Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American romantic war drama film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer and written by Randall Wallace. It stars Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore, and Alec Baldwin. The film features a heavily fictionalized version of the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, focusing on a love story set amidst the lead up to the attack, its aftermath, and the Doolittle Raid.
The film was a box office success, earning $59 million in its opening weekend and $450.2 million worldwide, but received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who criticized the story, long runtime, screenplay and dialogue, pacing, performances and historical inaccuracies, although the visual effects and Hans Zimmer's score were praised. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning in the category of Best Sound Editing. However, it was also nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture. This marked the first (and to date, only) occurrence of a Worst Picture-nominated film winning an Academy Award; it is also the only film directed by Bay to win an Academy Award.
==Plot==
In 1923 Tennessee, two best friends, Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker, play together in the back of an old biplane, pretending to be fighting airmen.
In January 1941, with World War II raging, Danny and Rafe are both first lieutenants under the command of Major Jimmy Doolittle. Doolittle informs Rafe that he has been accepted into the Eagle Squadron (an RAF outfit for American pilots during the Battle of Britain). A nurse named Evelyn Johnson passes Rafe's medical exam despite his dyslexia, and the two strike up a relationship. Four weeks later, Rafe and Evelyn, now deeply in love, enjoy an evening of dancing at a nightclub and later a jaunt in the New York harbor in a borrowed police boat. Rafe shocks Evelyn by saying that he has joined the Eagle Squadron and is leaving the next day. During a mission to intercept a Luftwaffe bombing raid, Rafe is shot down over the English Channel and is presumed killed in action. Danny and Evelyn mourn Rafe's death together, which spurs a romance between the two.
Meanwhile, Japan prepares to attack the US Pacific Fleet, deciding the best way to do so would be a decisive strike on the Pearl Harbor naval base.
On the night of December 6, Evelyn is shocked to discover Rafe standing outside her door, having survived his drowning and the ensuing months trapped in Nazi-occupied France. Rafe, in turn, discovers Danny's romance with Evelyn and leaves for the Hula bar, where he is welcomed back by his overjoyed fellow pilots. Danny finds a drunken Rafe in the bar with the intention of reconciling, but the two get into a fight. When military police arrive, they flee the scene to avoid being put in the brig and fall asleep in Danny's car.
Next morning, on December 7, the Imperial Japanese Navy begins its attack on Pearl Harbor. The US Pacific Fleet is severely damaged in the surprise attack, and most of the defending airfields are obliterated before they can launch fighters to defend the harbor. Rafe and Danny take off in P-40 fighter planes, and shoot down several of the attacking planes. They later assist in the rescue of the crew of the capsized USS Oklahoma, but are too late to save the crew of the obliterated USS Arizona.
The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Day of Infamy speech to the nation and requests that the US Congress declare a state of war with the Empire of Japan. The survivors attend a memorial service to honor the numerous dead. Danny and Rafe are both assigned to travel stateside under Doolittle, though they are not told why. Before they leave, Evelyn reveals to Rafe that she is pregnant with Danny's child. She intends to stay with and devote herself to Danny for their child’s sake, but she vows that it is Rafe who she will always truly love. 
Danny and Rafe are both promoted to captain and awarded the Silver Star for their actions at Pearl Harbor, and Doolittle asks them to volunteer for a secret mission. During the next three months, Rafe, Danny and other pilots train for ultra-short takeoffs with specially modified B-25 Mitchell bombers. In April, the raiders are sent toward Japan on board USS Hornet. Their mission is to bomb Tokyo, after which they will land in China. The mission is successful, but Rafe's and Danny's planes run out of fuel and crash in Japanese-occupied territory in China. A gunfight ensues between the raiders and Japanese ground troops, and Danny is mortally wounded shielding Rafe before the group are rescued by Chinese soldiers. Rafe tearfully reveals to Danny that Evelyn is pregnant with Danny's child; with his dying breaths, Danny tells Rafe that it is his child now.
After the war, Rafe and Evelyn, now married, visit Danny's grave with Evelyn's son, named Danny after his biological father. Rafe then asks his stepson if he would like to go flying, and they fly off into the sunset in the old biplane that Rafe's father once owned.
==Cast==
===Fictional characters===
* Ben Affleck as the First Lieutenant / Captain Rafe McCawley, a USAAC combat pilot and one of the three protagonists. He is childhood friends with Danny Walker.
** Jesse James as Young Rafe McCawley.
* Josh Hartnett as First Lieutenant / Captain Danny Walker, a USAAC combat pilot and Rafe's lifelong best friend, one of the three protagonists.
** Reiley McClendon as Young Danny Walker.
* Kate Beckinsale as Lieutenant Evelyn Johnson, a nurse and Rafe and Danny's mutual love interest, one of the three protagonists.
* Tom Sizemore as Sergeant Earl Sistern, the lead aircraft mechanic at Wheeler Airfield.
* Jaime King as Betty Bayer, a nurse at Tripler Army Hospital and colleague of Evelyn's.
* Catherine Kellner as Barbara, a nurse at Tripler Army Hospital and colleague of Evelyn's.
