Pearl

There are worse ways to waste one's time than watching this. It is well casted, particularly by Weaver as martinet career soldier. Anyone who has been in any branch of the military any length of time will recognize the type, also Dennehy and Gail do well as other types of career soldiers...

Though probably perceived as a cheesy mini series, this has a lot of good performances, notably Max Gail as a career NCO and Weaver as a negative stereotype of a career officer. It is also fairly faithful to history, something I found refreshing...

An interesting saga of trials and tribulations, passions and ambitions set in Hawaii around the time of the infamous attack on Pear Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. An all star cast provides the drama of relationships growing and waning in between some decent scenes of Japanese planes dropping bombs on the ships in the harbor. Notable cast members: Angie Dickinson, Robert Wagner, Brian Dennehy, Gregg Henry, Dennis Weaver, Tiana Alexandra, Richard Anderson and Lesley Ann Warren. Well worth your time.

I remember watching this on the Family Channel (yes, the family channel) a long time ago when I was little. At the time I wasn't sure what I was watching, but I did like the movie. I had time to waste, and this wasted time while being entertaining. I've seen the miniseries at least five times since then, when it's be re-run on various cable channels.

Whichever TV channel broadcast this originally, put a lot of work into it. On location filming, many of the biggest stars of 70s, and good special effects. With all this money put into these parts of the movie, the plot is slightly thin and melodramatic, and they "borrow" many action scenes from 'Tora, Tora, Tora' (good movie, but much more boring than this miniseries).

Angie Dickinson plays the bitchy wife of a colonel (Dennis Weaver), who tries to have an affair with a southern captain (Robert Wagner), and ultimately is involved in an affair with a private. Lesley Ann Warren is a doctor who is saved from suicide by Wagner. A local journalist of Japanese origin (Tiana Alexandra) is involved with a private (Adam Arkin). There's also a load of notable B actors that you can recognize from other films. All of them find themselves under attack on their island paradise of Hawaii.

Angie Dickinson and Lesley Ann Warren are both really attractive, and contribute decent performances considering the thin plot. Wagner and Weaver are both okay too. A pre-ER Adam Arkin contributes a good performance. And Tiana Alexandra is really under-rated. Sadly she disappeared after this miniseries. The supporting cast are all good, also. The plot is thin, though. They send Angie off on a long taxi ride in the middle of the series. Most of the relationships are unrealistic. And some of the historical facts are skewed (for the most part, because we learned more about the occurrences at Pearl Harbor after this miniseries was made).

Overall, if you have six hours to waste, take a look at this. Over-dramatic, but entertaining. You want a more historically accurate movie, see 'Tora, Tora, Tora'. More interested in actors who are still making movies and computerized special effects, see the even sappier (and, in my opinion, horrible) 'Pearl Harbor'.

Rating: 7/10

The military as a source of soap opera-type stories had been little-mined in the 1970s, though it certainly was going to be in the future (at least on American network TV) with shows like "For Love and Honor", "Emerald Point N.A.S." (also starring Weaver), and, arguably, "Tour of Duty" (not to mention the champ of them all, "China Beach"). To take the sweeping course of events in 1941 Hawaii and use them as a source of stories more about personal lives and interactions than grand strategic plans was an interesting course of action; somehow it must have mostly succeeded or there likely never would have been the (far superior) "Winds of War" a few years later on the same network.