Useless Movie Trivia For
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
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Memorable Movie Quotes
Admiral Yamamoto: I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant.
Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle: There's nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.
Evelyn: Do you ever wonder if this war's going to catch up with us?
Rafe: Not anxious to die sir, just anxious to matter.
Admiral Yamamoto: A brilliant man will find a way not to fight a war.
Rafe: Returning from the dead wasn't all that I expected... but that's life.
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt: I like sub commanders. They have no time for bullshit, and neither do I.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt: Yesterday, December 7, 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. It is obvious that planning the attack began many weeks ago, during the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American military forces, I regret to tell you that over three thousand American lives have been lost. No matter how long it may take us to over come this pre-meditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. Because of this unprovoked, dastardly attack by Japan, I ask that the congress declare a state of War.
Commander Tubbs: Some people frown on the Yanks for not being in this war. I'd just like to say that if there are any more back home like you, God help anyone who goes to war with America.
Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle: Victory belongs to those who believe in it the most and believe in it the longest. We're gonna believe. We're gonna make America believe too.
Trivia
Gene Hackman was considered for the role of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When he turned it down the role went to Jon Voight.
Kevin Costner turned down the role of Col. James Doolittle.
The producers originally hoped to cast Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Gwyneth Paltrow together in the lead roles. However, Damon and Paltrow could not commit to the movie due to scheduling conflicts.
Before shooting began in Pearl Harbor, a Hawaiian priest blessed the crew - a practice recommended by local custom for film crews shooting in Hawaii.
Alec Baldwin spent time in flight simulators at Fort Rucker, Alabama to prepare for his role.
Women's feet were smaller in the 1940s, so costume houses from New York City to Italy were enlisted to produce period shoes in sizes 10 and 11.
It took eight weeks for crews to build the USS Oklahoma. During the capsizing sequence, there were 150 men hanging on or falling off.
Filming was completed in 106 days, one day over schedule.
Filming of the bombing sequence was overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The crew used 700 sticks of dynamite, 2,000 feet of primer cord and 4,000 gallons of gasoline to ignite the six ships.
During filming a gust of wind lifted Kate Beckinsale's and 'Catherine Kellner's skirts, revealing more than the film crew expected to see. Both had been instructed to not wear underpants for a particular scene so that their panty lines were not visible on camera.
Planes were flown over the disused MCAS Tustin base in Orange County, California, to be composited into the film. This caused fears in local residents that a war was starting.
During filming one of the Japanese planes crashed on Ford Island. The pilot miraculously escaped and no serious damage was done (except to the plane, of course). The footage was used in the finished movie.
The total amount of money spent on production and promotion roughly equaled the amount of damage caused in the actual attack.
While scouting locations for the film, the producers found that the modern city that most resembled 1942 Tokyo was Gary, Indiana. A team photographed that city from the air and integrated the resulting footage into the film. For that reason, during the depiction of the Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo, the planes are actually bombing Gary, Indiana.
Jon Voight wore duplicates of the steel leg-braces that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had to wear. As a result, Voight suffered from bruising and chafing on his legs for weeks after finishing his work for the film.
The fictional character of Thurman (Dan Aykroyd) represents an actual team of military code-breakers that deciphered Japanese transmissions days before the attack.
Michael Bay quit the movie project four times over various disputes.
The premiere for the film was held at Pearl Harbor aboard the carrier USS John Stennis; bleachers were set up on the flight deck, and the hangar bay was converted into a 1940s-style nightclub for the after party. The screen was set up between the Arizona Memorial and the Missouri's berth.
The character portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr., 'Doris 'Dorie' Miller' , was the first African-American to be awarded the Navy Cross.
The two Curtiss P-40 Warhawks flown in the movie (by Danny and Rafe) are authentic WWII planes and were on loan from the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa Idaho.
Two of the Japanese A6M2 "Zero" planes were made specifically for the movie at the "Strela" plant in Oranienburg, Russia, which specializes in restoring WWII planes.
The production budget for the film was the largest ever given to a movie before filming started - $145 million.
During the briefing of the Doolittle Raid, the pilots' names are listed on the black board including "Lawson". Ted Lawson flew the Doolittle Raid and wrote the book "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", made into a film (Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)) with Van Johnson portraying Lawson.
Earned a place in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for the movie with the most explosives used.
The takeoff sequence for Doolittle's Raid was filmed onboard the USS Constellation CV-64 off the coast of San Diego, CA. Digital editing was used to make the "angled deck" of the modern carrier look like the "straight deck" of a WW2-era carrier.
Goofs
Due to the obvious difficulties in obtaining antique machinery, some of the military equipment does not exactly match the period, and dates from later in the war. Some of the ships and aircraft were built long after World War II, or have equipment added by their present owners - antique planes and warships are even harder to come by.
For reasons of expediency and the practical requirements of storytelling (and, presumably, due to some genuine errors), many of the actions and procedures depicted in the movie do not accurately reflect the actions and procedures followed by American and Japanese service personnel in 1941. Many of the events shown in the movie did not happen, or happened differently on the morning of 7 December 1941. This is not a documentary.
When Rafe accidentally pops the cork into his already damaged nose, he lies down and it bleeds across his cheek. In the overhead shot, the blood is gone.
Air conditioning units can be seen on top of the White House.
Evelyn and her nurse friends are shown wearing bikinis. The bikini didn't make its first appearance until 1946.
As Rafe and Danny sleep off their hangovers in the convertible, the crew is visible in the car's chrome bumper.
The license plate on the car says 1943.
