MacArthur (DVD)
APPROX. 130 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1977 - MPA RATING: PG
" I myself will probably not watch this movie more than once--not because I don’t like it, but because I’ve gotten everything I could want or expect out of it with one viewing.
Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.
"MacArthur" is a 1977 biopic about the famous and controversial American General Douglas MacArthur. (One interesting fact is that the producer, the late Frank McCarthy III, made the more widely-known "Patton" 7 years prior to making "MacArthur".) The movie is technically well-made (it was, for its time, a rather big-budget project), but those of you expecting the sort of action offered by movies such as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Enemy at the Gates" will be sorely disappointed. "Macarthur" is not and does not pretend to be more than what it is--a biographical chronicle of a famous general´s career from the American involvement in World War II in Asia all the way to the Korean War. The main draw of "MacArthur" is legendary actor Gregory Peck ("To Kill a Mockingbird"), who plays the eponymous role. Peck does a fantastic job, with what looks like little effort, of "looking the part". Like George C. Scott did in "Patton", Peck dominates the screen. Peck´s performance aside, the movie plays like a dry documentary with fine production values.
The bulk of the film is told in a bookended-flashback format. "MacArthur" begins and ends years after the venerable general´s last steps on the battlefield--in a large banquet hall full of young cadets where he is the keynote speaker. MacArthur sets the tone of the movie in a speech in which he describes the role of the soldier in society as well as the evil of war. (It is interesting to note that, in the speech, MacArthur utters Plato´s famous line "Only the dead have seen the end of war" that is shown on the screen at the beginning of "Black Hawk Down".) We are taken straight to only a few months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Then, the movie begins to unfold like a typical historical documentary.
There is not much of a narrative. Rather, there is a portrayal of events that continuously unfold until the end of the movie. General MacArthur presides over his men in the battle-torn stronghold in Corregidor, the Philippines, during the WWII. We witness the first example of General MacArthur´s stubborn and headstrong character in this first scene. The steadfast loyalty he displays for the men he commands becomes evident when he ponders disobeying a presidential order by Roosevelt (Daniel O´Herlihy, "Robocop") telling him to leave his men and to return to Washington.
As time passes, we are shown the MacArthur´s relationship with his devoted wife and young son as well as his rocky relationships with two Presidents (Roosevelt and Harry Truman, played by Ed Flanders). Also, in just over 2 hours, we see MacArthur´s campaigns in New Guinea, his heroic return to the Philippines to defeat the Japanese (fulfilling his "I shall return" promise), the end of World War II, and the General´s fateful actions in the Korean War that lead to his forced retirement.
