was incredible food. Stuff like that. But the guy was a gigantic star. What are you gonna do? Just chalk it off to oddity, to personality, I don't know.
Fleischer let me live at the end of the movie, because I was supposed to die. He said, 'There's so many guys getting blown
away, this is ludicrous. Let's see if we can work out the ending, because I want you to live.' At the end of the movie, we're
in this hunting lodge. He said, 'Charley, you know what? Everybody's dying here and I think Koslo's character is so funny,
maybe we can build on this and we'll let him live. Let's see if we can work the end of this out now. He's not going to be
dying.' And Bronson says, (does excellent Bronson imitation) 'What, are you crazy? I'm not here to make a star out of Paul
Koslo. I'll be in my dressing room.' And Richard says, 'Charley, I need you to work this out. He's going to be in the scene
with you.' He says, 'YOU work it out. When you're finished, you call me.' Richard came right over and said, 'Paul, I
apologize for Charley. I'm sorry he's put you in the middle of this.' I said, 'No, it's all right. I feel really, really
honored that you're doing this, because it's really great for me.' It was a wonderful compliment. (Fleischer) was a big-time
guy.
"So then we worked this thing out and the AD (assistant director) got Charley back out. Richard said, 'Charley, this is the
way we've worked it out...' Bronson cut in 'I don't care. Let him do whatever he wants. I'll take care of him,' just like that.
When he said 'I'll take care of him,' I thought, 'What the fuck does that mean?' He says, 'What are you gonna be doin'? You
gonna be comin' runnin' through that door?' 'Yeah, I'm gonna be coming. Al Lettieri's inside and the scene now is he's gonna
tell me to get out under gunpoint so that he can draw you out, trying to get me.' I said that to Charley. He says, 'Okay, you
come out and I'll take care of you. Just do what would come naturally.' Al Lettieri gives me the sign and says, 'Get out! Get
out or I'll blow your brains out!' or whatever his line is. I come through that screen door and I'm GONE! I'm like two
hundred yards into the forest! (laughs) Charley didn't have time to react or do anything. There was a horse hitch rail in
front of the lodge, which was like three feet high, so I just jumped over it and kept running. Charley says, 'Hey, you think
that's funny?' I said, 'You told me to do what comes natural. Sorry.' 'You come SLOW next time and do what comes natural.' So
he's hiding behind the door, he's got this shotgun and I come out slow this time and the shotgun was just staring me in the
face, so I just grabbed it out of his hands and got the drop on Charley. He said, 'You do that again, you'll be sorry you
ever saw me.' I thought, 'Wow, man.'
"At the end, when we were moving to the next city, to Canyon City, Colorado, we were all paying our bills. We were in that
lobby area and it had stairs going back upstairs. So some people were sitting on the stairs, waiting to pay their bills.
There was Charley, right there on the stairs. People had to go around him. He just sat there, big as life. I go to pay my
bill and he says, 'Hey, you.' I turn around and it's Charley sitting there. 'C'mere.' He pushed somebody aside and said,
'Siddown.' And I felt like an idiot because everybody's watching us because everybody hates his guts! He says, 'My wife
thinks I should apologize to you. I don't apologize to nobody. Next to me, you're the best actor in this movie.' I said,
'Don't count on it, Charley,' and I just got up and walked away. Then he asked me for his next movie after that! That was
really a weird relationship.
I saw something that Bronson did that I thought was really despicable. Bronson doesn't like people, yet he sits in the middle
of downtown intersections in his chair for everybody to see. And then people come and bother him and he tells them to fuck
off. Apparently there had been an elderly lady that was driving by and she wanted to know what all the hubbub was about,
because they had traffic controlled. And they said, 'Oh, it's a Charles Bronson movie.' So she went home to change and get
her autograph book because he was her favorite actor. She brought her camera with her, too. He told her to fuck off when she
asked for his autograph. She was so shocked that she just took a picture of him, right there, while he was there when she was
leaving. He had the cops take the camera from her, take the film out, and give her the camera back. That wasn't nice. I'm
just concerned about when the camera's rolling, but these things affect you when you've seen these guys all your life that
you work with, like I've seen Bronson. And I've always respected his work. So you go on and say, Hey, you respect the guy's
talent, but that doesn't mean you necessarily have to like him."
