MacArthur

1977

Action / Biography / Drama / History / War

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 59% · 11 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 59% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 5546 5.5K

world war ii korean war korean war (1950-53) biography pacific war west point

Plot summary

The film portrays MacArthur's life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, when he was removed from his Korean War command by President Truman for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.

Director

Joseph Sargent Photo
Joseph Sargent

Top cast

Lloyd Kino Photo
Lloyd Kino as Japanese Administrative Assistant
Garry Walberg Photo
Garry Walberg as General Walker
Tom Rosqui Photo
Tom Rosqui as General Sampson
Barry Coe Photo
Barry Coe as Television Reporter
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
948.26 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 10 min
Seeds 7
1.97 GB
1920*1024
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 10 min
Seeds 10

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

Enjoyable biopic about the rebel General focusing Philippines reconquest and Korean Conflict

Nice biographic film about controversial as well as flamboyant General masterfully played by Gregory Peck and who was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s to 1940s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II , having received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign .Agreeable biopic about the famed general concerning the latter years of his long military career , it starts with his assumption of command of the Philippine army and subsequent retreat ; going on through Inchon landing , China invasion on Korea crossing over parallel 39 and his sacking by President Harry Truman . This is a pretty good film with plenty of emotion , drama , biographic elements , historical events and Peck is spellbinding in the title role . The flick describes efficiently his particular character , complexity and the controversy that surrounded him . Very fine acting by the great Gregory Peck as military chief , he even bears remarkable resemblance to Douglas MacArthur , he had some of his hair shaved off since the real General was quite bald . Peck' outstanding acting arranges to bring alive this historical role , who strode a fine line between demigod and expert battlefield commander . Originally made for TV , it has a long runtime , at 144 minutes , being cut for cinema release . The picture gets magnificent interpretations from prestigious secondaries playing Generals and historical roles such as Kenneth Tobey (Adm. William 'Bull' Halsey) , Gen. George C. Marshall (Ward Costello) , Addison Powell (Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz) , Dick O'Neill (Col. Courtney Whitney) , and Presidents as Dan O'Herlihy (Franklin D Roosevel) , Ed Flanders (Harry Truman) , and John Fujioka (Emperor Hirohito) . This is an engaging warlike drama made at the better for its historic resonance and will appeal to Gregory Peck fans.Well produced by Frank McCarthy who also financed other warfare movies such as ¨Decision before dawn¨, ¨Single-Handed¨, ¨Fireball Forward¨ and ¨Patton¨ . This solid motion picture was professionally directed by Joseph Sargent , though it holds a certain television style . Sargent is an expert on biography and specialist on historical narrations , as he proved in 'Mandela and Clerk' , 'Abraham , 'McArthur' , 'When the lions roared' which reunited to Stalin , Churchill and again Roosevelt , 'Day one' with Oppenheimer and General General Groves and 'Warm Springs' about Franklin D Roosevelt ; these films don't pack the punch that he achieved in his best movie resulting to be 'Taking of Pelham one , two , three' .And adding more biographical elements about this military hero : MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East. A series of disasters followed, starting with the destruction of his air forces on 8 December 1941, and the invasion of the Philippines by the Japanese. MacArthur's forces were soon compelled to withdraw to Bataan, where they held out until May 1942. In March 1942, MacArthur, his family and his staff left nearby Corregidor Island in PT boats and escaped to Australia, where MacArthur became Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area. And General Douglas MacArthur pronounces his famous line : "I will return" . For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor. After more than two years of fighting in the Pacific, he fulfilled a promise to return to the Philippines. He officially accepted Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945, aboard the USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay, and oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. As the effective ruler of Japan, he oversaw sweeping economic, political and social changes. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until he was removed from command by President Harry S. Truman on 11 April 1951. He later became Chairman of the Board of Remington Rand.
Reviewed by MartinHafer 6 / 10

It looks slick, but it's sure lacking...

I looked forward to this film because Gregory Peck was a terrific actor and Douglas MacArthur was an incredibly complex and fascinating man. Unfortunately, while the movie looks very nice and Peck seemed to do a good job, the film did not seem to give that many insights into who MacArthur was nor was it a particularly thorough film about his life.The first thing that struck me was that the film started just after WWII began. In fact, the film ended up only covering the period of early 1942 until just after his dismissal in 1951 for insubordination. What about the other 74 or so years of his long and illustrious life?! Now I do understand that Peck couldn't play a younger MacArthur because he wasn't a young man when he took this role. Unfortunately, however, there were some incredibly important events that fall into this missing time period--such as when MacArthur, on his own, attacked the so-called "Bonus Army" in 1932, his service in Mexico and WWI as well as his personal life (the film shows his wife, but this was his second wife--what about the first?). Plus, following his removal from power in 1951, the man lived another 13 years--what about them? As a result, the film comes off as rather superficial and very incomplete.The other problem, and this actually was more serious for me, is that the character of MacArthur was tough to discern. Other than showing him as a bit of a publicity hound and a dedicated man, who was MacArthur? The only really good insight into him was that the film seemed to indicate that his clash with Truman appeared to be due to BOTH men being strong-willed--an interesting interpretation. Yes, you briefly saw his second wife and son and you could see that he loved them...but what else? Now these two problems make this film a relatively mediocre biopic. Sadly, the film did have some very nice aspects. Peck did a great job--as I'd expected. Also, the WWII and Korean segments were done well for the most part. I could nitpick because of the extensive use of grainy stock footage or the sailor on the deck of the USS Missouri in 1945 who is wearing very modern (circa 1977) glasses--but this is pretty unimportant.For a person who has little knowledge of MacArthur, this is a worthwhile film. For ex-history teachers and WWII buffs like myself, it was pretty much a waste of time--I could have learned a lot more from a TV show about the man. Perhaps the problem was insurmountable in a movie, however, and a mini-series would be the only way to do this amazing man's career justice. There's just too much stuff to cover for a 130 minute film.
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