* Jennifer Garner as Sandra, a nurse at Tripler Army Hospital and colleague of Evelyn's.
* Sara Rue as Martha, a nurse at Tripler Army Hospital and colleague of Evelyn's.
* William Lee Scott as First Lieutenant Billy Thompson, a USAAC combat pilot stationed at Wheeler Airfield.
* Ewen Bremner as First Lieutenant "Red" Winkle, a USAAC combat pilot stationed at Wheeler Airfield.
* Greg Zola as First Lieutenant Anthony Fusco, a USAAC combat pilot stationed at Wheeler Airfield.
* Michael Shannon as First Lieutenant "Gooz" Wood, a USAAC combat pilot stationed at Wheeler Airfield.
* Matt Davis as Second Lieutenant Joe McKinnon, a USAAC combat pilot stationed at Wheeler Airfield.
* Dan Aykroyd as Captain Harold Thurman, a US Naval Intelligence officer overseeing the monitoring of Japanese espionage efforts. He is a fictionalized composite of several real-world individuals.
* Kim Coates as Lieutenant Jack Richards, a United States Naval Aviator who participates in the Doolittle Raid.
* Tony Curran as Ian, a Royal Air Force combat pilot in Eagle Squadron.
* Nicholas Farrell as a Royal Air Force Squadron leader and combat pilot commanding the Eagle Squadron.
* William Fichtner as Mr. Walker, Danny's father.
* Steve Rankin as Mr. McCawley, Rafe's father.
* John Fujioka as General Nishikura, head of the Japanese Supreme War Council. He is a fictionalized composite of several real-world individuals.
* Leland Orser as Major Jackson, a USAAC officer injured during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
* Ted McGinley as Major Newman, a US Army officer.
* Andrew Bryniarski as Joe, a crew member and amateur boxer aboard the USS West Virginia.
* Brandon Lozano as Baby Danny McCawley, Danny and Evelyn's son.
* Eric Christian Olsen as a B-25 gunner to McCawley.
* Sean Faris as a B-25 gunner to Walker.
===Historical characters===
Although not intended to be an entirely accurate depiction of events, the film includes portrayals of several historical figures:
* Cuba Gooding Jr. as Petty Officer Second Class Doris Miller, a messman aboard the USS West Virginia who operated anti-aircraft guns during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
* Jon Voight as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President of the United States
* Colm Feore as Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, the commander-in-chief of the United States Fleet and the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
* Mako as Kaigun Taishō (Admiral) Isoroku Yamamoto, Fleet Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
* Alec Baldwin as Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Jimmy Doolittle, USAF commander and leader of the Doolittle Raid.
* Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Kaigun Chūsa (Commander) Minoru Genda, lead planner of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
* Scott Wilson as General George C. Marshall, the US Army's Chief of Staff.
* Graham Beckel as Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, a US Naval commander who later succeeded Kimmel as the Pacific Fleet's Commander-in-Chief.
* Tom Everett as Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy.
* Tomas Arana as Rear-Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Commander Cruiser Division Four.
* Peter Firth as Captain Mervyn S. Bennion, commanding officer of the USS West Virginia
* Glenn Morshower as Vice Admiral William Halsey Jr., commander of Carrier Division 2 and the Aircraft Battle Force.
* Yuji Okumoto as Kaigun-Daii (Lieutenant) Zenji Abe (1916-2007), bomber pilot in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
* Madison Mason as Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commander of Cruiser Division Five.
* Michael Shamus Wiles as Captain Marc Mitscher, captain of the USS Hornet.
* Seth Sakai as Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy.
==Production==
The proposed budget of $208 million that Bay and Bruckheimer wanted was an area of contention with Disney executives, since a great deal of the budget was to be expended on production aspects. Also controversial was the effort to change the film's rating from R to PG-13. Bay initially wanted to graphically portray the horrors of war and was not interested in primarily marketing the final product to a teen and young adult audience. However, even though he wanted to make an R-rated movie, Bay admitted that the problem was that young children would not be able to see it, and he felt that they should. As such, when he was ordered by Disney to make a PG-13 movie, he didn't argue. As a compromise, he was allowed to release an R-rated Director's Cut on DVD later on in 2002. Budget fights continued throughout the planning of the film, with Bay "walking" on several occasions. Dick Cook, chairman of Disney at the time, said "I think Pearl Harbor was one of the most difficult shoots of modern history."
In order to recreate the atmosphere of pre-war Pearl Harbor, the producers staged the film in Hawaii and used current naval facilities. Many active duty military members stationed in Hawaii and members of the local population served as extras during the filming. The set at Rosarito Beach in the Mexican state of Baja California was used for scale model work as required. Formerly the set of Titanic (1997), Rosarito was the ideal location to recreate the death throes of the battleships in the Pearl Harbor attack. A large-scale model of the bow section of mounted on the world's largest gimbal produced an authentic rolling and submerging of the doomed battleship. Production Engineer Nigel Phelps stated that the sequence of the ship rolling out of the water and slapping down would involve one of the "biggest set elements" to be staged. Matched with computer generated imagery, the action had to reflect precision and accuracy throughout.Sunshine and Felix 2001, p. 135.