トラ・トラ・トラ!
...The film did well in Japan, did not do well in the United States, and took years to make back the production costs. It remains an insightful and well crafted World War II action drama that was the result of years of negotiations between the two countries.
- Running Time: 136 Minutes
- Budget: $25,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross: $14,500,000 (USA)
- Rentals: $14,530,000 (USA)
- Filming Dates: December 1968
-------------------------
Tora! Tora! Tora!
http://www.answers.com/topic/tora-tora-tora
The movie Tora! Tora! Tora! (トラ・トラ・トラ！), released in 1970, is a dramatization of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the series of American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness. The title is the code-words that were used by the Japanese to indicate a complete success of the attack, using a repetition of the Japanese word for tiger. The movie was critically acclaimed for its vivid action scenes as well as its almost documentary accuracy. Its famous "sleeping giant" line, however, though widely assumed to be a quotation, transpired to be fictitious.
The film was created in two separate productions, one based in the United States, directed by Richard Fleischer, and one based in Japan. The Japanese side of the production was initially directed by Akira Kurosawa, who attempted to cast friends and business associates, in key roles as a quid-pro-quo for funding of his future films. Twentieth Century Fox was not amused, and after two years of work with no useful results, 20th Century Fox turned the project over to Kinji Fukasaku who completed it.
The screenplay was written by Ladislas Farago, Larry Forrester, Ryuzo Kikushima, and Hideo Oguni, based on the book by Gordon W. Prange. Charles Wheeler, the cinematographer, was nominated for an Oscar. The film contains excellent second unit and miniature photography, shot by Ray Kellogg.
-----------------------------
http://www.tvguide.com/Movies/database/showmovie.asp?MI=24200
The film was the result of years of negotiation between Japanese and American investors. In the end, two different films were made; a Japanese film showing the Japanese side, and an American film doing the same for the US point of view. The two films were then edited together in two different versions, one for each nation.
Initially, 20th Century Fox hired the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (THE SEVEN SAMURAI) to direct the Japanese sequences, telling him that Englishman David Lean (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) was to direct the American sequences. As it turned out, Lean was never involved with the film and Kurosawa shot only for a few weeks, chafing under the tight controls imposed on him by the studio. The unhappy Kurosawa purposely got himself fired from the picture, and was replaced by Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku, two lesser-established directors of Japanese pictures.
It all ended up costing over $25 million and failed miserably at the box office in the US, but was a great success in Japan, although it still took several years before the studio made back its money (partly through the sale of the battle footage, which appears in MIDWAY [1976] and MACARTHUR [1977]). The film won an Oscar for Best Special Effects and received nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound and Best Film Editing.
-------------------------------------
http://www.ad-free.net/movies/apollo77b3.html
In 1967, the last of the great Hollywood moguls, Darryl F. Zanuck, then head of 20th Century Fox, commissioned Richard Fleischer (Doctor Dolittle, Fantastic Voyage ) and Akira Kurosawa ( Seven Samurai , Rashomon , Ran ) to make a movie on the attack – detailing the instigating events from both Japanese and American points of view. The movie was called Tora! Tora! Tora!
After a series of disagreements and hassles, the perfectionist Kurosawa was replaced by Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasuka, who could more easily be controlled by Fox. The film cost twenty-five million dollars, and when it flopped, it nearly destroyed Fox (as Cleopatra and Doctor Dolittle had before it), and Zanuck was ceremoniously retired as the studio's chief and given a figurehead title with no real power. It was the end of an era.
What nearly kills the film today, now that reputations and budgets no longer matter, is the resolutely fact-based approach to the material. Like A Night to Remember did for the Titanic sinking, Tora! Tora! Tora! purports to present the events leading up to the attack, and the attack itself, as accurately as possible. Unlike A Night to Remember, the characters are merely devices to spout textbook material, facts, and figures. Zanuck and his hired directors maintain such a firm grip on authenticity that they suffocate it. It's ironic that Zanuck once said, "There is nothing duller on the screen than being accurate but not dramatic."
