All the faults of a film over half a century old: pretentious acting, artificial dialogues, in-studio filming and heavy propaganda can't change the fact that it's hell of a good story: strong characters, real-life problems and no easy resolutions.

Slowly conducted to a great ending.

#727

Melodramatic epic with compelling characters and story. A lot of Cool Hand Luke seemed to be borrowed from this...

878

The REAL Pearl Harbor movie. Just brilliant. Montgomery Clift is a revelation.

A very good and enjoyable film about several men stationed in Hawaii prior to WW2. THe acting is for the most part very good and the characters are interesting, as the film manages to touch many subjects beyond the obvious ones you'd expect in a film about the military. Even so, there's something I can't put my finger on that prevented me from truly getting into the movie.

Other than Clift, this doesn't do much for me. It's okay, I guess... the story moves briskly and there's nothing terribly wrong with it (except loads of acting drunk, which I hate, but even that isn't too bad). I even cared about the characters. I just wouldn't ever bother with it again.

It figures the most acclaimed Zinnemann I've heard about is the worst.

Is this for real? What a goofy, hokey film, even by the period's standards. Sinatra is golden, as usual, and keeps this from being a mess. Unrealistic dialogue, lazy acting, and an over-dominant musical score.