Pearl Harbor (2001)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Michael Bay

Writer (WGA):

Randall Wallace (written by)

Release Date:

25 May 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Romance | War

Tagline:

It takes a moment to change history. It takes love to change lives.

Plot:

Pearl Harbor follows the story of two best friends, Rafe and Danny, and their love lives as they go off to join the war.

Plot Keywords:

Pearl Harbor | Friend | Pilot | Nurse | Best Friend

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 9 wins & 34 nominations

Cast

Ben Affleck	...	Capt. Rafe McCawley
Josh Hartnett	...	Capt. Danny Walker
Kate Beckinsale	...	Nurse Lt. Evelyn Johnson
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Petty Officer Doris Miller
Jon Voight	...	President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Alec Baldwin	...	Lt. Col. James Doolittle
Tom Sizemore	...	Sgt. Earl Sistern
William Lee Scott	...	Lt. Billy Thompson
Greg Zola	...	Lt. Anthony Fusco
Ewen Bremner	...	Lt. Red Winkle
Jaime King	...	Nurse Betty Bayer (as James King)
Catherine Kellner	...	Nurse Barbara
Jennifer Garner	...	Nurse Sandra
Sara Rue	...	Nurse Martha
Michael Shannon	...	Lt. Gooz Wood

Also Known As:

Pearl Harbour (UK) (promotional title)
Tennessee (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sustained intense war sequences, images of wounded, brief sensuality and some language.

Runtime:

183 min | USA:184 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-8 (one 70 mm print for Tokyo Dome, Japan) | DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Alberta) | Iceland:12 | Malaysia:U | Brazil:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:MA (director's cut) | Australia:M | Chile:TE | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Germany:16 (director's cut) | Hong Kong:IIA | India:U | Ireland:12PG (original rating) | Ireland:12 (video rating) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M (original rating) | New Zealand:R16 (director's cut) | Norway:15 | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Sweden:15 (director's cut) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | USA:R (director's cut)

Filming Locations:

Angel's Gate Park - 3601 Gaffey Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

Unlike Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), real Mitsubishi Zero fighters were used. Three original Japanese aircraft were used - one operated by the Planes of Fame Museum (Chino, California), one from the Museum of Flying (Santa Monica, California) and the third from the Confederate Air Force. In "Tora! Tora! Tora!" the aircraft were all replicas constructed from WWII US Army & Navy trainers (T-6s and BT-13s) and some of them were used again in this film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Japenese torpedo dropped from a plane rockets on the water with its wooden frame intact. In reality, the wooden frame would detach once in the water.

Quotes:

Danny: You know, the only thing that scares me is that you might love him more than you love me.
Evelyn: I love YOU, Danny.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Transformers (2007)

Soundtrack:

Washington in the News

"If I had one more night to live, I'd want to spend it with you."

The film opens in 1923 and shows farm boys Rafe and Danny as close friends in Tennessee, who share a passion for flying... They join the United States Army Air Corps in 1941 and both show an ability at being daring pilots while training under the command of Jimmy Doolittle, in Long Island...

Their life is changed when they encounter a beautiful dedicated nurse called Evelyn Johnson...

Rafe falls for Evelyn and volunteers for service in the Battle of Britain… He continues his love affair by letters with Evelyn who ends up with Danny in Hawaii - Pearl Harbor, where the US Pacific fleet is gathered at rest...

News comes back that he was shot down over the English Channel, and assumed dead… Keenly distressed, Evelyn eventually finds relief in the arms of Danny... They go too far, too soon, leading to exactly what you would expect...

By the time that Rafe reappears, Evelyn is in love with Danny…

Kate Beckinsale brings warmth and intelligent sweetness to her character... She is quietly at a loss, holding back her tears, when she finds out she must choose between the two charming fighters she loves...

The film honors those who underwent Pearl Harbor…The great shots plunge viewers into mass destruction, chaos and incompetence... We see hundreds of Japanese planes approaching towards their unsuspecting targets… Sailors sauntering along the decks of their moored vessels when the torpedo planes, armed with special shallow-running devices, headed for the battleships, their prime targets…

Bay's cameras move sometimes fast, and sometimes in slow motion to show the savage blow… Scenes, out of focus, evoke the sense of disorientation and fear, also of bravery in the midst of confusion in the island's base hospital...

'Pearl Harbor' is a fight between love and glory against a backdrop of America's entry into World War II... The film has some moments of excitement and grandeur…

Schwartzman gets some extremely nice-looking scenes of the Hawaiian twilight... His shots of Kate—sitting atop a rock, reading Rafe's love-letters, totally unaware to the striking Hawaiian surf that threatens to pull her out to sea—are incredibly beautiful…