Pearl Harbor

War has certainly been one of the most favored genre's of movie watchers. This is particularly true of that conflict known as World War II. It was a war that covered almost every geographical location ranging from South America, the destruction of the German Pocket Battleship "Graf Spee" off the coast comes to mind through the prolonged warfare in the two principal theatre's, Europe and Eastern Asia.

During the war a number of films were produced devoted to areas that were involved in war time activities. Most of these are pretty much forgettable today, having been victims of excess propaganda. Some of them seem downright silly today. There was the Errol Flynn film set in Burma where after each day of fighting Flynn appears clean shaven and sparkling clean. There are plenty of other examples. There were, however, a few memorable pictures. Most notably those made by the Brits. I'm recalling such films as "One of Our Aircraft Is Missing," "Brief Encounter," and "In Which We Serve," (some consider the latter the best of all). John Ford in the US made one similarly great war film "The Long Voyage Home" which featured some of his standard players including, John Wayne. It was another power film with a poetic feel to it.

After the war was over there were many well made films. To mention only a few, perhaps the biggest of all "The Longest Day" appealed to practically all film goer's. The Germans made one of the greatest films based on submarine warfare "Das Boot" which was power and claustrophobia combined.

In recent years two other films really stand out. The first of these "Saving Private Ryan" was memorable in both what it covered, a small story in the overall vastness of the Normandy invasion, and as an example of how much detail can be of intense interest. A second film of nearly equal quality in recent works is the film we are discussing here, "Pearl Harbor." Not nearly as popularly received as "Saving Private Ryan," yet in it's story of the personal relationship between two air force flyers from Tennessee, the woman both loved and their participation in the famous Dec. 7, 1941 attack preceded with some coverage of the Battle of Britain and followed by the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. Another feature of the film is the extensive coverage of nurses and their participation in the war, an area of service which is most often overlooked in covering war.

This whole thread of historical events portrayed in Pearl Harbor rests in the relationships between Rafe McCawley played as an adult by Ben Afleck and of Danny Walker played by Josh Hartnet. The two had been boyhood friends and interested in flying primarily because Walker's father operated a crop dusting plane. The third principal of the trio was Evelyn Johnson played by Kate Beckansale who plays an army nurse. That meet Beckansale or McCawley does after he becomes attracted to her while undergoing service vaccinations and shots. In his efforts to make time he ends up being vaccinated more than once and ends up passing out in the medical center. Johnson's description of the events to other nurses is very humorous particularly as she tells them, "so, I stuck him in the butt again."

The flyers had undergone their extended flight training at an air force facility on Long Island. This shot was obviously done in Southern California actually at the Van Nuys air field in San Fernando Valley. The San Gabriel mountains show up in the background.

McCawley and Johnson get very attached to each other, however that doesn't stop McCawley for volunteering to join the British air force during the Air Battle of Britain. There are several shots of air combat in this theatre ending with McCawley being shot down over the English channel. We see him crash into the water and apparently drown. Prior to his leaving for Britain McCawley requests that Walker watch out for Johnson and protect McCawley's interest.

Walker is stationed in Hawaii and so is Johnson. Walker learns of McCawley's death and has the problem of telling Johnson. Afterwards they gradually become better acquainted and both fall in love. There are some lovely moments in this relationship including a couple of liaison's. One is in Walker's Buick convertible and a second more romantic one in an aircraft hanger where parachute's are being folded. There are also beautiful shots taken by the ocean with waves crashing over the rocks.

This idyllic episode is about to be interrupted by the Pearl Harbor attack, but before this Walker learns that McCawley is alive. The latter returns to the US from Britain and is sent to Hawaii. He is very angry at both the nurse and his long time aviation buddy and cannot accept the fact that the pair fell in love after learning he was dead. This ends up in a fight at a Honolulu night club between the two men who eventually spend the early morning hours together sobering up in Walker's convertible.

The Pearl Harbor attack occurs that same morning. The whole attack scenario is spectacular and realistic. There are marvelous shots of ships blowing up, of men being killed and incessant gunfire. The Japanese attack was well planned and cleverly arranged to occur early on a Sunday morning. Many men were off duty and the fleet and the whole complex of Pearl Harbor and other parts of Oahu were completely unaware of what was happening. Both McCawley and Walker managed to get to their planes and in particular with McCawley providing combat experience perform as well as can be expected against the overwhelming force of Japanese planes. Each has more than one kill flying the sturdy P-40's who were not nearly as maneuverable as their Japanese counterparts.

Also, most memorable are the moments spent with the nurses groups whose valiant response in this trying period or chaos and death is matched by their immediate response to need. It is a wild and confusing scene. One nurse is heard shouting what shall I do. Johnson in one scene has her finger in a wounded mans jugular vein keeping him from bleeding to death before surgery can start. Overall the scene with the nurses is probably the highlight of the film.

The recording of the chaos continues into the next day with death everywhere. Fires, explosions, etc. continue to haunt the screen. McCawley and Walker evetually receive orders to report to another location back in the states. This is going to be the Tokyo bombing attack. It includes a cabinet meeting with President Roosevelt played by John Voight. Voight's performance in the several scenes where he portrays the President are remarkable and include his standing without help in response to being told that it's not possible at this time to bring the war to the Japanese home islands. He says, after he struggles to his feet, "don't tell me something is impossible."

The Doolittle raid is led by James Doolittle who is played by Alex Baldwin. The preparations for the apparently impossible task are very detailed. Finally when the 16 B-26 bombers are at sea on the American Aircraft Carrier Hornet and are forced to take off early. The excitement of the pilots including Doolittle, McCawley and Walker is very engrossing. You can't help joining in that feeling of excitement.

The raid is a success and a real shock to the Japanese military and government authorities. Most of the planes managed to reach the Chinese mainland. There, after crashing, both McCawley and Walker are together for a short time before the flyers are attacked by Japanese troops. At this moment when walker lays dying McCawley tells him that he must live because he is to become a father. Before they had flown out Johnson had told him that she was pregnant, but had been afraid to tell Walker.

McCawley accompanies Walker's casket back. It is then that Johnson learns the truth. The films coda finds McCawley and Johnson together on Walker's fathers farm. There McCawley takes the old crop duster up with Walker and Johnson's young son riding with him.

I think that those who were alive at the time of Dec. 7th will probably react to this film much more than others. The relationship between the three young people is typical of what happened in those days before the development of the pill took the worry out of becoming pregnant. Des Kennelly the original editor of Mensa Classic Films, and who survived the blitz in England, once noted that the excitement of the times, and the proximity of death had an effect on personal relationships in Britain, and she suppose here as well. People did things, that their upbringing had told them not to do. The excitement of bombs falling and fires and gunfire were often stimulating to emotional relationships.

A couple of notes for Southern Californians. The Los Angeles Union Station posed as a New York station in one scene. Most interesting to me was the scene of Japanese planners for the attack working in what seemed to be a concrete dugout. Actually, this is a former concrete gun mount for the 14" cannon that were located in Fort MacArthur in Los Angeles to protect against a Japanese invasion by sea. These mounts are opened to visitors. Touring is fun and includes a museum and walking down dank clammy tunnels between gun sites.