Michael Fassbender read for the part of Rafe, Fassbender said that Disney sent him a "really nice note" telling him that he didn't get the part.
The vessel most seen in the movie was USS Lexington, representing both USS Hornet and a Japanese carrier. All aircraft take-offs during the movie were filmed on board the Lexington, a museum ship in Corpus Christi, Texas. The aircraft on display were removed for filming and were replaced with film aircraft as well as World War II anti-aircraft turrets. Other ships used in filler scenes included USS Hornet,Heines, vienne. "Bringing 'Pearl Harbor' to Corpus Christi." Military.com. Retrieved: January 10, 2014. and USS Constellation during filming for the carrier sequences. Filming was also done on board the museum battleship USS Texas located near Houston, Texas.
==Release==
===Marketing===
Disney premiered the film at Pearl Harbor itself, aboard the active nuclear aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, which made a six-day trip from San Diego to serve as "the world's largest and most expensive outdoor theater". More than 2,000 people attended the premiere on the Stennis, which had special grandstand seating and one of the world's largest movie screens assembled on the flight deck. The guests included various Hawaii political leaders, most of the lead actors from the film, and over 500 news media from around the world that Disney flew in to cover the event. The party was estimated to have cost Disney $5 million.
===Box office===
During its opening weekend, Pearl Harbor generated a total of $59 million, then made $75.1 million during its first four days. At the time, it achieved the second-highest Memorial Day weekend gross, behind The Lost World: Jurassic Park. When the film was released, it topped the box office, knocking out Shrek. It earned $30 million during its second weekend while staying at the number one spot. This was the most recent film to top the box office for multiple weeks until that August when American Pie 2 became the next one to do so. The film would then drop into third place behind Swordfish and Shrek, making $14.9 million. Pearl Harbor grossed $198,542,554 at the US and Canadian box office and $250,678,391 overseas for a worldwide total of $449,220,945. The film was ranked the sixth highest-earning picture of 2001. In Japan, the film opened on 424 screens and grossed $7.2 million in its opening weekend (including $1.6 million in previews), a record for Buena Vista International in Japan, and the sixth highest opening of all-time. It had a record opening in China, grossing $3.9 million in 6 days. It is also the third highest-grossing romantic drama film of all time, as of January 2013, behind Titanic and Ghost."Romantic Drama Movies at the Box Office." Box Office Mojo: IMDb. Retrieved: January 5, 2013.
===Home media===
The film was released on VHS and DVD on December 4, 2001. In its first week, it sold more than 7 million units and made more than $130 million in retail sales.
The film was also released in 2002 as an R-rated four-disc Director's Cut DVD, which included about a minute of additional footage.
==Reception==
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 24% based on 194 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Pearl Harbor tries to be the Titanic of war movies, but it's just a tedious romance filled with laughably bad dialogue. The 40-minute action sequence is spectacular though." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 44 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews"."Pearl Harbor Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic" Metacritic. Retrieved: March 23, 2012. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one and a half stars, writing: "Pearl Harbor is a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how, on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise attack on an American love triangle. Its centerpiece is 40 minutes of redundant special effects, surrounded by a love story of stunning banality. The film has been directed without grace, vision, or originality, and although you may walk out quoting lines of dialogue, it will not be because you admire them." Ebert also criticized the liberties the film took with historical facts: "There is no sense of history, strategy or context; according to this movie, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because America cut off its oil supply, and they were down to an 18-month reserve. Would going to war restore the fuel sources? Did they perhaps also have imperialist designs? Movie doesn't say."Ebert, Roger. "'Pearl Harbor'." Chicago Sun-Times, May 25, 2001. Retrieved: June 25, 2009. In his later "Great Movies" essay on Lawrence of Arabia, Ebert likewise wrote, "What you realize watching Lawrence of Arabia is that the word 'epic' refers not to the cost or the elaborate production, but to the size of the ideas and vision. Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God didn't cost as much as the catering in Pearl Harbor, but it is an epic, and Pearl Harbor is not."Ebert, Roger. "'Lawrence of Arabia'." Chicago Sun-Times, September 2, 2001. Retrieved: November 10, 2020.
A. O. Scott of the New York Times wrote, "Nearly every line of the script drops from the actors' mouths with the leaden clank of exposition, timed with bad sitcom beats." USA Today gave the film two out of four stars and wrote, "Ships, planes and water combust and collide in Pearl Harbor, but nothing else does in one of the wimpiest wartime romances ever filmed."
In his review for The Washington Post, Desson Howe wrote, "although this Walt Disney movie is based, inspired and even partially informed by a real event referred to as Pearl Harbor, the movie is actually based on the movies Top Gun, Titanic and Saving Private Ryan. Don't get confused." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine wrote, "Affleck, Hartnett and Beckinsale – a British actress without a single worthy line to wrap her credible American accent around – are attractive actors, but they can't animate this moldy romantic triangle." Time magazine's Richard Schickel criticized the love triangle: "It requires a lot of patience for an audience to sit through the dithering. They're nice kids and all that, but they don't exactly claw madly at one another. It's as if they know that someday they're going to be part of "the Greatest Generation" and don't want to offend Tom Brokaw. Besides, megahistory and personal history never integrate here."
