At
the time of its release, this lavish period war drama from hyperkinetic
director Michael Bay became the most expensive motion picture ever
green-lighted by a studio. Ben Affleck stars as Rafe McCawley, a military
pilot stationed under Jimmy Doolittle (Alec Baldwin) in New Jersey, along
with his best friend from childhood, Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett). Rafe is
chomping at the bit to get involved in World War II, but America has not
entered the conflict, so he is forced to fight on loan to the Royal Air
Force in Britain, leaving behind his beautiful girlfriend Evelyn (Kate
Beckinsale). After Rafe goes overseas, both Danny and Evelyn are transferred
to the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where word arrives that Rafe has
been killed in action. A grief-stricken Evelyn and Danny become romantically
attached, a situation that becomes a lit powder keg when Rafe suddenly
reappears, having survived his ordeal in the European war. The Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor puts the romantic triangle on hold, as the best
friends are ordered to undertake a top-secret and highly dangerous
retaliatory mission to bomb Tokyo, once again under the command of
Doolittle. Although the trio of leads are entirely fictional, Cuba Gooding
Jr., Tom Sizemore, and Jon Voight (as FDR) co-star in the roles of real-life
historical figures. Pearl Harbor is based on a script by Randall Wallace,
writer of Braveheart (1995) and The Man in the Iron Mask (1998). Taking a
page from the production history of James Cameron's Titanic (1997), many of
the actors and filmmakers involved with Pearl Harbor deferred their usual
salaries until the film "broke even" at the box office.| Ben Affleck | Rafe McCawley |
| Josh Hartnett | Danny Walker |
| Kate Beckinsale | Evelyn Johnson |
| Cuba Gooding, Jr. | Doris "Dorie" Miller |
| Tom Sizemore | Earl |
| Jon Voight | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Colm Feore | Admiral Kimmel |
| Mako | Admiral Yamamoto |
| Alec Baldwin | Jimmy Doolittle |
| William Lee Scott | Billy |
| Mike Shannon | Gooz |
| Scott Wilson | General Marshall |
| Peter Firth | Captain of the West Virginia |
| James King | Betty |
| Catherine Kellner | Barbara |
| Jennifer Garner | Sandra |
| Dan Aykroyd | Captain Thurman |
| William Fichtner | Danny's Father |
| Guy Torry | Seaman Teeny Mayfield |
| Jesse James | Young Rafe McCawley |
| Frederick Koehler | Wounded Sailor #3 |
| Ewen Bremner | 1st Lt. Red Winkle |
| Sara Rue | Martha |
Genre/Type - War, Romance, War Epic, War Romance
Produced by - Jerry Bruckheimer Films / Touchstone Pictures
Release - May 25, 2001 (USA)
Released by - Buena Vista
Running time - 182 min.
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China Sky (1944, Ray Enright)
D-Day, the Sixth of June (1956, Henry Koster)
December 7th (1943, John Ford, Gregg Toland)
From Here to Eternity (1953, Fred Zinnemann)
Piccadilly Incident (1948, Herbert Wilcox)
The Eve of St. Mark (1944, John M. Stahl)
The Man from Yesterday (1932, Berthold Viertel)