# Could a war movie like "Tora, Tora, Tora" get made today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787 "2006-05-22T18:42:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/1 "2006-05-22T18:42:28Z")
What strikes me most about _Tora, Tora, Tora_ – [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tora%2C\_Tora%2C\_Tora](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tora%2C_Tora%2C_Tora) – is that it’s **about the war.** It’s like a historian wrote the screenplay. The personal lives of the soldiers and sailors and politicians are footnotes. There are no soap-opera subplots. More recent war movies – _Pearl Harbor, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Winds of War, War and Remembrance_ – are mainly about the lives and personalities of the people who get caught up in the war. Is a film-concept like _TTT_ just too dry for today’s audiences? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/2 "2006-05-22T18:55:15Z")
How about United 93? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/3 "2006-05-22T19:01:23Z")
Maybe, if we had another war - close enough to home, and complicated enough that the logistics themselves are interesting enough to watch. But you can only make a couple of movies like that about any event - after that, there’s nothing more to say (in this very specific sub-genre). So we have to wait. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/4 "2006-05-22T19:04:51Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > How about United 93? Haven’t seen it – is the plot more like _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ or _Pearl Harbor?_ ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/5 "2006-05-22T19:36:51Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Haven’t seen it – is the plot more like _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ or _Pearl Harbor?_ I haven’t seen _United 93_ so I can’t compare them too well, but the thing that struck me about _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ was how it fairly looked at the Pearl Harbor attack from both the US and Japanese viewpoints. I doubt that _United 93_ gives the terrorists’ and their leaders’ viewpoints much attention. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/6 "2006-05-22T19:42:36Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > I haven’t seen _United 93_ so I can’t compare them too well, but the thing that struck me about _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ was how it fairly looked at the Pearl Harbor attack from both the US and Japanese viewpoints. I doubt that _United 93_ gives the terrorists’ and their leaders’ viewpoints much attention. It doesn’t really give anyone’s viewpoint. It merely observes. We know nothing about the terrorists’ motivations, nor do we learn anything about the passengers. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/7 "2006-05-22T20:03:20Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It doesn’t really give anyone’s viewpoint. It merely observes. We know nothing about the terrorists’ motivations, nor do we learn anything about the passengers. I disagree, but maybe its because you and I are using different defintions of viewpoint. The Japanese military’s perspective was shown, ie, “The high command says we have to attack the U.S. fleet in order to protect our trade routes. We can attack their aircraft carrier at Pearl Harbor using these modified torpedoes thusly…” It showed Japanese professional military men going about their jobs, and showed the Japanese diplomats in Washington doing their job, etc. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/8 "2006-05-22T20:27:34Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > I disagree, but maybe its because you and I are using different defintions of viewpoint. Sure. But in both movies we avoid the cliche of a character story where the main event is relegated to mere plot complication. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/9 "2006-05-22T22:09:40Z")
Wouldn’t [Black Hawk Down](http://imdb.com/title/tt0265086/) count as a modern example, too? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/10 "2006-05-23T05:11:35Z")
I think the 1993 film **Gettysburg** is a good example of what the OP’s looking for. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/11 "2006-05-23T05:35:33Z")
[The Longest Day](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0056197/) (1962) focused on the D-Day Invasion pretty much exclusively – there’s some back stories for lesser-known characters, and John Wayne tends to ham it up, but it’s a good historical document. There’s actual war footage incorporated into the film (which is why it was filmed in black & white) and the French & German characters all speak in their native languages. _United 93_ is almost too “cinema verite” to be considered a historical film – you get to see the first two hours of September 11th, from the point of view of a fly on the wall, but that’s it – the movie ends when the plane crashes. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/12 "2006-05-23T10:08:33Z")
The closest thing I’ve ever seen to what is requested is _Hiroshima._ This showed the American and Japanese viewpoints of the end of the war as well as _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ did the beginning. I have no idea why this didn’t make a boatload of money, the writing, acting, and directing (two directors- one Canadian and one Japanese) were all first class. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-war-movie-like-tora-tora-tora-get-made-today/357787/13 "2006-05-23T11:19:52Z")
To answer the OP, of course you could make such a movie; audiences love war movies. If anything, they tend to reject the really silly, love-story laden movies like “Pearl Harbor.”