Entertainment Weekly was more positive, giving the film a "B−" rating, and Owen Gleiberman praised the Pearl Harbor attack sequence: "Bay's staging is spectacular but also honorable in its scary, hurtling exactitude. ... There are startling point-of-view shots of torpedoes dropping into the water and speeding toward their targets, and though Bay visualizes it all with a minimum of graphic carnage, he invites us to register the terror of the men standing helplessly on deck, the horrifying split-second deliverance as bodies go flying and explosions reduce entire battleships to liquid walls of collapsing metal."
In his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote, "here is the ironic twist in my acceptance of Pearl Harbor – the parts I liked most are the parts before and after the digital destruction of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese carrier planes" and felt that "Pearl Harbor is not so much about World War II as it is about movies about World War II. And what's wrong with that?"
Critics in Japan received the film more positively than in most countries with one likening it to Gone with the Wind set during World War II and another describing it as more realistic than Tora! Tora! Tora!.
===Accolades===
Award 	Category 	Recipient 	Result	Ref.
Academy Awards 	Best Original Song 	"There You'll Be" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren 	 	
Academy Awards 	Best Sound 	Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Peter J. Devlin 	 	
Academy Awards 	Best Sound Editing 	George Watters II and Christopher Boyes 	 	
Academy Awards 	Best Visual Effects 	Eric Brevig, John Frazier, Ed Hirsh, and Ben Snow 	 	
American Society of Cinematographers Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases 	John Schwartzman 	 	
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards 	Top Box Office Films 	Hans Zimmer 	 	
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards 	Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures 	"There You'll Be" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren 	 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Original Score 	Hans Zimmer 	 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Visual Effects 	Best Visual Effects 	 	
Bogey Awards 	Bogey Awards 	Bogey Awards 	 	
Critics' Choice Awards 	Best Song 	"There You'll Be" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren 	 	
Cinema Audio Society Awards 	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures 	Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Peter J. Devlin 	 	
DVD Exclusive Awards 	Best Overall New Extra Features, New Release 	Michael Bay, Mark Palansky, David Prior, and Eric Young 	 	
DVD Exclusive Awards 	Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes 	Michael Bay 	 	
DVD Exclusive Awards 	Original Retrospective Documentary, New Release 	Doug McCallie 	 	
DVD Exclusive Awards 	Best Menu Design 	David Prior 	 	
Golden Globe Awards 	Best Original Score – Motion Picture 	Hans Zimmer 	 	
Golden Globe Awards 	Best Original Song – Motion Picture 	"There You'll Be" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren 	 	
Golden Raspberry Awards 	Worst Picture 	Worst Picture 	 	Green gets fingered for Razzies at BBC News
Golden Raspberry Awards 	Worst Director 	Michael Bay 	 	Green gets fingered for Razzies at BBC News
Golden Raspberry Awards 	Worst Actor 	Ben Affleck 	 	Green gets fingered for Razzies at BBC News
Golden Raspberry Awards 	Worst Screenplay 	Randall Wallace 	 	Green gets fingered for Razzies at BBC News
Golden Raspberry Awards 	Worst Screen Couple 	Ben Affleck and either Kate Beckinsale or Josh Hartnett 	 	Green gets fingered for Razzies at BBC News
Golden Raspberry Awards 	Worst Remake or Sequel 	Worst Remake or Sequel 	 	Green gets fingered for Razzies at BBC News
Golden Raspberry Awards 	Worst Actor of the Decade 	Ben Affleck 	 	
Golden Reel Awards 	Best Sound Editing – Dialogue & ADR, Domestic Feature Film 	George Watters II, Christopher T. Welch, Teri E. Dorman, Julie Feiner, Cindy Marty, Michelle Pazer, David A. Arnold, Marshall Winn, Ulrika Akander, and Allen Hartz 	 	
Golden Reel Awards 	Best Sound Editing – Sound Effects & Foley, Domestic Feature Film 	Christopher Boyes, George Watters II, Victoria Martin, Ethan Van der Ryn, Beau Borders, Scott Guitteau, Suhail Kafity, Adam Kopald, F. Hudson Miller, R.J. Palmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Robert L. Sephton, Matthew Harrison, James Likowski, and Gary Wright	 	
Golden Rooster Awards 	Best Translated Film 	Best Translated Film 	 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Worst Movie of the Year 	Worst Movie of the Year 	 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Best Special Effects of the Year 	Best Special Effects of the Year 	 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Biggest Disappointment of the Year 	Biggest Disappointment of the Year 	 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Best Trailer of the Year 	Best Trailer of the Year 	 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Best Action Sequence of the Year 	"Attack on Pearl Harbor" 	 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Most Memorable Scene in a Movie 	"Attack on Pearl Harbor" 	 	
Golden Screen Awards 	Golden Screen Awards 	Golden Screen Awards 	 	
Golden Trailer Awards 	Best Action 	Best Action 	 	
GoldSpirit Awards 	Best Soundtrack 	Hans Zimmer 	 	
GoldSpirit Awards 	Best Drama Soundtrack 	Hans Zimmer 	 	
Grammy Awards 	Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media 	"There You'll Be" – Diane Warren 	 	
Harry Awards 	Harry Awards 	Harry Awards 	 	
