A rather lumbering but nevertheless fairly effective movie about American/Japanese race relations shortly after World War II.
Marlon Brando is the military brat whose nicely laid out life -- marrying a general's daughter, golden boy of the highest echelon of privileged military elite -- crumbles when he falls in love with a Japanese singer. Red Buttons is one of Brando's men, persecuted for having the audacity to marry a Japanese woman. And Miyoshi Umeki is said woman, quiet, obedient, and doting. This story takes far longer to tell than it needs to under Paul Osborne's screenplay and Joshua Logan's stagey direction. But it's a story very worth telling, and it's told without a lot of the dramatic histrionics and preaching that were common in message movies of the time.
"Sayonara" was the most nominated movie at the 1957 Academy Awards, receiving 10 nominations in the year that saw "The Bridge on the River Kwai" win Best Picture. It took home four awards, for Best Supporting Actor (Buttons), Best Supporting Actress (Umeki, who barely says a word throughout the whole movie), Best Art Direction, and Best Sound Recording. It won additional nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Logan), Best Actor (Brando), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. As far as I'm concerned, it was lucky to be in contention at all in a year that gave us "12 Angry Men," which was also nominated for Best Picture, and "Sweet Smell of Success" and "Paths of Glory," which weren't.
Grade: A-
Marlon Brando is the military brat whose nicely laid out life -- marrying a general's daughter, golden boy of the highest echelon of privileged military elite -- crumbles when he falls in love with a Japanese singer. Red Buttons is one of Brando's men, persecuted for having the audacity to marry a Japanese woman. And Miyoshi Umeki is said woman, quiet, obedient, and doting. This story takes far longer to tell than it needs to under Paul Osborne's screenplay and Joshua Logan's stagey direction. But it's a story very worth telling, and it's told without a lot of the dramatic histrionics and preaching that were common in message movies of the time.
"Sayonara" was the most nominated movie at the 1957 Academy Awards, receiving 10 nominations in the year that saw "The Bridge on the River Kwai" win Best Picture. It took home four awards, for Best Supporting Actor (Buttons), Best Supporting Actress (Umeki, who barely says a word throughout the whole movie), Best Art Direction, and Best Sound Recording. It won additional nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Logan), Best Actor (Brando), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. As far as I'm concerned, it was lucky to be in contention at all in a year that gave us "12 Angry Men," which was also nominated for Best Picture, and "Sweet Smell of Success" and "Paths of Glory," which weren't.
Grade: A-