Despite this, the movie has redeeming qualities. Key scenes just prior to the attack generate considerable suspense, and Jerry Goldsmith's score is especially effective. And there are moments to treasure, my favorite involving a junior Army communications officer hauling a Navy captain over the coals for dismissing blatant intelligence indications of imminent attack. ("You wanted confirmation, Captain? Well, take a look – there's your confirmation!") For a non-documentary film, Tora! Tora! Tora! provides as much fascinating, factual information on the event as you're going to get. If you're unable to get your hands on a copy of Walter Lord's classic Pearl Harbor account, Day of Infamy, then by all means, see the movie.
DETAILS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066473/trivia
- The P-40 crashing in the flight line was an unplanned accident - it was a life-sized mockup powered by a gasoline engine turning the propeller and steered by using the wheel brakes, just like real airplanes, but was specifically designed not to fly. The aircraft shown was loaded with explosives which were to be detonated by radio control at a specific point down the runway. Stunt actors were strategically located and rehearsed in which way to run. However shortly after the plane began taxiing down the runway it did begin to lift off the ground and turn to the left. The left turn would have taken it into a group of other mockups which had also been wired with explosives, but weren't scheduled to be destroyed until later. The explosives in the first P-40 were detonated on the spot in order to keep it from destroying the other planes, so the explosion occurred in a location the stunt men weren't prepared for. When it looks like they were running for their lives, they really were. This special effect was filmed with multiple camera so that it could be reused in other shots in the film, as were all the major special effects.
- The 30+ "Japanese" airplanes flying in the movie are all converted American trainers. No genuine Japanese warbirds were to be found in flying condition at the time. Instead, several American planes had to be rebuilt at a cost of about $30,000 each. They were later sold at auction for $1,500 or so apiece, and most of them are still flying in private hands.
- The Japanese aircraft in the film were highly modified American AT-6 and BT-13 trainers. The fighters, "Zeros," were AT-6's, the divebombers, "Vals," were BT-13's, and the torpedo- and levelbombers, "Kates," consisted of AT-6 fronts and wings and BT-13 tails.
- Many of the replica Japanese aircraft are owned by members of the Confederate Air Force, an organization that specializes in re-enactments and aircraft preservation. They are used every year in the annual CAF air show, where a re-enactment of the Pearl Harbor attack takes place. This has been going on since 1972.
- The "one wheel up" emergency landing by a B-17 was an unplanned accident during filming. The airplane was repaired and went back to forest-fire-bombing duty afterwards.
- The USS Yorktown (CVS-10) was disguised as the Japanese carrier Kaga to film scenes of aircraft taking off and landing. It was fitted with a false bow to disguise the catapults, although steam can be seen leaking through in one shot. It was unofficially named "USS Kaga" for the duration of filming.
- This is believed to be the first major Hollywood production to be distributed on Fujicolor release prints.
- Of all the time and money spent by Akira Kurosawa, less than one minute of the film he shot is in the final release version.
- Akira Kurosawa [producer of the original, unused Japanese portion] attempted to cast friends and business associates, including some high-level industrialists, in key roles in the film's Japanese segments as a quid-pro-quo for later funding of future films. Twentieth Century Fox was not amused by this, and finally, the breach became the cause for Kurosawa's dismissal from the project.
- Of all the time and money spent by Akira Kurosawa, less than one minute of the film he shot is in the final release version.
- The film was considered a flop when it was released in the United States, but was a huge success in Japan.
- Shogo Shimada and Hisao Toake, who played Ambassadors Nomura and Kurusu, were the only cast members to work with both the Japanese and American units. Shimada's English language dialog was looped.
"SLEEPING GIANT" LINE:
http://www.japan-101.com/history/isoroku_yamamoto.htm
Isoroku Yamamoto is credited with saying, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." The earliest citation for that theatrical comment, however, is the (reasonably accurate) movie, Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). That quotation was accepted and repeated verbatim in the movie Pearl Harbor (2001). However, no one has been able to verify that Yamamoto ever actually said (or wrote) those words.
Neither At Dawn We Slept, written by the highly respected Gordon Prange, nor The Reluctant Admiral, the definitive biography of Yamamoto in English by Agawa Hiroyu, contains the line.