Huabiao Awards 	Outstanding Translated Foreign Film 	Outstanding Translated Foreign Film 	 	
MTV Asia Awards 	Favorite Movie 	Favorite Movie 	 	
MTV Movie Awards 	Best Male Performance 	Josh Hartnett 	 	
MTV Movie Awards 	Best Female Performance 	Kate Beckinsale 	 	
MTV Movie Awards 	Best Action Sequence 	"The Attack Scene" 	 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards	Best Original Song 	"There You'll Be" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren 	 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards	Best Sound 	Best Sound 	 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards	Best Sound Editing 	Best Sound Editing 	 	
Online Film & Television Association Awards	Best Visual Effects 	Best Visual Effects 	 	
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards 	Best Visual Effects 	Eric Brevig, John Frazier, Ed Hirsh, and Ben Snow 	 	
Satellite Awards 	Best Cinematography 	John Schwartzman 	 	
Satellite Awards 	Best Original Song 	"There You'll Be" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren 	 	
Satellite Awards 	Best Visual Effects 	Eric Brevig 	 	
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards 	Worst Picture 	Worst Picture 	 	
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards 	Worst Sense of Direction 	Michael Bay 	 	
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards 	Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing More Than $100M Worldwide Using Hollywood Math	Randall Wallace 	 	
Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Movie – Drama/Action Adventure 	Choice Movie – Drama/Action Adventure 	 	
Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Movie Actor 	Ben Affleck 	 	
Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Movie Actor 	Josh Hartnett 	 	
Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Movie Chemistry 	Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale 	 	
World Soundtrack Awards 	Soundtrack Composer of the Year 	Hans Zimmer 	 	
World Stunt Awards 	Best Aerial Work 	Gene Armstrong, Will Bonafas, James Gavin, John Hinton, Steve Hinton, Gary Hudson, Kevin La Rosa, John Maloney, Bill Powers, Alan Preston, Allan Purwyn, James Ryan, and John Storrie 	 	
World Stunt Awards 	Best Stunt Coordination – Feature Film 	Kenny Bates 	 	
World Stunt Awards 	Best Stunt Coordination – Sequence 	Kenny Bates, Andy Gill, and Steve Picerni 	 	
Yoga Awards 	Worst Foreign Actor 	Ben Affleck 	 	
==Replacing real figures==
The roles that the two male leads played by Affleck and Hartnett have in the attack sequence are analogous to the real historical deeds of U.S. Army Air Corps Second Lieutenants George Welch and Kenneth M. Taylor, who took to the skies during the Japanese attack and, between the two pilots, shot down between six and ten (depending on source) Japanese fighters. However, the movie itself makes no mention of or allusion to Welch's and Taylor's existence in history, and the movie's plot involving the leads, aside from their roles in the attack sequence, does not match any other historical account of Welch or Taylor.
Taylor, who died in November 2006, previously declared the film adaptation "a piece of trash... over-sensationalized and distorted".
Because Bay's movie makes no mention of or allusion to Welch's and Taylor's existence, some consider the very presence of the two fictional main characters in their steads a blatant usurpation of the true historical figures' roles. This point, when coupled with what many critics feel is an arbitrary and ill-conceived love triangle plot involving the fictional replacements, makes some regard Pearl Harbor as an abuse of artistic licence].http://www.voicenet.com/~lpadilla/pearl.html
==Inaccuracies==
Like many historical dramas, Pearl Harbor provoked debate about the artistic license taken by its producers and director. National Geographic Channel produced a documentary called Beyond the Movie: Pearl Harborhttp://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/ngbeyond/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429665/ which covers some of the ways that "the film's final cut didn't reflect all the attacks' facts, or represent them all accurately."http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2001/fyi/news/05/24/pearl.harbor/index.html
One of the few small historical accuracies in the film is the wristwatch of the character Danny. Danny's wristwatch is the same style as World War II wristwatches issued to servicemen during that period.
Historical inaccuracies were found in the film included, but are not limited to:
*Early childhood sequences:
**Stearman biplane (the crop-duster aircraft) was not produced until 1935. The opening scene of the film is set in 1923. Many Hollywood movies in the 1960s and 1970s used a Stearman as their stock "old biplane." A more appropriate aircraft would be a Curtiss JN 4 "Jenny", but very few are available for this sort of work.
*Eagle Squadron sequences:
**A Supermarine Spitfire fitted with a four-blade propeller is shown during the airfield and flying shots in the film. It is a Spitfire variant that was not available until later in the war. Also, although the Eagles did use Spitfires, they were originally eight-gun Mk IIs, later superseded by the Mk V and IX (used by 71, 122 and 133 Eagle Squadrons). However, since there is only one Mk II in flying condition (flown by the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and as such not used for film work), the Mk V was used, as well as the later Mk VIII. The original plan was to use a highly-inappropriate Spitfire XIV in dogfight sequences with a genuine Messerschmitt Bf 109E.
