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| Sayonara | 
 enlarge | Director: Joshua Logan
Actors: Marlon Brando, Ricardo Montalban, Patricia Owens, Red Buttons, Miiko Taka
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $3.98
You Save: $11.00 (73%)
New (54) Used (18) from $3.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 14868
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 147
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: MGMD1002384D
ISBN: 0792850920
UPC: 027616865953
EAN: 9780792850922
ASIN: B00005LOLD
Theatrical Release Date: 1957
Release Date: September 18, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****** ** Over 1.5 million orders shipped worldwide and more than 500 000 items in stock, BUY FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE, ESTABLISHED SINCE 1998 - INETVIDEO ~~~
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Ugly American? June 9, 2005
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Based on the novel by James Michener and directed by Joshua Logan (PICNIC) SAYONARA is a not very subtle account of American soldiers falling for and taking Japanese women for wives during the Korean War era. Marlon Brando in an Air Force Major who at the beginning of the film makes racist comments about Asians, only ultimately to fall in love with a Japanese woman. Alhough this film was probably on the cutting edge in 1957; it hasn't aged very well.
Of course Brando is really not bad in this movie-- he was nominated for an Oscar-- in spite of his strange Southern accent, just like the one he used in a later film REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE. He sounds like a Southerner with pebbles in his mouth. Red Buttons as an enlisted man in the Air Force who married a Japanese woman is quite good-- I believe he received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor-- actually better than Brando even.
One thing the movie has going for it is that is is beautifully filmed. The cinematography is not dated at all.
This film of course is worth seeing for another chance to watch Mr. Brando.
 oh marlon what were you thinking May 27, 2005
0 out of 16 found this review helpful
ok im young and im so in love with marlon brando's acting that is's just sick ok. But this film was one of his worst of all time. It just didn't do anything for me, The accent he had was horrible. The story line was also lacking. It was a big waste of my time. This whole movie is about loving someone that you cant have and is set in hong kong and tokyo. Im going to say it agian it was just really, really boring.
 An exceptional movie January 18, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Sayonara is a story that was bold in the 1950s but to those of us living in the 21st century, it may seem old and outdated. Some of it may be a little outdated or casual - the lack of serioous Japanese male actors, but the central theme of the story is still important. Marlon Brando, Red Buttons and James Garner are Americans, assigned to Japan after combat in Korea, with interests in Japanese women. Brando has an American fiancee whom it is apparent he is ambivilent about marrying - he seems to have been engaged for a very long time. Garner has a Japanese lady friend who is a professional dancer and Buttons has a girl he wants to marry - regardless of the rules that make it difficult if not impossible. I think it it the story of Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki that is the most pivotal part of the story. They have the courage to get married and face the future as a couple. Brando's ambivilance to his fiancee finally causes him to walk away from her and hook up with Garner in the officer's club bar. They had become acquainted when Garner attempted to bring his Japanese guest into the officer's club and was refused permission to do so. Through Garner, Brando becomes interested in another famous professional dancer, Miiko Taka, and the begin a romantic relationship. At first she is reluctant and stiff but soon becomes comfortable in Brando's presence. Buttons has become the center of a campaign to get rid of enlisted men who have married Japanese women and gets orders to return to the US. Brando, one of the few people he respects, tries to get the orders changed without success. Even the pregnancy of Button's wife has no effect on the decision. Faced with a life of seperation, suicide is their answer. This is after Umeki flirts with the idea of having her eyelids slashed so that after the surgery they look like an AMerican woman. It is sad and frustrating to think that in the real world it was done as the flyer described that Umeki had in her hands. The musical accompaniment to Brando finding their bodies is extremely moving in this scene and is something I have remembered since I first saw this movie over forty years ago. Brando's performance as the grief stricken friend is superb - you can almost feel his pain and then anger as a general tells him that the law is being changed and soon men like Buttons can bring Japanese wives to the US. It is a little late for Buttons and his wife though. The dance company has also expressed it's displeasure about their star dating and American and have moved her to Tokyo. Brando follows and it is there that they decide to face the offical displeasure of both countries and marry. Throughout the film the entire cast is extremely effective, from Buttons' enthusiasm over his future wife to Garner's anger at not being able to take a Japanese guest into the Officer's club. It all feels quite real. Look at the small details as Brando is waiting for Taka as she passes over a bridge every day to her performance. He makes an impression on her inspite of her resistance. This is a look at Japanese culture as well as the US military culture. Listening to Taka explain why she can't marry Brando is chilling. Ricardo Montalban as a kabuki actor is exceptional - he deserved an academy award nomination as well as Buttons. James Garner is also exceptional as the Marine Corps aviator who is at first antagonistic to Brando but later introduces him to Japan outside of the officer's club. His performance is very under rated and deserves much greater praise. It is a movie that does not end happily - maybe hopeful is better, as Brando and Taka take on the officials of Japan and the US. You think it will work but you don't know for sure. This is a must see film for anyone interested in the military of the 1950s and the impact on Japan of the US.
Different ending December 13, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This was my favorite movie when I was a teenager. I watched it nine times. (It came on many times on my black and white t.v.
I was shocked to see a different ending. In the version I watched in the 60"s. Marlon Brando and his true love realize they can't be together and say Sayonara.
I don't see anyone mentioning the new ending where they say they are gong to go to the US together.
Am I wrong?
Good Movie, no doubt September 15, 2004
5 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a nice love story, beautifully shot and acted well. Good movie, no doubt. However, I am really appalled by many reviews here that praise the social commentary of the film offhand, and deeply disturbed by the way a few sensibly critical reviews are rated as "not useful" by many users.
Yes, the movie is obviously meant to be anti-racist, but what it meant back in the 1950s was not much more than white men's right to non-white women. And regarding Asians, the argument was done by emphasizing the stereotype of submissive and pretty little oriental girls, more desirable than many white women who wanted a little more control over themselves. Asian males were either erased out of picture, or dehumanized, or played by white men in media, and nobody had any objections. That was as much as the 50s liberalism could go, and the film reflects it perfectly.
And now it's 2004, and I see so many presumably-white men here still practically saying "I'm tolerant and anti-racist because I admire/married/slept with Asian women." We seem to have made very little progress over half a century.
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