The movies wallace is inspired to fight the english because they killed his wife, but historical records dont mention her. The movies version of the attack on pearl harbor is largely accurate. The endless historical errors made in the pearl harbor movie. The film was based on a bestselling novel by james jones, who served in the army and was stationed at schofield barracks, where the film is set, at the time of pearl harbor. While it was far removed from the era of propaganda war films, 1970s tora. Pearl harbor is the latest in a long line of hollywood epics that have enraged war veterans and historians because of changing events to increase a films boxoffice potential.
Movies are often romantic in nature, but when the film pearl harbor burst. It provoked america into declaring war on japan and soon the us was also at war with the other axis powers, italy and germany. Pearl harbor 6 7 which covers some of the ways that the films final cut didnt reflect all the attacks facts, or represent them all accurately8. The creative forces behind this film give their viewers an accurate movie, if judged only one the widest of scalesthere was a u. As a historical narrative, suid says pearl harbor fails completely. There are more specific areas in which the movie was inaccurate, for example in the opening scene the biplane used wasnt invented until years later. Waters is mostly concerned with the fact that pearl harbor was, intentionally or not, made to serve as a combination of bruckheimers previous films in content and plot line. But much of the way this character is handled in the movie does not accurately reflect how. In fact, very little is known about the real william wallace. The reports given to admiral kimmel led him and his staff as well as general short, the commander of the hawaiian army units to believe if japan did attack, it would be somewhere in the southwest pacific and not pearl harbor.
The us military base in hawaii was attacked by the japanese in a preplanned twowave massacre, lasting over 2 hours and resulting in over 2,000 casualties. Like many historical dramas, pearl harbor provoked debate about the. Dower mentions that he, too, is disheartened by the fact that many people get their knowledge of war and history in general from the movies. Conspiracy theories abound regarding the assassination of u. The ones used in filming were probably either p40ks, p40ms, or p40ns instead of the historically correct p40bs or p40cs that were around at the time of the attack.
One of the most obvious mistakes was the incident shown in the movie when rafe mccauley played by ben affleck is shot down while his service in the uk. Its centerpiece is 40 minutes of redundant special effects, surrounded by a love story of stunning banality. Learn about five little known pearl harbor movie facts and mistakes that made the final cut of the historic film. Most historically inaccurate movies ever human movie recommendations. Suid says the filmmakers chose to portray drama rather than.
School project comparing and contrasting the plot of pearl harbor to actual events. Pearl harbor there is no shortage of historical inaccuracies and apparent editing flaws in the 2001 depiction of pearl harbor. His problem with this is not that this film had to be historically accurate, but that director michael bay stated in interviews that it was going to be an accurate depiction of what really happened at pearl harbor. Fort macarthur in san pedro, california was established by the u. The attack killed 2,403 service members and wounded 1,178 more, and sank or destroyed six u. A moving scene except for the fact that it was in a train station. The movie pearl harbor scored at the box office when it was released in 2001, but historians to this day see the movie as oversimplified and inaccurate what are some of the little known pearl harbor movie facts that most viewers dont see when watching the film. The battle of midway took place a mere six months later. Tensions existed between the united states and japan for several decades before the attack on pearl harbor, most notably from the refusal to admit japanese immigrants into the united states and territory treaties that left japan with less land than they desired. The producers of this movie were more focused on the audiences relationship to the characters and the way they felt rather than how accurate according to history the movie was. Anger as hollywoods most costly film writes heroes out of history.
One night, after cuddling up on the couch with the movie and book, she finds herself falling asleep, and dreaming about the past. The top movies that have only a nodding acquaintance with historical fact. A team of editors takes feedback from our visitors to keep trivia as up to date and as accurate as possible. Although the film used realistic explosions, pearl harbor historians were underwhelmed with the historical accuracy. Pearl harbour survivors attack movie world news the. For that matter, this movie is even more accurate and technically impressive than later films that would be. It stars ben affleck, kate beckinsale, josh hartnett, cuba gooding jr. Rafe mccawley came back from the dead just after the attack on pearl harbor, only to find. The film presented a heavily fictionalized version of the japanese attack on pearl harbor on december 7, 1941, focusing. Built for entertainment value, pearl harbor is far from an accurate historical piece. National geographic channel produced a documentary called beyond the movie. How historically accurate is the movie tora, tora, tora. The best historical movies that are also mostly accurate. Pearl harbor movie everything michael bay got wrong.
