MacArthur
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Movie Reviews of MacArthur
Movie Review: Great movie, excellent actor but some minor factual errors
Summary: 4 Stars
Gregory Peck is excellent. His acting is superb here. This movie would be incomplete and bad if Peck wasn't in it. I admire Gen. MacArthur and am one of his fans even though people call him a crazed general. I think he should have been allowed to finish the job he started in Korea. If he had been given the chance, we'd not be stuck with a split Korea and a belligerent China. At any rate, this movie is one of my favorites along with Patton of course. Also the visual effects are not satisfactory mostly due to the technological advantages of 1960s. Like the scene where naval vessels are shelling Philippines and MacArthur along with PH president are observing the scene. It's kinda childish at best but heck, I like the movie. However there are some minor errors in the script (which I might very well be wrong and plz correct me on that):
When Gen. MacArthur is planning to re-take Phillippines with Adm Nimitz and FDR, he (Gregory Peck) talks about the beach landings in Anzio, Italy. The Anzio happened in Jan and Feb 1944 whereas this talk of retaking Philippines took place in 1943, months before Anzio beach landing occurred. So there's one thing that's debatable.
One other thing is where his aide approached him about the plans to drop the A-bomb on Japan and general says something about the biggest invasion of history and he is upset that it is gonna be done by an "Air Force General". Well, duh! Air Force didn't exist in fact until 1947. So I am not sure if the wording is correct there. Maybe Army brass referred to army air corps as Air Force. I don't know but it doesnt ring true. Again, I hope I am wrong. ;-)
All in all, I give this movie a great rating for its superb portrayal of an American hero.
Movie Review: Great Gregory Peck Perfomance Is Crippled By Poor Screenplay
Summary: 4 Stars
The 1977 film of MacArthur is worth watching for the towering performance of Gregory Peck as General Douglas MacArthur. Peck considered this one of his favorite roles and fought with the producers over the screenplay and editing of the film -- and fought he should have because those very flaws kept this movie from being a great film.
MacArthur lead a long, dramatic and heroic life during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. As a vain and brilliant military genius who believed in his own destiny, the movie focuses on the decade 1942-1952. The film feels like MacArthur's greatest hits: the set pieces of Bataan, "I shall return", his rulership of Japan, the Inchon landing in Korea, "The Old Soldier" speech before Congress and so forth WITHOUT pulling the various scenes together into a coherent whole. According to Peck, the original three hour version fleshed out MacArthur more before it was edited down to the 130 minute commerial version.
Without prior knowledge of MacArthur's life, the movie would be confusing and lacking in the richness that was MacArthur's life. As one example, the various military situations are dealt with superfical, briefly and often without maps, so that one does not see the strategic brilliance of his Pacific campaigns. I highly recommend reading William Manchester's "MacArthur" before seeing the film.
Should you see the movie? Yes, even a MacArthur at half speed is more interesting than most movies and Gregory Peck IS MacArthur. He was passed over for an Oscar nomination although that was interpreted at the time as more of a comment on the film itself than upon his acting. It is worth seeing for Peck's performance in and of itself.
Movie Review: MacArthur in General
Summary: 4 Stars
Over all this was an excellent film. Many of General MacArthur's idiosyncrasies were brought to light through Gregory Peck's portrayal of the General's professional life. However, in order to better understand General MacArthur, and the points highlighted in this film, I recommend that you read "America Caesar" first. There are some historical inaccuracies, such as President Roosevelt handing him a "McArthur for President" campaign pin and President Truman complaining about MacArthur making him wait to be received. However these cinematic liberties do not detract from the overall film. One thing that the film failed to properly demonstrate was General MacArthur's extraordinary personal bravery. As with most great men, the general public misunderstood him and relied upon the tainted opinions of news-writers and columnists of the day. This film does strike a type of a balance between the varying camps of opinion. I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in the lives of great men and World War II.Movie Review: Good Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a good movie, it could have been a great movie but it fell short in a couple places. The performance by Gregory Peck was great (almost in George C. Scott league but not quite). The performance by the supporting actors was not bad, especially the guys that played Truman and Roosevelt.I think where the movie fell short was that it seemed too jumpy. The scenes of his battles (both military and political) seemed short. There didn't seem to be closure on the battles other than jumping to the next battle to be fought. I've never seen the uncut version, so I don't know if that's addressed there. It seems like this movie would have been better served with another hour at least.
I would have to say my favorite aspect of the movie was his warning as he was fired. Namely that you should never tell the military to fight a war of half measures. Also, that Congress shouldn't shirk its responsibility by not declaring war.
Movie Review: Good movie, very informative, could have been better
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a good movie, very informative about MacArthur. I would have liked to seen the 2hr 40min trade screen version because a lot of interesting events have been omitted from this movie that occurred in real life. All in all, its refreshing that at least some people remember the greatest General of the United States ever. His positives and negatives are portrayed in this movie very straightforward. Hollywood has seemingly forgotten about the war in the Pacific against Japan. In the past few years tons of movies have been made about the European theatre with almost zero about the Pacific. MacArthur, the Army, Nimitz, the Marines, and the Pacific and their conflict relationship is quite interesting. I would love to see something to that effect on the big screen (not holding my breathe).