**Ben Affleck's character is portrayed as joining the Royal Air Force (RAF) as part of the Eagle squadron; serving U.S. airmen were prohibited from doing so, though American civilians joining the RAF were allowed. His eyesight would have been checked for RAF service.
**Ben Affleck's character was based at RAF Oakley. This base was actually a training base in the war, not a fighter base. Historians point out that during the hot August summer of 1940, such expedients invariably did take place from time to time, and even for squadron training exercises.
**During the Battle of Britain flight sequences, the British Spitfires are shown flying in the standard American four-ship formation. The British usually flew in the three-ship Vee or "VIC" formation at this stage of the war. Again this is open to dispute, because by the time of the late Battle, the RAF had adopted the German Luftwaffe "Rotte" and "Schwarm" system, known in RAF parlance as the "Finger Four," which the United States Air Force itself adopted as "Four Ship" formation.
*Pearl Harbor sequences:
**The Japanese aircraft carrier from which the invasion force was launched featured jet catapults and an angled flight deck. These were not included on aircraft carriers until the mid-1950s. In addition, the flight deck did not have wood planking.
**The USS Arizona Memorial, which straddles the sunken USS Arizona], can be briefly seen in a pan shot. The memorial was dedicated in the 1960s.
**President Roosevelt]] did not receive the news of the Pearl Harbor attack by an aide or advisor running into the room. He was having lunch with Harry Hopkins, a trusted friend, and he received a phone call from Secretary of War]Henry Stimson. Hopkins refused to believe the report. The President believed it.http://my.execpc.com/~dschaaf/attack.html
**Admiral Kimmel had received warnings about an attack but, thinking them vague, did not put his forces on full-scale alert. This contradicts the film's portrayal of Kimmel as a leader railing against Washington's apathy about the Japanese threat.
**Even though he specifically asked, by dispatch and in person, for all information, Admiral Kimmel never received the secret Magic dispatches that showed vital information. He also never received the famous 14-part message that the Japanese were delivering in response to the U.S. "ultimatum" of November 26. Especially not the 14th part which indicated the 1:00 p.m. (EST) delivery of the message and ordering the destruction of the "coding" equipment, even though this had been decoded some nine hours before the attack.Admiral Kimmel's Story, Henry Regnery Co., 1955.
**The reports that were given to Admiral Kimmel led him and his staff (as well as General Short, the Commander of the Hawaiian Army units) to believe that if Japan did attack, it would be somewhere in the southwest Pacific and not Pearl Harbor. In fact, they concurred when he deployed his task forces away from Hawaii. Before Pearl Harbor was attacked, he had deployed them around Wake and Midway Islands.
**The so-called "War Warning" dispatch that Admiral Kimmel received on November 27, 1941, did not warn the Pacific Fleet of an attack in the Hawaiian area. It did not state expressly or by implication that an attack in the Hawaiian area was imminent or probable. It did not repeal or modify the advice previously given me by the Navy Department that no move against Pearl Harbor was imminent or planned by Japan. The dispatch warned of war in the Far East. The number and equipment of Japanese troops and the organization of Naval task forces indicates an amphibious expedition were either the Philippines, Thailand, or Kra Peninsula, or possibly Borneo.
**Admiral Kimmel was not on a golf course on the morning of the attack, nor was he notified of the Japanese embassy leaving Washington, D.C., prior to the attack. The first official notification of the attack was received by General Short several hours after the attack had ended. Also, the report of attacking an enemy midget-submarine, in real life, did not report sinking the sub.
**At the time of the attack, the battleships in Battleship Row were tied directly together, not spaced apart as they were in the movie.
**Japanese Navy Air Service aircraft of that period were painted very light gray-green and not dark green.
**The ward dresses of the nurses have a different style than the ones Navy Nurses actually wore during World War II, and no nurse would have worked with long hair falling freely about her shoulders.
**The USS Whipple can be seen clearly in a background shot of the boxing scene on the USS Arizona.
One of the intelligence photographs taken by the Japanese spies shows a North Carolina-class battleship. The USS North Carolina did not arrive at Pearl Harbor until June 1942.
**A retired Iowa-class battleship was used to represent the USS West Virginia for Dorie Miller's boxing match. However, the main gun barrels are corked, which is unusual during wartime or training exercises. Furthermore, Iowa-class battleships have a 3x3 main gun configuration versus the 4x2 layout of the West Virginia. Also, the West Virginia did not have the World War II-era bridge and masts found on newer U.S. battleships until reconstruction was finished in 1943. The Iowa-class themselves didn't enter service until 1943-44.
**In the film, the P-40N model of the P-40 Warhawk U.S. fighter aircraft is shown. However, the "N" model of the P-40 was not available to the United States until 1943.
