Remembering the Doolittle Raid, Hollywood-style

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid, the first U.S. air strike against Japan during World War II. The raid was conceived and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle and was full of aeronautical challenges: B-25 bombers were launched for the first time from an aircraft carrier on one-way flights over Japan, carrying barely enough fuel to attempt risky landings in occupied China. While the damage to strategic targets was minimal, the mission was a moral boost to Americans eager for retaliation after Pearl Harbor, and it damaged the credibility of Japanese leaders who had told their people Japan was untouchable. Here's a look at three movies that commemorate the raid.

Spencer Tracy as James Doolittle in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Van Johnson stars in this 1944 film, which depicts the raid from conception through execution and follows Johnson's Ted Lawson as he attempts to escape from Japanese-occupied China after a crash landing. Spencer Tracy appears sporadically as Doolittle.

A B-52 bomber leaves the deck in Pearl Harbor (2001)

Pearl Harbor
On the whole, this 2001 film directed by Michael Bay is a rather overdone melodrama with laughable dialog and a confounding romantic triad between lead actors Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, and Josh Hartnett. Its take on the raid is hurried, but the big budget is nice to look at. Alec Baldwin plays Doolittle in a relatively small part.

Cary Grant in Destination Tokyo (1943)

Destination Tokyo
The actual raid is not shown in this 1943 film starring Cary Grant, nor does Doolittle appear. It's an exciting submarine movie, though, about a crew tasked with infiltrating the Japanese mainland to gather information vital to the first air strike against Japan.

See also:
Remembering D-Day, Hollywood-style
Remembering Pearl Harbor, Hollywood-style

Remembering Pearl Harbor, Hollywood-style

Commemorate today's anniversary with this list of films, offering Hollywood's take on the Before, During, and After of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Before

Flying Tigers

John Wayne in his P-40

John Wayne leads the famous flyers — in this movie, a mixed bag of principled freedom fighters and hot-shot mercenaries — against the Japanese in pre-Pearl China. Motives and personalities may be disparate, but everyone pulls together after FDR's famous speech.

Donna Reed and Montgomery Clift

From Here to Eternity
Set in Hawaii in the weeks leading up to the attack, this classic features Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift as the toughest-but-most-vulnerable soldiers in the army. They love the service, and they want to be loved back. Is that so wrong?

During

Tora! Tora! Tora!

Sô Yamamura as Admiral Yamamoto

Both the Japanese and American sides are shown in this film from 1970. Much bickering about invasion strategy is shown on the Japanese side, while the Americans are shown repeatedly ignoring seemingly obvious clues about the attack. After all the destruction, the film attempts an uplifting ending with Japan's Admiral Yamamoto declaring, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

The attack begins

Pearl Harbor
Every line of dialog in this Michael Bay-directed film sounds like a paraphrased chapter of a history book ("All we have to worry about here is sabotage, so we've bunched our planes together to make them easier to protect.") or a parody of romantic clichés ("I'm gonna give Danny my whole heart, but I don't think I'll ever look at another sunset without thinking of you."). It's a paint-by-numbers period melodrama whose colors drip all over the CGI-enhanced fantasy of actual events, though if you can sit through the first hour and a half you will eventually see Pearl Harbor blown up Bay-style, which I guess is something.

After

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

Spencer Tracy as James Doolittle

Spencer Tracy makes sporadic appearances as James Doolittle, the mastermind behind America's retaliatory air strike at Japan. The real focus is on the other flyers, namely a bomber crew led by Van Johnson's Ted Lawson. While the men succeed in hitting their target, they don't fare as well afterwards when their plane crash-lands in Japanese-occupied China.

1941

Slim Pickens

Dare I profane the solemn day by recalling Slim Pickens, prisoner on a Japanese submarine, simulating defecation by dropping his boot into a toilet in order to prevent a Cracker Jacks compass from falling into enemy hands? I dare!

See also:
Remembering D-Day, Hollywood-style
Remembering the Doolittle Raid, Hollywood-style