Not only did the movie neglect to provide any real historical context. Pearl harbor may be scoring at the box office, but its getting failing grades from historians, who see it as oversimplified and inaccurate. In pearl harbor, ben afflecks character joins the eagle squadron. Pearl harbour survivors attack movie world news the guardian. There are more specific areas in which the movie was inaccurate. The pearl harbor attack led the united states of america to declare war on japan and enter into world war ii. Alyssa is a small town girl who loves the movie and history of pearl harbor. The 2001 film pearl harbor was met with mixed reception upon the movies release. He says that with such a grand historical backdrop pearl harbor had the. Pearl harbor is the greatest intelligence failure in american history.
The movie pearl harbor is based off of the true event of when the japanese attacked hawaiis peal harbor on the island of oahu on december 7th, 1941. Midway has thrilling war scenes, but is a waste of good. Reality december 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the united states of america was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of japan roosevelt. Top 10 horribly inaccurate war movies war history online. Some characters and their personal drama and relationships call to mind michael bays pearl harbor. How the movie pearl harbor told its own version of the. For those who want to separate fact from fiction, ew consulted a few experts. The film has been directed without grace, vision, or originality, and although you may walk out quoting lines of dialog, it will. Upon the release of the movie, many pearl harbor historians took umbrage with this casual use of real people, criticizing the fact that the film makes no direct reference to the very real heroics of either welch or taylor, but instead uses two fictional characters as replacements for the real people. This includes the salvage operations we see going on afterwards. A pair of amateur filmmakers captured the fateful japanese attack on pearl harbor with their 8mm movie camera as it was occurring.
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. Gates and flyboys on its list of falsified war movie productions. Jfk 10 historically inaccurate movies howstuffworks. Waters has issues with the character development, but he does slip the movie accolades for accurate historical. Pearl harbor facts facts about pearl harbor attack summary pearl harbor is an extremely significant event in the history of america and of wwii. This is definitely one of the worst world war ii movies ever made. Not only is the film enormously historically inaccurate, it also fails both as an action. Like many historical dramas, pearl harbor provoked debate about the artistic license taken by its producers and director. On december 7, 1941, a military strike by the imperial japanese navy air service hit the united states naval base at pearl harbor in hawaii.
Despite its name, the movie is not actually about the pearl harbor attacks. Not only is the film enormously historically inaccurate, it also fails both as an action film and a drama. Pearl harbor 10 historically inaccurate movies howstuffworks. Pearl harbor is a twohour movie squeezed into three hours, about how on dec. These are among the most obvious, the most historically inaccurate facts featured in this megamotion picture film that present inaccurate depictions of all that took place during the actual events of the pearl harbor attack.
Differences between pearl harbor moviehollywood and real. Prepare yourself to decipher fact vs fiction in roland. The movie depicted one of the main characters leaving new york for england while the other two gave him a tearful farewell. Though the movie makes it a little easier to swallow that he be blamed for a lack of preparedness. Perhaps it was the crummy script, bad acting, amateurish directing or lousy special effects. In fact, the zeros that raided pearl harbor were silver, and belonged to the japanese imperial navy. Although there were some that at least somewhat resembled world warii destroyers, most were recognizably modern, ranging from the 1960s knoxclass frigates, 1970s spruance class destroyers, and other auxiliary and support ships built decades after world war ii. Many of the ships seen in pearl harbor during and after the attack are clearly anachronistic. In fact, washington concurred when kimmel deployed his carrier task forces away from hawaii. Is there a train that runs from new york to england. The most historically inaccurate movies ever readers digest. Historians didnt think too highly of it either, bristling at the artistic license it took in rearranging the chronology of events surrounding the japanese attack on pearl harbor as well as the movie s simplistic, sappy nationalism. Page 2 this category is for questions and answers related to pearl harbor. The experts saw plenty of anachronisms, jumblings of fact, odd points of.
Movies like pearl harbor 2001 took many liberties with the events of december 7, 1941, which raises the question of whether or not roland emmerichs 2019 movie based on the battle of midway is equally as lax in its depictions of a major historic event. Joness portrait of service life had to be toned down considerably for the film. In addition to taking liberties with historical facts, the overall narrative. Features the best historical movies that are also mostly accurate. Top 20 pearl harbor facts history, attack, duration. Prepare yourself to decipher fact vs fiction in roland emmerichs movie midway 2019. Using fictional main characters, pearl harbor 2001 depicts the dramatic japanese attack on the united states that triggered the nations entry into world war ii.
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