**At the airfield where the pilots are composing themselves and trying to take action against the strafing Japanese planes, Ben Affleck's character erroneously says "P-40s can't outrun Zeroes, we'll just have to outfly them." In fact, the standard tactic for American and Allied pilots, from the AVG (Flying Tigers) in late 1940 through 1941 and throughout the Pacific War, was basic "hit-and-run." They would dive on Zeroes, get what "hits" they could, and then outrun them (though it could be referring to the P-40s starting from a standstill and having to climb, during which the Zeros would outrun them).
**In reality, although Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto planned the attack, he was not present on any of the carriers that bombed Pearl Harbor. He was aboard the battleship Nagato in Tokyo Bay, where he heard reports of the attack and supposedly made his famous "sleeping giant" statement.
**P-40 and Zero fighters are shown doing tight maneuvers and incredibly dangerous stunts, almost like X-Wing fighters from Star Wars. Although the Zero was nimble and was the most feared fighter of the Pacific War until the F6F Hellcat debuted in 1943, the P-40 was not able to "dog-fight" with the Zero.
**Dorie Miller's actions during the battle are altered. In the film, Miller comforts Captain Mervyn S. Bennion and is with him when he dies. Miller delivers the captain's last orders to the ship's executive officer and then mans a machine gun. In reality, Miller helped move Bennion to a safer location. Bennion continued to direct the battle until he died of his wounds just before the ship was abandoned. While Miller did man an antiaircraft gun, he was never credited with any kills (as opposed to the one shown in the film).
**The USS Texas doubles for the USS West Virginia during the sequences featuring Dorie Miller. The Texas is considerably different in design than the ship she portrays, most notably lacking the "cage" masts that distinguished West Virginia and California-class battleships. During these sequences, the West Virginia appears moored by herself, but in reality the battleship Tennessee was moored inboard (between the West Virginia and Ford Island) at the time of the attack.
** In the attack, a sailor is shown jumping clear of a falling battleship "tripod" main mast. No battleship lost a tripod mast in such a manner. Not even in the sinking of the USS Oklahoma, which capsized, did a mast fall in such a way as shown in the film.
** In the film, Dorie Miller is shown firing a twin Browning M2 air cooled 50 caliber machine gun. In reality, the .50 caliber machine guns found on the USS West Virginia were water-cooled via a large water cylinder around the barrel, similar manner to the .303 Vickers Heavy machine gun.
*Doolittle Raid sequences:
**In preparation for the attack, Doolittle (Baldwin) is shown training the pilots on land in a flat, sparsely wooded valley near mountains somewhere in the American Southwest. The actual training was done at the airfield known today as Columbia Metropolitan Airport in West Columbia, South Carolina. It is a far more verdant and mountainless area in the state's "Piedmont" topography. In fact, it continued to be a training site for B-25 crews during the war, which would use islands in the nearby Lake Murray for target practice. A crashed B-25 that was recovered from the lake in the 1990s was restored and is now on display in the state museum.
**Several shots of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier depicted it as having an angled flight deck, a technology that was not implemented until after the war. While the USS Hornet was portrayed by a World War II era vessel (USS Lexington), the USS Hornet was an earlier modified Yorktown-class carrier, whereas the Lexington was a modernized Essex-class carrier. The Japanese carriers are portrayed more correctly by comparison—a few of them did have their bridge/conning tower superstructure on the port side rather than the more common starboard configuration.
**Affleck and Hartnett's characters are shown taking part in the Doolittle bombing raid over Tokyo in which, as fighter pilots, they would not have been allowed to participate.
**The B-25 Mitchells shown participating in the raid are "J"-models, although the models used in the actual raid were "B" models.
**When the task force is discovered by Japanese patrol boats in the film, the bomber crews desperately attempt to lighten their loads to make room for more fuel. The replacement of defensive machine guns with painted broomsticks causes Hartnett's character to complain, "We're using broomsticks for tail guns!". In reality, the false tail guns were among the modifications made to the B-25s prior to the mission's launching.
**Several crewmen on Affleck and Harnett's B-25s are killed in the firefight with the Japanese, including Harnett's character. In fact, no members of the raid were killed in this manner. Three airmen died in the crash landings in China, three were later executed as POWs by their Japanese captors, and one died of starvation in captivity. (Four other POWs were recovered alive near the end of the war).
*Other inaccuracies:
**The scene where a Japanese plane drops a bomb to the USS Arizona, it fall straight down after being released. This breaks the laws of physics. Bombs released by planes in flight travel in the same direction as the plane was flying in.
**Mitchel Field is incorrectly spelled "Mitchell Field."
**Despite Long Island's flat, level surface, mountains are visible in the flying shots over Long Island.
**Navy Nurse Betty claims to be 17 years old and that she has cheated with her age to be accepted, but Navy Nurses were required to be registered nurses to join the Navy Nurse Corps, which meant three years of prior training and passing a state board examination, very unlikely qualifications for any 17-year old. The minimum age to join the Navy Nurse Corps was 22.
**President Roosevelt is seen rising from his wheelchair to inspire his staff after the attack. There is no record of him having done or even being capable of doing this in real life.
**The observation car seen in the train station was made for the California Zephyr, which did not appear until after World War II.
