MacArthur (1977)

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

MacArthur is a 1977 American biographical war film directed by Joseph Sargent
and starring Gregory Peck in the eponymous role as American General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.

I thought MacArthur, like Patton, was a great Part Doc/Movie.
It had both action, a great storyline, obviously based on the real thing.
Not quite the blockbuster of the multi-award winning Patton,
it was still however a brilliant filmed movie.
Gregory Peck put in a masterful performance as the General,
and was, in my opinion,totaly convincing in the part.
He was ably supported by a strong support cast.
The score was brilliant and it was written,
by the talented Jerry Goldsmith, who also scored Patton

User Review

Dangerous Demagogue Or Military Genius - Or Both?
1 April 2007 | by sddavis (Durham Region, Ontario, Canada)

Quote

Gregory Peck's brilliant portrayal of Douglas MacArthur from the Battle of Corregidor in the Philippines at the start of the Pacific War largely through to his removal as UN Commander during the Korean War offers reason to believe all three of the above possibilities. Certainly the most controversial American General of the Second World War (and possibly ever) MacArthur is presented here as a man of massive contradictions. He claims that soldiers above all yearn for peace, yet he obviously glories in war; he consistently denies any political ambitions, yet almost everything he does is deliberately used to boost himself as a presidential candidate; he obviously believes that soldiers under his command have to follow his orders to the letter, yet he himself deliberately defies orders from the President of the United States; he shows great respect for other cultures (particularly in the Philippines and Japan) and yet is completely out of touch with his own country. All these things are held in balance throughout this movie, and in the end the viewer is left to draw his or her own conclusions about the man, although one is left with no doubt that MacArthur sincerely and passionately loved his country, and especially the Army he devoted his life to.

Peck's performance was, as I said, brilliant - to the point, actually, of overshadowing virtually everyone else in the film (which is perhaps appropriate, given who he was portraying!) with the possible exception of Ed Flanders. I though he offered a compelling look at Harry Truman and his attitude to MacArthur: sarcastic (repeatedly referring to MacArthur as "His Majesty,") angry, frustrated and finally completely fed up with this General who simply won't respect his authority as President. Marj Dusay was also intriguing as MacArthur's wife Jean, devoted to her husband (whom she herself referred to as "General," although their relationship seems to have been a happy enough one.) I very much enjoyed this movie, although perhaps would have liked to have learned a little more about MacArthur's early life. I have always chuckled at MacArthur's reaction to Eisenhower being elected President ("He'll make a fine President - he was the best damn clerk I ever had"

• which seems to sum up what MacArthur thought the role of the

President should be, especially to his military commanders during wartime.) Well worth watching. 8/10

This is a new addition to the series.
Any comments, would be appreciated.

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