The director of the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!, Richard Fleischer, stated that while Yamamoto may never have said those words, the film's producer, Elmo Williams, had found the line written in Yamamoto's diary. Yamamoto, however, never kept a diary. Williams, in turn, has stated that Larry Forrester, the screenwriter, found a 1943 letter from Yamamoto to the Admiralty in Tokyo containing the quote. However, Forrester cannot produce the letter, nor can anyone else, American or Japanese, recall or find it.
Yamamoto certainly believed that Japan could not win a protracted war with the United States, and, moreover, seems to have believed that the Pearl Harbor attack had become a blunder - even though he was the person who came up with the idea of a a surprise attack on it! The Reluctant Admiral relates that "Yamamoto alone" (while all his staff members were celebrating) spent the day after Pearl Harbor "sunk in apparent depression". He is also known to have been upset by the bungling of the Foreign Ministry which led to the attack happening while the countries were technically at peace.
The line serves very well as a dramatic ending to the attack, and may well have encapsulated some of his real feelings about it. It does not seem, alas, to have been real.
Interestingly, the other common Yamamoto quote predicting the future outcome of an attack on the United States ("I can run wild for six months ... after that, I have no expectation of success.") is real, and is something he is recorded to have said to a number of different Cabinet members in Japan in the 1940 time period. It was probably part of his standard appraisal of the situation.
Mitsuo Fuchida
http://vikingphoenix.com/public/rongstad/bio-obit/fuchida1.htm
Mitsuo Fuchida earned a place in world history as the leader of Japan's surprise attack on Hawaii, aimed at the U.S. Navy ships based at Pearl Harbor and other military bases. It was Fuchida that sent the famous radio message code words; Tora! Tora! Tora! (Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!). This three word message told Fuchida's superiors, planner Minoru Genda, and Admirals Nagumo and Yamamoto that complete surprise had been achieved.
Fuchida wrote several books on his war experiences; The Truth of the Pearl Harbor Operation, and Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan. Gordon Prange wrote a biography, God's Samurai: Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor. Fuchida was wounded at the Battle of Midway, and reassigned to a staff job in Japan for the duration of the war. Fuchida decided to write the book on the Midway battle when he realized that all official records had been destroyed. He later found a copy of his wartime report of the battle at home, in a trunk.
In a remarkable meeting recounted by Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets, Fuchida told Tibbets that dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the correct decision. This is consistent with the published account written by Fuchida's American biographer Gordon Prange. In 1949, Fuchida converted to Christianity, became a missionary, and lived in the United States for a few years before retirement in Japan. The obituaries published in Time and New York Times differ in the spelling of the place of Fuchida's death. Both Time and New York Times got it wrong. Fuchida died of diabetes, in Kashiwara, near Osaka, on May 30, 1976. -- Richard Rongstad (21 June 1997).
---------------------
From Revenge to Conversion
In 1952, when Mr. Fuchida
became a Christian missionary,
the slightly-built former pilot
said that his heart was filled
with revenge at the time of the
Pearl Harbor strike.
But, he added: "Christianity
has opened my eyes, and I hope
through Christ to help young
people of Japan learn a great
love for America."
In 1959, Mr. Fuchida toured
the United States as a member
of the Worldwide Christian
Missionary Army of Sky Pilots.
Speaking that year at the
Memorial Baptist Church,
Eighth Avenue and 16th Street,
Brooklyn, he said that after the
war he observed American mis-
sionaries in Tokyo feeding the
starving and teaching the
"ways of Christ."
Such forgiveness, he said,
made him want to know more
of the Christ "they professed
to love." One of his talks was
called "From Pearl Harbor to
Calvary -- My Testimony."
In 1955, with Masatuke Oku-
miya, he wrote a book entitled,
"Midway: The Battle That
Doomed Japan: The Japanese
Navy's Story."
---------------------------------
http://www.the-pacific-war.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19&
...I lived in Japan in '93 &'94. WWII was still very much a part of their culture in both good and bad ways. The Japanese are still having a very difficult time dealing with their position during the war. ...the most popular comic books are still about the Japanese winning the war, and raping women. They rave about peace, but I have not seen a society so ready to explode in frustration. Japan is a riddle of dichotomy.