**The sequence where Josh Hartnett's and Ben Affleck's characters "play chicken" with their P-40s at the U.S. airbase is cited in the film as taking place in early 1941. This is prior to Affleck's departure to the UK to join Eagle Squadron in time for the Battle of Britain. Although the "Battle of Britain" (proper) took place from July through October 1940, a lesser air battle continued thereafter. The first Eagle Squadron was formed in September 1940. Eventually, there were three Eagle Squadrons, right up until the U.S. entered the war (virtually the same timing as the Flying Tigers in China). A news sequence that precedes scenes of Ben Affleck's character participating in the Battle of Britain indicates that the Soviet Union has already entered the war, placing this scene in mid-to-late 1941. This is unlikely as the crucial part of the Battle of Britain was long over then.
**The Queen Mary is seen in New York Harbor in full Cunard colors. It is more likely that she would have been painted gray and would have served in war duties as either a troopship or hospital vessel. By late 1940, the **Queen Mary was on her way to Sydney to be fitted out as a troopship.
**The radar monitors shown in Pearl Harbor are the more modern type which show the rotation of a dish. This type of radar was not in use at that time.
**The distinct outline of a U.S. Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier, the USS Constellation, can be made out in a wide-angle shot. The first ship of this class was not commissioned until 1961. In the same shot, the sail of a modern submarine can be easily made out.
**There is no reason that U.S. Navy nurses would assess whether pilot candidates in the U.S. Army Air Corps were fit to fly. It is reasonable to assume that the Army would use its own medical staff.
**Dorie Miller is shown receiving his Navy Cross on the deck of a battleship. He actually received his medal in a ceremony aboard an aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, shortly before the Battle of Midway.
**Prior to the attack, Admiral Yamamoto turns a Japanese calendar to Sunday December 7 to make note of the date of the operation. In reality, when the attack started at 6:37 am Hawaii time, it was 1:37 am on Monday December 8 in Japan. The date December 7 was used because it is noted by Americans as the date of the attack. The Japanese version shows Yamamoto making note of the December 8 as the operation date.
**The dollar bill with the overprint of Hawaii, did not come out until the summer of 1974.
During the panning shot of the fleet just before the Doolittle raid, a Burke-class destroyer is visible in the back. These ships did not come into service until 1999.
**Franklin D. Roosevelt claims Stalin begged him to join in World War II. This never happened. However, in the 1943 Tehran Conference, Stalin did press both Roosevelt and Churchill to open a second front.
**Roosevelt's famous Infamy Speech was severely altered in the film.
**When taking off on the Doolittle Raid, and in the training scenes beforehand, the B-25 bombers can be seen taking off with the wind on their tails. Aircraft always take off into the wind - most especially when a short takeoff run is desired.
**During the Doolittle Raid, the pilots' radio transmissions are heard in Pearl Harbor, which was technologically impossible in 1942. Additionally, at the end of the raid, Doolittle orders his radio operator to "break radio silence". Since the transmissions were heard at Pearl throughout the raid, there was never any radio silence to begin with.
==DVD release==
A two-disc Commemorative 60th Anniversary Edition was released on December 4, 2003. This release included the feature on disc one, and on disc two, Journey to the Screen, a 47-minute documentary on the monumental production of the film, Unsung Heroes of Pearl Harbor, a 50-minute documentary on little-known heroes of the attack, a Faith Hill music video, and theatrical trailers.
A Pearl Harbor DVD giftset that includes the Commemorative Edition two-disc set, National Geographic's "Beyond the Movie" feature, and a dual-sided map was released concurrently on December 4, 2001.
A deluxe Vista Series director's cut of the film was released on July 2, 2002. The extended cut of the film included the insertion of additional gore, Doolittle addressing the pilots before the raid, and the removal of a campfire scene; it runs at 184 minutes compared to the 183 minutes of the theatrical cut. This elaborate package includes four discs of film and bonus features, a replication of Roosevelt's speech, collectible promotional postcard posters, and a carrying case that resembles a historic photo album. The bonus features include all the features included on the commemorative edition, plus additional footage, including three audio commentaries: 1)Director and film historian, 2)Cast, and 3)Technical staff, features including The Surprise Attack—a multi-angle breakdown of the film's most exciting sequence (30 minutes) --includes video intro by Michael Bay, Multiple video tracks that include pre-visualization and final sequence, Commentaries from veterans, Pearl Harbor Historic Timeline - a set-top interactive feature produced by documentarian Charles Kiselyak (30 Minutes), Soldier's Boot Camp - This segment follows the actors as they take preparation for their roles to an extreme (30 Minutes)), One Hour Over Tokyo - The History Channel's documentary, Super-8 Montage - A collection of unseen super-8 footage shot for potential use in the movie by Michael Bay's Visual Assistant, Mark Palansky, Deconstructing Destruction - an in-depth conversation among filmmakers with interactive industrial light and magic sequences, and Nurse Ruth Erickson interview. Whereas the theatrical cut was rated "PG-13", the director's cut was rated "R".
On December 19, 2007 a 65th Anniversary Commemorative Edition Blu-ray was released.
==References==
*Winchester, Jim, ed. Aircraft of World War II (The Aviation Factfile). London: Grange Books, 2004.
==External links==
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