Sayonara
"A picture of beauty and sensitivity." -Variety
Brando's brilliantly conceived, Oscar®-nominated lead performance provides the dramatic heart of Sayonara, a poignant outcry against bigotry that received 10 Academy Award® nominations and garnered four Oscars®. James Garner, Red Buttons and the lovely Miyoshi Umeki co-star in this poignant and powerful film hailed as "an enchanting love story. One of the year's top ranking motion pictures" (Los Angeles Mirror-News).
Major Lloyd Gruver (Marlon Brando), a Korean War flying ace reassigned to Japan, staunchly supports the military's opposition to marriages between American troops and Japanese women. But that's before Gruver experiences a love that challenges his own deeply set prejudices. . .and plunges him into conflict with the U.S. Air Force and Japan's own cultural taboos.
Member Reviews
Fun to watch, easy to forget - RobBC
During the Korean war when thousands of American servicemen were stationed in Japan, it was Uncle Sam’s official policy to actively discourage romantic liaisons between U.S. soldiers and Japanese women by imposing draconian sanctions including a law forbidding G.I.s from bringing their “Oriental” brides home to the States; a policy which many Japanese nationals applauded. As the story opens, top gun pilot Major Lloyd “Ace” Gruver (Marlon Brando looking especially hot in his dress blues) has just been assigned to a cushy desk job in Kyoto thanks to his girlfriend Eileen’s father, a four-star general and personal friend of the family. Gruver is pure stars & stripes and apple pie; he doesn’t know the difference between a pagoda and a sushi roll, nor does he care. But when he’s asked by his good friend and fellow airman Joe Kelly (a marvelously understated Red Buttons) to be his best man as he marries a local girl his convictions are put to the test. Contentious for its time, Sayonara openly criticized both the military and the American public for their narrow-minded bigotry. It’s message has mellowed considerably over the years however and what we are left with is a lightweight western tear-jerker with colourful Japanese trappings, including a ludicrously miscast Ricardo Montalban in Kabuki drag.Beautiful & touching - Muse
I jusat saw this movie on TV and was enthralled by it so much that I want to rent it to share it with my family.
The story itself could not be more romantic, the secenery is magnificent, Marlon Brando is so good,
the heroine has a melodious and beautiful voice,
the acting by all is impressive.
I particularly cherished the Japanese customs, the Kabuki theater, the tea ceremony, the interiors, costumes, the young dancers and girls singing as they march in and out of their residence, everything that brought me into another world.Good filming of famous Michener novel - Superdave
James Michener, himself a U.S. veteran of the Pacific war and married to a Japanese, wrote one of his earliest novels on the then controversial subject of romance among the former enemies. The novel follows two Americans who romance japanese women, one with tragic results. The film gives a nice colorful richness to life in Kabuki theatre, post-war Japan and the USAF. Production design and costuming are first rate and lend the appropriate note of exoticness to the culture clash plotline. It is interesting that the script balances American bigotry toward the japanese off against japanese attitudes toward Americans. Miiko Taka lacks some credibility in the role of a famous entertainer - she neither dances nor sings particularly well - who in the book is almost a national treasure, leading to a scandal when she gets involved with an Air Force officer [Brando, who is very good here in a rare straight romantic role].
Member Reviews
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Fun to watch, easy to forget - RobBC
During the Korean war when thousands of American servicemen were stationed in Japan, it was Uncle Sam’s official policy to actively discourage romantic liaisons between U.S. soldiers and Japanese women by imposing draconian sanctions including a law forbidding ...Beautiful & touching - Muse
I jusat saw this movie on TV and was enthralled by it so much that I want to rent it to share it with my family.
The story itself could not be more romantic, the secenery is magnificent, Marlon Brando is so good,
the heroine has a melodious and beautiful ...Good filming of famous Michener novel - Superdave
James Michener, himself a U.S. veteran of the Pacific war and married to a Japanese, wrote one of his earliest novels on the then controversial subject of romance among the former enemies. The novel follows two Americans who romance japanese women, one with ...