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Warner Bros. Pictures
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"I am not allowed to love. But I will love you if that is your desire..."
Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver is reassigned to a Japanese air base and is confronted with US racial prejudice against the Japanese people. The issue is compounded because a number of the soldiers become romantically involved with Japanese women, in defiance of US military policy. Ordinarily, a by-the-book officer, Gruver must take a position when a buddy of his, an enlisted man, Joe Kelly, falls in love with a Japanese woman, Katsumi, and marries her. Gruver risks his position by serving as best man at the wedding ceremony.
CinemaSerf
Feb 13, 2025 · via TMDB
Though it does try to deal with some quite poignant issues, I’m afraid it struggles to engage as it plods along a bit too sedately for 2½ hours. It’s set in an immediately post-war Korea and sees “Joe” (Red Buttons) fall in love with a Japanese gal. Now that’s strictly against the rules of fraternisation and he risks an immediate court martial. It’s only going to get more precarious when he decides to marry “Katsumi” (Miyoshi Umeki) and he asks his all-American boss “Maj. Gruver” (Marlon Brando) if he’ll be the best man. Things are further complicated because not only is “Gruver” the son of a commanding general but he also doesn’t really comprehend why his friend would be willing to surrender his US citizenship just to marry this girl. As the story develops, we discover that “Gruver” is slated to marry “Eileen” (Patricia Owens) who’s also the child of a general - but there is soon a fly in that particular ointment as “Hana-ogi” (Miiko Taka) comes onto the scene and fairly rapidly the major begins to understand his friend “Joe” an whole lot more. Perhaps a little surprisingly, “Eileen” isn’t entirely unsympathetic and it’s largely through her characterisation that a light is shone on the attitudes of the occupying administration to dalliances, even marriages, of their personnel with the indigenous population. In many ways it’s quite an effective invitation to look at one’s own attitudes and clearly with wounds from WWII still fresh in the minds of many Americans, it uses the extremeness of these scenarios to offer some hope of reconciliation rising from the hatred, brutality and mistrust that has been successfully nurtured by a series of rules and regulations that seem designed not with any ethnicity in mind, but more to avoid an influx of “new” citizens to the USA after the troops have returned home. James Garner’s “Bailey” adds to the conundrum as he, too, is enamoured of a young and popular dancer but his contribution is somewhat undercooked. There is one especially torrid scene with the young “Katsumi” so desperate to conform that she is considering paying a quack doctor for her eyes to be “reset” - an appalling proposition at any time, but also quite indicative of a situation where true love prevailed and not just convenient sex. Despite that compelling mix of topics and two strongly emotional efforts from both Buttons and Umeki, Brando and Garner just aren’t really at the races here and there’s simply too much dialogue as it takes an interminable time to make it’s point. It does look good, the aesthetic is vivid and the dance routines evocative of a Korean culture that has, for many, just swapped one invader for another. It’s worth a watch, but could have been more focussed.
Wuchak
Nov 10, 2021 · via TMDB
_**Brando’s romantic culture clash in Japan after WW2**_ In 1951, an American Air Force pilot serving in Korea (Marlon Brando) is reassigned to Kobe, Japan, where he deals with his American fiancé (Patricia Owens) and a Japanese performer who attracts his attention (Miiko Taka). The problem is there’s a military order against fraternizing with indigenous women. James Garner and Red Buttons have peripheral roles while Ricardo Montalban is on hand as a famous Kabuki entertainer. “Sayonara” (1957) is a romantic drama highlighted by Brando’s performance as a genial Southern officer, the Japanese culture & locations, plus the quaint conventions of the time period, not to mention Garner in one of his earliest roles. It’s similar to “The Ugly American” (1963), but arguably better. “Désirée” (1954) is another apt comparison, despite taking placing during the Napoleonic era. The film is a little long at 2 hours, 27 minutes, but I didn’t mind. It was shot in Japan with some stuff done in Burbank & Hollywood. GRADE: B
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
YouTube TV
Marlon Brando
Major Lloyd Gruver
Patricia Owens
Eileen Webster
James Garner
Capt. Mike Bailey
Martha Scott
Mrs. Webster
Miiko Taka
Hana-ogi
Miyoshi Umeki
Katsumi
Red Buttons
Joe Kelly
Kent Smith
Gen. Webster
Reiko Kuba
Fumiko-san
Soo Yong
Terukosan
Ricardo Montalban
Nakamura
Dennis Hopper
MP in Kelly's House / MP at Tokyo Airport (voice) (uncredited)
Peter Brown
Second Military Police (voice) (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp
General at Tokyo Airport (uncredited)
Ralph Moratz
Soldier in Washroom (uncredited)
Bill Saito
Photographer (uncredited)
James Stacy
Reporter (uncredited)
William Wellman Jr.
Stars and Stripes Reporter (uncredited)
Joshua Logan
Director
Franz Waxman
Original Music Composer
Paul Osborn
Screenplay
Svatba bez prstýnku
Lady Against the Odds
Åsa-Hanna
Smrť šitá na mieru
Forrest Gump
Apocalypse Now
The Prestige
The Handmaiden
Metropolis
Stalker
Pride & Prejudice
The Precipice
Posel úsvitu
The Hidden Fortress
Blade Runner
Freedom Writers
Anatomy of a Murder
A Raisin in the Sun
The Hustler
Memoirs of a Geisha
Atonement
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai
Sense and Sensibility
Dean Spanley
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Glembays
Soul on Fire
Midaq Alley
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Les Misérables
Les Misérables
Straw Dogs
Candy
The Winter War
Oliver!
Short Changed
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Layer Cake
The Glass Cell
The Story of Adèle H.
Enlightenment Guaranteed
Making Love
It's the Heart That Dies Last
Sleep Sweet, My Darling
The Tiger Gang
The Count of Monte-Cristo
Northanger Abbey
Monster's Ball
Bonjour Tristesse
Corinna Darling
The Bikeriders
Absolute Power
Empire of Light
Good Windy Days
Rosenda
The Secret of Moonacre
The Idiot
Black Rain
The Black Swan
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Grifters
The Beach
Dear Zoe
Fonissa
The Sum of All Fears
Tragic Vacation
Tell Me Softly
Live by Night
Unexpected Journey
How to Be Single
Gigi
Force 10 from Navarone
The Elementary Particles
The Accused
South Pacific
The Door in the Floor
Be Sure to Behave
The Devil's Elixirs
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Under The Greenwood Tree
Deep Water
Party Monster
Varg Veum - Buried Dogs
When the Legends Die
Speed Kills
Pride and Prejudice
Playing Solo
Naked Singularity
The Deviants
Rytmus 1934
Byrd and the Bees
The Lifeboat
Dáma s barzojem
A Poem in Love
Butterfly in the Typewriter
The Brightest Sun
Granita
Last Night in Montreal
Untitled
Purple Hearts
The Bridges of Madison County
Legends of the Fall
Firebird
Love Everlasting
Turtles All the Way Down
The Choice
Wings
The Lucky One
Fahrenheit 451
Mrs. Miniver
Top Gun
The Way We Were
The Sun Is Also a Star
The Fugitive Kind
Endless Love
Jane Eyre
Dear John
Eye of the Needle
Float
Flyboys
Ali and Nino
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Not Easily Broken
Blind
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between
Possession
The Object of My Affection
Dec 5, 1957
New York City, New York
Dec 25, 1957
Los Angeles, California
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The Cameraman
2011
Denise
2016
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
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Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
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