MacARTHUR
DIRECTED BY JOHN SARGENT
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Information from IMDb
Plot Summary
This is a biographical and semi-documentary look at the career of General Douglas MacArthur (Gregory Peck) centering on his WWII and Korean War experiences. The movie examines MacArthur's 1942 recall from the Phillipines by Franklin Roosevelt; his triumphant return to liberate the country from the Japanese; his guidance of & influence on the allies' post war policies in Japan; his often volatile & fragile relationship with Harry Truman; and finally his Korean War experiences which resulted in his dismissal from the army by Truman.
Written by E.W. DesMarais
Full Cast
Gregory Peck ... Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Ivan Bonar ... Lt. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland
Ward Costello ... Gen. George C. Marshall
Nicolas Coster ... Colonel Sidney Huff - MacArthur's aide
Marj Dusay ... Mrs. Jean MacArthur
Ed Flanders ... President Harry S. Truman
Art Fleming ... The Secretary
Russell Johnson ... Adm. Ernest J. King (as Russell D. Johnson)
Sandy Kenyon ... Maj. Gen. / Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright
Robert Mandan ... Rep. Martin
Allan Miller ... Col. Legrande A. Diller (MacArthur's aide)
Dan O'Herlihy ... President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Dick O'Neill ... Col. Courtney Whitney (Intelligence Officer)
Addison Powell ... Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
Tom Rosqui ... Gen. Sampson
G.D. Spradlin ... Maj. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger
Kenneth Tobey ... Adm. William 'Bull' Halsey
Garry Walberg ... Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker
Lane Allan ... Maj. Gen. William F. Marquat (MacArthur's staff)
Barry Coe ... TV reporter
Everett Cooper ... Lt. Gen. William Krueger (6th Army commander)
Charles Cyphers ... Brig. Gen. Forest Harding (32nd Div. Commander)
Manuel DePina ... Prettyman (as Manuel De Pina)
Jesse Dizon ... Pedro Castro (Filipino soldier)
Warde Donovan ... Lt. Gen. Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr., USMC
Jerry Holland ... Aide
Philip Kenneally ... RAdm. James Doyle
John McKee ... Adm. William D. Leahy
Walter O. Miles ... Gen. George C. Kenney (5th Air Force Commander)
Gerald Peters ... Gen. Sir Thomas A. Blamey (Commander, Allied Land Forces Southwest Pacific Area) (as Gerald S. Peters)
Eugene Peterson ... Gen. Collins
Beulah Quo ... Ah Cheu
Alex Rodine ... Lt. Gen. Kuzma Nikolaevich Derevyanko
Yuki Shimoda ... Prime Minister Shidehara
Fred Stuthman ... Gen. Omar N. Bradley
Harvey Vernon ... RAdm. Forrest P. Sherman
William Wellman Jr. ... Lt. John Duncan Bulkeley (Commander - Motor Torpedo Squadron 3)
Robert V. Barron ... POW (uncredited)
Klair Bybee ... Burial detail soldier (uncredited)
John Fujioka ... Emperor Hirohito (uncredited)
Branscombe Richmond ... Korean soldier (uncredited)
Shane Sinutko ... Douglas (uncredited)
Ramon Sison ... Lieutenant Colonel (Hospital Commander, Corregidor) (uncredited)
John Stuart West ... Lieutenant Aames (uncredited)
Writing credits
Hal Barwood (written by) &
Matthew Robbins (written by)
Produced by
Frank McCarthy .... producer
David Brown .... executive producer (uncredited)
Richard D. Zanuck .... executive producer (uncredited)
Original Music
Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography
Mario Tosi (director of photography)
Trivia
* Scenes on board the USS Missouri (BB-63) were filmed while the ship was in mothball at the Bremerton Navy Yard.
* At the start of filming, Gregory Peck disliked Gen. Douglas MacArthur. After filming he changed his mind, understanding the challenges MacArthur had faced.
* At the time of filming of the "Duty, Honor, Country" speech, Marj Dusay was only the third woman in history to occupy the West Point Cadet Mess "Poop Deck" while the Corps of Cadets was assembled. The first two were Queen Elizabeth II and the real Mrs. MacArthur.
* This film marked the second biopic of a World War II General that Jerry Goldsmith would score. The first was Patton (1970).
Goofs
* Errors in geography: The general proposes landing at Leyte Beach "on the island of Luzon" in the movie. Leyte Beach, where the general made his famous landing in 1944, is not on Luzon but on the southern island of Leyte, some 500 miles southeast of the point the general indicates on the map. In fact, he is pointing to Lingayen Gulf, which is on Luzon, but is not where his first attack will be. It is where the Japanese staged their amphibious landing in December, 1941 (that eventually pushed down the island to Bataan, Manila, and Corregidor Island), and is where the U.S. forces came ashore in early January, 1945, after the first landings on Leyte in October, 1944.
* Revealing mistakes: In the beginning of the film (and also in a briefer moment later), there are Japanese planes bombing soldiers on the field. However, you can see no bombs carried under the planes, nor being dropped from them - just a swoop of the plane and an explosion on the ground to coincide.
* Anachronisms: A Vietnam War-era F-4 Phantom fighter (first flown in 1958 and first operational in 1962) is seen (in stock footage) dropping napalm during the Inchon landing in 1950.
* Anachronisms: The map used MacArthur's 1950 invasion of Korea was a post-Korean War map showing the 1953 Demarcation line vs. the 38th parallel line that separated the two Koreas.
* Anachronisms: During the surrender aboard the USS Missouri, among the quick cuts to onlooking sailors, one sailor is clearly wearing modern, 1970s-style glasses.
* Factual errors: On board the USS MISSOURI, before and during the surrender ceremony, Admiral Nimitz is depicted wearing four stars, one rank below General of the Army MacArthur. In fact, he had been promoted to Fleet Admiral, a five-star rank, the previous December 19, and was equal in rank to MacArthur. MacArthur had also been promoted to 5 star rank, General of the Army on December 18, one day before Nimitz.
* Anachronisms: When MacArthur is notified about the start of the Korean War he is watching Winchester '73 (1950). The war started on June 25, 1950 and the movie was released on July 12, 1950.
* Factual errors: In the invasion scene of the return to the Phillipines, the soldiers storming the beach are dressed as U.S. Marines were in WWII in the South Pacific. The invasion was an all Army show and soldiers did not routinely wear camouflage helmet covers nor leggings. This was probably done to match up actual combat footage since the Navy and Marine Corps filmed a great deal of combat footage in color.
* Factual errors: The film clip of the atomic bomb exploding in the film is obviously meant to represent either the bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki (or perhaps even the first bomb test at Los Alamos). Yet the film clip used shows a United States bomb test over the ocean and these US ocean tests did not take place until well after WWII had ended.
* Anachronisms: In the exterior shot of the airplane flying MacArthur to Hawaii, the side of the airplane reads "UNITED STATES AIR FORCE". The U.S. Air Force was not created until after the war, in 1947.
* Crew or equipment visible: When the credits are rolling, there is footage of army cadets parading at West Point. You can clearly see a two man camera crew running in the middle of the parade to get close up shots.
* Revealing mistakes: When MacArthur has his car stop to let the Soviet military officer out, the rear projection footage behind suddenly stops moving, so that leaves on a bush which had been visibly blowing in the breeze abruptly freeze in place.
Filming Locations
Alverno Villa, Sierra Madre, California, USA
California, USA
Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA
Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, USA
(scenes on USS Missouri)
San Diego, California, USA