Sayonara

Released in December of 1957, Sayonara went on to earn 8 Oscar nominations and would pull in 4 wins. Red Buttons won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in his role as airman Joe Kelly who falls in love with a Japanese woman while stationed in Kobe during the Korean War. Oscar nominated for Best Leading Actor, Marlon Brando plays Major Lloyd Gruver, a Korean War flying ace reassigned to Japan, who staunchly supports the military's opposition to marriages between American troops and Japanese women and tries without any success to talk his friend Joe Kelly out of getting married. Ironically Marlon Brandos character soon finds love of his own in a woman of Japanese descent. This movie highlights the prejudices and cultural differences of that time. Filmed in beautiful color and with stunning backgrounds I found this movie to be well worth watching just for these effects alone. Good movie, gimme more...GimmeClassics

This movie is very interesting in which it concerns the relationships between Japanese and American servicemen after the Second World War in Japan. Especially Marlon Brando's character goes from reservations (especially considering the period the movie is set) to falling in love with a Japanese woman and hopes to marry her. Brando shines in this movie, and I put it among his best movies. The standout of the cast is Red Buttons, who at the time was still unkown as an actor, but in his debut revealed that he was destined for greatness. His performance of Joe Kelly, an American airman, is incredibly believable and touching, and Buttons won the Academy Award for best Supporting Actor for this film, and he truly deserved it.

An interesting movie for the subject and the actors' performances, well directed and also very entertaining. And I think it's deeply underrated today.

Sayonara is one of my special favorites. I love rediscovering this beautiful film. Personally I disliked the book; I found it cowardly. Brando is apparently responsible for the courageous ending of the film and I bless him for it. I find he was extraordinarily brave way back in 1957 when Sayonara was made. Strong, wonderful cast are a delight; James Garner, Patricia Owens and the two Oscar winners, Buttons and Umeki support Brando and Miiko Taki. The soundtrack is also lovely.

There's no doubt that this is a dated film. But there are certain advantages to that. It's definitely a film of its time, and as such is very revealing. Although some of the dialogue and characterizations (not to mention the music) inspire giggles, there's a fair amount to be admired here. I was pleasantly surprised by how frank the film is in its portrayal of institutionalized racism and its effects on the rank-and-file soldiers and the buracracy that controls their lives. Red Buttons and the woman who played his wife both won Oscars for their roles, and deservedly so. They are not the main characters of the film, but they embody the film's message and its spirit as well, and are the most naturally written characters in the movie.

Red Buttons's display of rage when his wife attempts to disguise her ethnicity is amazingly genuine and moving.

Yes, the women are portrayed in a derogatory fashion, as a previous reviewer has observed. But this was 1957, after all, and on top of that the film takes place in a military setting. Add to that the fact that Japan at that time was at least as bad as the West in its treatment of women and it's hardly a surprise that the gender dynamic is what it is. The most ironic thing, I found, was the fact that although Hollywood was comfortable casting Asian women in the film, the one speaking role by a Japanese male character (who has a subtly romantic role in relation to an American woman) was given to Ricardo Monalban. It was okay to have miscegenation portrayed with some frankness, as long as it involved Japanese women, not Japanese men. Sad,

There are two "Sayonara"s: the James Mitchner book and the

Hollywood adaptation. The Major Llyod Gruver portrayed in the book is

introduced as an army brat, graduate of West Point, no-nonsense air

force pilot and career officer who does not discuss personal matters

with enlisted men. The Ace Gruver introduced in the film is a

brooding Brando who arrives in a fighter jet instead of on a Triumph

motorcycle and whose best friend is Airman Kelly. The Japan portrayed

in the Mitchner book is the everyday Japan of narrow streets, noodle

vendors, ramen shops, yakitori stands, tatami rooms, and futon at bed

time. The Japan portrayed in the film is a land of geisha,

Takarazuka, kabuki, bunraku, pagoda, arched bridges, and a lot of other

Japan stereotypes I have yet to encounter although I have lived in

Japan for the past 31 years and have a masters degree in Far East Asian

Studies from Sophia University, Tokyo. Both "Sayonara"s offer something o value. One is realistic. One

is a beautiful fantasy. Read the book and watch the movie and take

your choice of endings.