REVIEWS
From The Time It Was Released
https://www.angelfire.com/film/pearlharbormovies/tora.html
Time Magazine, October 5, 1970
"The first half of the film is devoted to apple-pie softness and bamboo resilience. In war movies of the '40s, the Japanese were a thin yellow line. Tora! Tora! Tora! is a refreshing reversal...It is the Orientals who are individuals...No single man can be blamed, and no villains or heroes emerge from this foundering, slipshod -- and hypnotic -- drama. That judgment must hold not only for those who lived it but also for those who filmed it. Three directors, one American (Richard Fleischer) and two Japanese, Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku, have managed to move crowds and planes, but not the viewer...Original, Master Director Akiro Kurosawa (Rashomon) was signed to oversee the Japanese sequences. He might have revealed the complex psychologies that led to the abyss and beyond. Without him, the film is a series of episodes, a day in the death. As for real men and causes, they are victims missing in action."
Newsweek, September 28, 1970
"Twentieth Century-Fox's lavish re-creation of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the events that led to it, is put together like a Fourth of July celebration -- a long procession of predictable speeches leading to a spectacular fireworks display...The Japanese episodes (orignally assigned to the great Akira Kurosawa who was later dropped) were seperately filmed in Japan by two Japanese directors, Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku. They carry a good deal more spirit and imagination than the American episodes. In these there are no perfromances, only dramatic readings..."
"...it presents as stomach-wrenching and dazzling a cavalcade of action footage as has ever been put on the screen. One feels exactly what it is like to be blasted from the deck of a torpoed ship." "The aerial photography rivals ballet in the grace of its elegant choreography. The pathetic scenes of American planes blasted to oblivion while attempting take off explain in their violence and uncompromising realism how two men died in the making of the film."
New York Times, September 25, 1970
"As history, it seems a fairly accurate account of what happened, although it never much bothers its head about why. As film art it is nothing less than a $25-million irrelevancy. As entertainment -- well, that depends on your tolerance for history presented mostly as series of tableaux vivants et parlants, set in conference rooms, code rooms and antechambers and involving such dynamic personages as Cordell Hull, Henry Stimson and Frank Knox (for our side) and Admiral Yamamoto, Ambassador Nomura and General Tojo (for theirs).
"Tora! Tora! Tora! aspires to dramatize history in terms of event rather than people and it just may be that there is more of what Pearl Harbor was all about in fiction films such as Fred Zinneman's "From Here to Eternity" and as the Variety review pointed out, Raoul Walsh's "The Revolt of Mamie Stover" than in all of the extravagant posturing in this sort of historical mock-up."
The Hawaii Times (Japanese newspaper), September 24, 1970
"The Tokyo showing of the $25 million film -- "Tora! Tora! Tora!" -- drew applause from the largely Japanese audience at the close of the show. The speculation centered on the effect it might have on young Japanese who know Pearl Harbor only as the first step in the defeat of World War II. One of those who believed it would have an anti-war impact was Mrs. Alice Kurusu, American-born widow of Saburo Kurusu, Japan's Ambassador to Washington at the time of Pearl Harbor...The white haired Mrs. Kurusu told the Associated Press afterward the movie was "absolutely splendid," then added "Showing it in Japan will be a good thing for the young Japanesewho don't know what war is like. It will teach them to be cautious about getting involved in such disasters in future."
"The film which shows Japanese planning and execution of the attack as virtually flawless in contrast to American bumbling and lack of preperation, may well strike some secret sparks of pride among the middle-aged Japanese who were here when it happened."
Honolulu Star Bulletin, September 24, 1970
"Director Richard Fleischer and his Japanese counterparts have brilliantly recreated a monumental chapter of history...The cameramen and production staff have captured that hell magnificently and should receive an Oscar nomination for their efforts."
Asahi Shimbun, October 1, 1970
The Asahi Shinbun wrote in 1970 (losely translated); "Tora! Tora! Tora!" shows how great the Japanese Navy was, and it is strange that American movie producers are painting this picture. The actor that portrays Admiral Yamamoto, shows the image of the Japanese warrior, while other actors make American soldiers look cheap.
The American view makes one uncomfortable: it is not clear what message the American producers want to send out with the way they portray the Japanese Navy."
Tora! Tora! Tora! Got the following review from BBC
"Between them, directors Fleischer and Fukasaku meticulously fashion a chain of diplomatic and military gamble, expertly cataloguing the accidents and unfortunate circumstance with almost documentary accuracy.