The Japanese are shown flipping a calendar from the 6th to the 7th of December on the morning of the attack. This is done for American audiences who are familiar with the date of the attack being 7 December 1941. Clocks aboard the Japanese ships were kept on Tokyo time, so for them the attack actually took place the morning of 8 December. The Japanese version of the film shows the calendar flipping from the 7th to the 8th.
A sailor betting on Dorie Miller's boxing match has a $5 bill with the "Hawaii" overprint on it. Although series 1934 and 1934-A notes were printed with the "Hawaii" overprint, these notes were not issued until July 1942, seven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
As Danny and Rafe try to take off from the airfield, three enemy aircraft are closing in on them, guns blazing. In the first shot, the aircraft are D3A1 "Val" dive-bombers (distinguished by their fixed landing gear in bulky fairings); in the next shot, however, the aircraft are replaced by A6M2-21 "Zero" fighters, with retractable landing gear.
When Evelyn first enters Pearl Harbor, there is a tall building that clearly says, "Est. 1953".
During the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the people are jumping off the ships, a crew member can be seen (dressed as a sailor) holding a camera (covered in green plastic) floating next to him in the water.
Not one of the Japanese planes taking off from their carriers has a torpedo strapped underneath, but once airborne every plane has a torpedo.
The early boyhood scenes are dated 1923, but the father is a crop duster, an occupation that did not exist until after WWII. In addition, the Stearman biplane used in the opening scenes wasn't produced until 1934. It was a pilot trainer for the military, and was released to the public after WWII as surplus.
The Japanese zero aircraft depicted in the film are green, even though the ones used in the real attack in 1941 were painted grey. The Japanese Navy didn't paint their zeroes green until 1943.
The car the heroes drive to the airfield in is strafed by a zero. The large-caliber armor-piercing ammunition that can rip airplanes and ships to pieces does only cosmetic damage to the car.
When the Doolittle raiders are practicing their takeoffs, the flags in the background indicate that they are on a downwind departure. Anyone with any knowledge of aviation knows you take off into the wind. Especially if you are trying to shorten the takeoff run.
After Pearl Harbor, Col Doolittle recruited Rafe and Danny to fly on the Raid on Tokyo. Rafe and Danny are single-engined fighter pilots and would not be qualified to fly multi-engined bombers. While the B-25 Mitchell bomber is an easy plane to fly, the participants would have come from qualified bombardment squadrons. As a matter of historical record, the pilots on the actual raid largely were recruited from the 34th Bombardment Squadron of the 17th Bombardment Group (aka, "The Thunderbirds").
In the golf course scene you can see a Willys Jeep M38. This car was not produced before 1950.
During the Doolittle Raid, there is a shot of the planes flying toward the camera with the setting sun behind them. During the actual mission, the planes flew west to Japan, then continued west to China, into the setting sun, not away from it.
Evelyn finds out she is pregnant prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, yet when she is waiting for Danny to come back from the Doolittle raid, she still appears slender. At this point she should be around five months pregnant.
In the newspaper dropped on Dolittle's desk at the beginning of the film, the by-line under the headline mentions the Pentagon. This scene took place in January 1941, while construction on the Pentagon did not start until 11 September 1941.
Danny's B-25 strafes the Japanese forces that are advancing on Rafe's position after he ditches, firing the fuselage-mounted 50-caliber machine guns. The B-25B models used in the raid were not outfitted with these guns.
Like every other Pearl Harbor movie, the attack sequence is flawed. The first targets were the airfields - especially Hickham Field and Kanaohe Naval Air Station, not the anchored fleet.
As soon as the Japanese planes fly in, we see shots of the US fleet. The ships with the overhanging ladder style device at their bows are a class of assault-transport ship that were not launched until the early 1970s -- some 30 years after the events takes place.
When Rafe is shot down just off the coast of England and crashes into the water it's bright daylight. Yet when he surfaces just moments after crashing it's pitch black outside.
Only one raider died during a plane crash following the Doolittle Raid. Two others died from their injuries sustained from crashes. Five more died while in Japanese captivity (4 executed; 1 of malnutrition). However, the movie killed off several raiders inaccurately, including one from Japanese anti-artillery fire during the actual raid.
Box Office Info USA
Budget: $135,250,000
Opening Weekend: $75,177,654 (USA) (27 May 2001) (3,214 Screens)
Gross: $198,539,855
Filming Locations
Angel's Gate Park - 3601 Gaffey Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
Badminton House, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Baja California, Mexico
Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California, USA
California State University Channel Islands - One University Drive, Camarillo, California, USA
Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
Dover, Kent, England, UK
Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
England, UK
Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, O`ahu, Hawaii, USA
Gary, Indiana, USA
Golden Oak Ranch - 19802 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, California, USA
Hawaii, USA
Jean Airport, Nevada, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA
Lydd, Kent, England, UK
Pearl Harbor, O`ahu, Hawaii, USA
RMS Queen Mary - 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach, California, USA
Rosarito, Baja California Norte, Mexico
S.S. Lane Victory, Pier 94, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society, San Bernardino, California, USA
San Diego, California, USA
San Jacinto Battlefield State Memorial Site, Houston, Texas, USA
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
Tustin, California, USA
U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, O`ahu, Hawaii, USA
U.S.S. Texas - 3523 Highway 134, LaPorte, Texas, USA
Union Station - 800 N. Alameda St., Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA
Van Nuys Airport - 6590 Hayvenhurst Avenue, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA
Ventura County Naval Base, Port Hueneme, California, USA
Warner Grand Theater - 478 W. 6th Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA