Product: MacArthur (1977)
Rating: 4.0
Biased, but good movie.
This movie, starring Gregory Peck, follows the military career of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur from early 1942 during the fall of the Phillipines to his relief by President Harry Truman in 1951. Very little of his personal life is covered and the movie focuses on a small period of time in his career.Gregory Peck gives a fine, professional performance in his role as MacArthur and the movie itself is well-acted and directed in general. Locations, special effects, cinematography and score are all quite good.The movie itself gives a portrayal of MacArthur as both brilliant military commander and vainglorious ego. The movie, while not especially fair to MacArthur, at least does allow the viewer to see his military brilliance and hear his often brilliant oration. The movie recounts MacArthur's use of "island hopping" strategy to cut off and isolate significant Japanese forces rather than fight them at a high cost in casualties. MacArthur is presented as essentially a "benevolent dictator" during the postwar occupation of Japan. The DVD moves on to Korea where MacArthur's Inchon invasion is a brilliant and bold operational move which is negated by the Chinese invasion - which everyone, not just MacArthur, didn't see coming.The best scenes in the film are when Gregory Peck is able to convey the deep emotions of MacArthur at beginning and end of the movie speaking to cadets at West Point, coming ashore at Leyte and addressing the Fillipino people he loved as well as his visit to a POW camp for a long-awaited reunion with survivors of the "Death March" and a tearful reunion with Gen. Wainwright.The movie handles his conflict with and eventual relief by President Harry Truman in the standard fashion - which is to say, overwhelmingly from the Truman point of view. Truman was often vindictive and petty, relieving the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Louis Denfeld in 1948 over public disagreement regarding naval budget cuts. He even demanded the resignation of his own Secretary of Defense over a minor issue. Truman could tolerate little to no disagreement and often acted rashly in temper tantrums.Although the movie presents events in a less than fair fashion, the movie itself is not completely one-sided and it is certainly a well-made and acted film. I give this DVD four stars.