Such a pressure-cooker approach is aided by solid turns from Joseph Cotton, Jason Robards, and Martin Balsam, while the film's enduring accomplishment is its rightful view of the Japanese as supremely efficient soldiers (Sô Yamamura's doubtful Admiral Yamamoto is a sympathetic standout)."
Media Circus wrote:
""Tora! Tora! Tora!" is actually comprised of two films seamlessly interwoven into one. The Japanese segments were originally to be filmed by acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa, but the task eventually went to directors Kinji Fukasaku (who recently helmed the controversial Japanese box office smash "Battle Royale") and Toshio Masuda (who also directed an installment in the "Space Battlecruiser Yamato" franchise). The American segments were the handiwork of Richard Fleischer, who eventually went on to direct "Conan the Destroyer" and "Red Sonja". Working with a budget of $25 million (which was huge for 1970), the filmmakers trace the events leading up to the fateful day, from the initial planning to the devastating attack itself, which was initiated by the titular battle cry.
Taking into consideration that it was made before the advent of computer graphics, and even before the special effects advances of the "Star Wars" movies, the visual effects "Tora! Tora! Tora!" are outstanding, combining the use of miniatures and full-scale physical effects."
LINKS
Mitsuo Fuchida's account of his conversion - And Additional Links At Bottom Of Page
THE GREAT DICTATOR
Charlie Chaplin
The history behind the making of The Great Dictator is intriguing. Because it was a direct attack on Hitler (who was born in the same week of the same month of the same year as Chaplin was), the U.S. film industry tried to dissuade him from making the film. It also caused a lot of controversy worldwide, causing both the British and Italian governments to ban the film.
The film is the story of Adenoid Hynkel (Charlie Chaplin), who has quickly become the leader of Tomania after the severe effects of the Great Depression. He becomes dictator and free speech, democracy and liberty are soon abolished. Hynkel also quickly shows his hatred, believing that Tomania should be an Aryan country and that all Jews must be exterminated. He also plans to dominate the world, but there are similar plans of world domination by Benzino Napoloni (Jack Oakie), the leader of neighbouring country, Bacteria. The two fight as they both plan to take over Osterlich.
The film opens during WWI, when the "Jewish barber" character is a soldier in battle. He ends up saving the life of Commander Shultz (who becomes a military chief under Hynkel/Hitler 20 years later). The Caplin soldier develops amnesia and remains in an army hospital for the next 20 years, when the Hitlerian laws are in full force. Without concern, he assumes his pre-war occupation of barber, and watches incredulously as the Brownshirts paint racial epithets on his barber shop. Eventually his Jewish neighbors clue him in on what's been happening since Hynkel took over. There he meets Hannah (Paulette Goddard), a pretty Jewish girl working for his friend, Mr. Jaeckal (Maurice Moscovitch). They eventually attempt to fight back against the Tomanian government.
Even though the movie is a political satire about Hitler, it shows us the harsh reality of Hitler's reign through the soldiers' treatment of civilians. One scene that perfectly depicts this is where Chaplin's Jewish barber tries to wipe the word "Jew" from his barber shop window and, when the soldiers order him to stop, he fights back in spite of their harsh beatings. His methods of fighting back are outrageous, while simultaneously showing the soldiers brutal assaults.
Many critics have complained about Chaplin's famous speech at the end for being melodramatic. This is the scene: the Jewish barber, having escaped the concentration camp (while dressed in military regalia) is mistaken for Hynkel/Hitler and is forced to follow through by making a speech to the crowd. After a halting start, he eventually works himself into a furious speech against Hitler and other totalitarian regimes, saying that "the power will return to the people" and telling the soldiers not to "enslave themselves men who do not care about you" (i.e., dictators).
The tramp moustache certainly does fit in with his role here and his mannerisms throughout the speech strongly remind you of Hitler's mannerisms during his speeches. Even though the film's dialogue is in English, Chaplin attempts to speak in German. What is funny about his speeches in this film is that what Chaplin says is complete jibberish, but it does sound like German. His speeches consist of various cough sounds and the words "sauerkraut" and "weiner schnitzel" being jumbled in his speeches. It is funny when Chaplin starts coughing after having screamed at the microphones too much or physically moving the microphones by the loud, sharp tones in his speech. All you can do is laugh at it, because it is essentially Chaplin portraying Hitler in his speeches, whom Chaplin called "the greatest actor [he's] ever known".
