Pearl Harbor, how much is true story? possible spoiler

[Deaks]

Wasn't in any rush to see it, figured Tora Tora Tora said everything that needed saying, but did bother to hire it today. Thought it was better than I was expecting, not too much of the romance stuff that was the big problem with Titanic.

My question though is about the final third, about the attack on Tokyo. Did that really happen as it was shown in the film?

Deaks.

Deaks Some potential spoilers in here so slightly editing to forewarn people. I've not seen the film and didn't know about this part.

[Roberto]

Originally posted by Deaks
Wasn't in any rush to see it, figured Tora Tora Tora said everything that needed saying, In terms of historical accuracy, Tora Tora Tora is a far superior film to Pearl Harbour, the reason being that the parts showing the Japanese was handled by a Japanese director. And the American parts where handled by an American director. Thought it was better than I was expecting, not too much of the romance stuff that was the big problem with Titanic. ????? Sorry but the 'romance stuff' dominated over two-thirds of the movie and completely ruined the film. The reason being that they tried to copy the Titanic formula and failed dismally. I throught Titanic was a good film where the actor's could act. But Ben Affleck & Kate Beckingsale's performance was cringingly bad and i had to sit through nearly 2hrs of crap acting before the attack began, two planks of wood would have been more convincing. My question though is about the final third, about the attack on Tokyo. Did that really happen as it was shown in the film?

Deaks.Don't know

[busta]

yes that bit of the story is true ,the yanks did bomb Tokyo not long after Pearl Harbour, it was done for moral as very little damage was done

[DamienB]

The Doolittle Raid was true - in parts. They did indeed use B-25s off carriers, with light bomb loads and stripped-down aircraft, and caused a little damage to Tokyo - mostly pure shock value. They did have to launch early, and some aircraft had to crash land in China - and some of the crews were capture (and later executed by the Japs).

But the crews involved were, needless to say, NOT fighter pilots!

Plenty of info on the net if you search for 'Doolittle raiders', e.g.

http://www.rayappleton.com/DoolittleRaiders.htm

[Gromit]

Have placed a spoiler warning for people who haven't seen the film - just in case. I don't want to edit each contribution but if you feel it may give things away about the film can you please use the spoiler tags. Many thanks.

Gromit

[JohnMac]

lawbuzz.com has an awesome stories (http://www.lawbuzz.com/index6.htm) section containing The Stories Behind The Movies, or click here (http://www.lawbuzz.com/movies/pearl_harbor/pearl_harbor_ch1.htm) to go straight to the Pearl Harour index.

[hitch_fan]

PH is 90% fantasy. See for instance http://www.usni.org/NavalHistory/articles01/NHsuid8.html for PH and historical accuracy.