Product: MacArthur (1977)
Rating: 5.0
Once you've seen it, you've seen it once, which is enough...
"MacArthur" has strong ponts and weak points.Strong points:1. Typically, Gregory Peck gives a great performance.2. The screenplay for "MacArthur" follows a coherent timeline. The story doesn't jump around without explanation.3. The relationship between MacArthur and Truman was accurately depicted.4. The cinematography was excellent.5. While the point of view is obviously sympathetic to MacArthur as a soldier, it does not portray the individual as a saint without fault.Weak points:1. Although the battle scenes were fairly well staged, at one point, some stock footage of a dive bomber dropping its load on target was inserted. The only problem is that the silhouetted airplane is an F4 Phantom, which wasn't put into service until the 1960's.2. Truman's reasons for relieving MacArthur were not fully explained.3. There was little mention of MacArthur's service prior to Corrigedor.4. Although MacArthur was portrayed as having the final sayso in strategic operations concerning the Pacific Theater, it wasn't necessarily so.5. Even though the film's intro alludes to the image of MacArthur as a controversial figure, the screenplay does not adequately follow up on this idea. Even though some light is thrown on his political ambition, MacArthur is portrayed for the most part as someone who, in some other dimension, could have been the CEO of some financial outfit. The MacArthur Peck portrays does not appear to be the rather ruthless individual that at times, MacArthur was.I bought this film because one of the Marines in my unit was an extra in the Korean War sequence, which was filmed at least in part, at Camp Pendleton. He said he carried a BAR and I wanted to see if I could spot him. I could recognize Pendleton, but not the Gyrene.Would I recommend "MacArthur" for viewing? Yes, but it's not something that I would want to watch again and again and again.