Jack Oakie as Napoloni was another expert piece of casting by Chaplin. As Hynkel/Hitler raises his hand in the "Heil" salute, Napoloni slaps Hynkel in the belly and bellows, "Aay, you gotta nice palace here! Somebody get me a sandwich," and proceds to shove his way around the almost effeminate-looking Hitler. It is impossible not to laugh at Oakie when he does the Mussolini chin-jut on screen, because he practically embodies Mussolini when doing this. The ridiculous Italian accent is also laughable, which makes the character of Napoloni much funnier. The scenes where Hynkel and Napoloni argue and fight are great, because of the juxtaposition of two ridiculously short-tempers showing these world leaders as immature morons. Billy Gilbert is also funny as Herring, portraying Hitler's right-hand man as an overweight, clueless oaf.
Charlie Chaplin plays two roles in the film: the first, a Jewish barber injured in World War I who has lost his memory and is unaware of what's been going on in his homeland of Tomania while he's been in the hospital. The second role is "Der Fooey," Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of Tomania and head of the fearsome Double Cross party. Hynkel, along with his closest advisors Garbitsch and Field Marshal Herring, has turned the people of Tomania against the nation's Jews. Not realizing what trouble he could face, the barber stands up to the stormtroopers and thugs, inspiring others to take a stand of their own.
There is some brilliant comedy in the film. When Hynkel meets with Napoloni, the dictator of Bacteria, the extreme preparatory measures that he undertakes to intimidate his competitor are hilarious. As their negotiations over the fate of the neighboring country of Osterlich deteriorate into an energetic food fight, you can't help but realize how personally ineffectual and childlike the two men are.
The film mixes its comedy with a realistic representation of German conditions at the time: storefronts are vandalized, windows are broken and there's even a near-lynching. The barber is a quiet man, content to work in his tiny shop, but also willing to take a stand to protect it. Hynkel, in contrast, is a loudmouthed, screaming caricature of hatred. His speeches are all delivered in a spittle-spraying mock German that perfectly mimics the real dictator's cadence and style. Clad in his tiny uniform, Adenoid Hynkel brings to mind any number of phony rulers who have resorted to wearing military garb to make themselves seem even slightly legitimate.
[This DVD version] mixes recent interviews with archival footage for a deeply insightful piece. It's here that we learn of Hitler's love for American movies, and his anger that Chaplin - a supposed Jew - was so revered and accepted by the German people. It's also revealed that Hitler not only saw The Great Dictator, but actually watched it one night, then ordered it again for the next. As Chaplin said, "I'd give anything to know what he thought of it."
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The Great Dictator was Charlie Chaplin's first truly talking picture, and when it was finally released in 1940, it was a worldwide sensation. Many people mistakenly think that the character of the Jewish Barber in the film is the Tramp, but Charlie Chaplin was adamant that they are different characters. Although the barber uses many of the Tramp's mannerisms, he is also clearly an individual in his own right. And the barber is far more long-winded, as the famous "Look Up, Hannah" speech at the end of the movie reminds us.
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POLITICAL
PROBLEMS
In the same year that Charlie Chaplin began working on The Great Dictator, the House Un-American Committee begins investigating Charlie. At first glance, there seems to be no reason for this -- until the second glance. Earlier Chaplin had done his patriotic part in raising money for the war effort, alongside his long time friends Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford -- raising large amounts of money for the war. Charlie was a lifelong pacifist, but he was also a realist who saw that the aggression of the Axis powers had to be stopped. In many ways, Chaplin was politically naive -- such as speaking at fund raisers for the Communist USSR, whom Chaplin simply saw as our allies in the fight. And by suggesting that America immediately open a two front war to help our "friends" in the Soviet Union. These were some of the reasons that the government began keeping tabs on the immigrant film maker (although he worked for all of these years in America, he maintained his British citizenship, and had no intention of becoming an American citizen).
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SPEECH
FROM "THE GREAT DICTATOR"
The final speech from The Great Dictator, known as "Look Up, Hannah"
Excerpts:
... The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair".
