A lot of great things about this movie. Realism, visual effects, the Japanese acting, fantastic. Tora! Tora! Tora! is well written and well paced - the editing is tight, if dizzying and confusing.
Problem is, Fleischer's ham-fisted directing and some lousy post-production.
Honestly, he's NOT a good director. Besides the great actors in this movie (Robinson, Robards, Balsam, etc.), all the other actors deliver flat, unconvincing, hackneyed performances. What excuse could you have for framing that cuts off people's heads, or leaves 2/3 of the top of the frame empty to no artistic purpose ? And ohhhh, those sound effects - besides being the same wall-to-wall clichés, the mix is so bad, whole lines of dialog spoken RIGHT into the camera disappear completely.
Contrasted with the Japanese-directed segments, his weakness shows terribly.
He wasn't one of Hollywood's great directors. How dare I slander the work of the man who brought us Million Dollar Mystery, Red Sonja, Conan the Destroyer, Amityville 3-D... ? Guess I'm a jerk. Point is, someone else should've directed Tora! Tora! Tora!, and it would truly be a classic.
Problem is, Fleischer's ham-fisted directing and some lousy post-production.
Honestly, he's NOT a good director. Besides the great actors in this movie (Robinson, Robards, Balsam, etc.), all the other actors deliver flat, unconvincing, hackneyed performances. What excuse could you have for framing that cuts off people's heads, or leaves 2/3 of the top of the frame empty to no artistic purpose ? And ohhhh, those sound effects - besides being the same wall-to-wall clichés, the mix is so bad, whole lines of dialog spoken RIGHT into the camera disappear completely.
Contrasted with the Japanese-directed segments, his weakness shows terribly.
He wasn't one of Hollywood's great directors. How dare I slander the work of the man who brought us Million Dollar Mystery, Red Sonja, Conan the Destroyer, Amityville 3-D... ? Guess I'm a jerk. Point is, someone else should've directed Tora! Tora! Tora!, and it would truly be a classic.