Soldiers - don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder....
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. ...In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written " the kingdom of God is within man " - not one man, nor a group of men - but in all men - in you, the people... Soldiers - in the name of democracy, let us all unite! Look up! The clouds are lifting...
Quotes from The Great Dictator
Commander Shultz : [While starting an airplane engine] Did you check the gas?
A Jewish barber : Yes, it kept me up all night.
Commander Shultz : Strange, I thought you were an Aryan.
A Jewish barber : No. I'm a vegetarian
Field Marhsall Herring : Mein Fooey! We've just discovered the greatest poisonous gas -- it will kill EVERYBODY!
Trivia
about The Great Dictator:
http://www.clown-ministry.com/Resources/chaplin/the-great-dictator-chaplin.html
- Charlie Chaplin got the idea when a friend, Alexander Korda, noted that his screen persona and Adolf Hitler looked somewhat similar. Chaplin later learned they were both born within a week of each other, roughly the same height and weight and both struggled in poverty until they reached great success in their respective fields. When Chaplin learned of Hitler's policies of racial oppression and nationalist aggression, he acted this similarity as an inspiration to attack Hitler on film.
- Chaplin states that had he known the true extent of the Nazi atrocities, he "could not have made fun of their homicidal insanity."
- Production on the film started in 1937, when not nearly as many people believed Nazism was a menace as was the case when it was released in 1940.
- The German spoken by the dictator is complete nonsense. The language in which the shop signs, posters, etc in the "Jewish" quarter are written is Esperanto, a language created in 1887 by Dr L.L. Zamenhof, a Polish Jew.
- When The Great Dictator was released, Hitler had it banned from all occupied countries. Curiosity eventually got the best of him and he had a print brought in through Portugal. He screened it not once, but TWICE! Unfortunately, history did not record his reaction to the film. When told of this, Charlie Chaplin stated, "I'd give anything to know what he thought of it."
- Although this movie was banned in all occupied countries by the Nazis, it was screened once to a German audience. In the occupied Balkan, members of a resistance-group switched the reels in a military cinema and replaced a comedic opera by a copy of "The Great Dictator" which they received from Greece. So a group of German soldiers enjoyed a screening of "The Great Dictator". Some left the cinema after they recognized it and some where even reported to shoot at the screen.
- This was the last movie in which Chaplin used the "Tramp"-Outfit, i.e. the bowler hat and the walking cane, but although Chaplin appears to be playing The Tramp once again, that character had actually be retired in his previous film, Modern Times (1936). Chaplin was said not to consider Great Dictator a Tramp film.
- Released 13 years after the end of the Silent era, this was Chaplin's first all-talking, all-sound film.
- According to documentaries on the making of the film, Chaplin began to feel more uncomfortable lampooning Hitler the more he heard of Hitler's actions in Europe. Ultimately, the invasion of France inspired Chaplin to change the ending of his film to include his famous speech.
- Color behind-the-scenes footage exists, including the only footage of an aborted ending in which soldiers break into a folk dance.
- The scene where Chaplin dances with a globe had its origins in a 1928 home movie in which Chaplin also toyed with a globe in similar fashion.
In Spain, the film was banned until dictator Francisco Franco died, in 1975.
- Chaplin said wearing Hynkel's costume made him feel more aggressive, and those close to him remember him being more difficult to work with on days he was shooting as Hynkel.
- Chaplin named Paulette Goddard's character after his mother, Hannah Chaplin.
The 'Big Bertha' artillery piece mentioned in the beginning of the film was not actually used to shell Paris, as stated in the film. In fact, the Big Bertha was simply a heavy artillery piece used by the Germans in the beginning of the war to smash Belgian forts during the invasion of Belgium. The large howitzer used to shell Paris by the Germans during WWI was simply called "The Paris Gun".
- Chaplin accepted an invitation to perform the movie's climactic speech on national radio.
- This is the first Charlie Chaplin film since Behind the Screen (1916) in which Chaplin plays a character who is actually identified by name. His famous Tramp character was rarely given a name, though he was often referred to as Charlie.
- The tramp-like barber in this film remains unnamed, but the Dictator is clearly referred to by name.
Chaplin Biography - www.clown-ministry.com/History/Charlie-Chaplin.html