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.

Frank McCarthy who produced the Academy Award winning biographical film Patton follows it up with a strong tribute to another of America's fighting generals, Douglas MacArthur. Gregory Peck gives a strong characterization of the man, his genius as well as his egotism. With MacArthur you never knew quite where one began and the other left off and too many times they blended.

The whole story of Douglas MacArthur would be a six hour film or a TV mini-series. It would cover him from his days on frontier posts with his family to his time at West Point where he still has the highest scholastic average ever achieved by a cadet. It would talk about his service in the Phillipines as a young officer, his legend building bravery on the battlefields of World War I in France. It would also have to tell about him firing on the Bonus Marchers of World War I veterans in 1932, probably putting the final kabosh on any chances President Herbert Hoover had of getting re-elected. During MacArthur's last years he and Hoover had penthouse suites at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. That must have been a subject they avoided.

This film concentrates on the years 1941 to 1952 and it is told in flashback. The film opens with MacArthur addressing the student body in 1962. As he speaks the words of the famous Duty Honor Country speech, MacArthur's mind goes back to World War II and his desperate struggle against the advancing Japanese on the island of Corregidor and the fields of Bataan on Luzon. The film takes him through his struggle to win back the Phillipines, the occupation of Japan and the first 18 months culminating in his relief of command by President Truman.

MacArthur as a film would not work at all if it wasn't for the portrayals of Dan O'Herlihy and Ed Flanders as Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman respectively. It's the part of the film I enjoyed the best, seeing MacArthur and his relations with both these men.

FDR by O'Herlihy captures the aristocratic squire and exceptionally devious man that was our 32nd President. Roosevelt was a man who got his points across with unusual subtlety and cleverness. Sometimes he liked scheming a little too much for its own sake, but he was the master politician of the last century. Note how he deals with MacArthur both as a battlefield commander and potential rival at the same time.

Truman by Flanders is as people remember him, a blunt spoken man of the people who disliked MacArthur's haughtiness from the gitgo. Of course it's in the history books how Truman relieved MacArthur in 1951 for insubordination. MacArthur was insubordinate, no doubt about it.

Yet I could write a whole thesis on the Truman-MacArthur relations. Along the way it need not have ever come to a crisis. I've always felt that FDR would have dealt with the whole matter in a far better way had he still been president then.

MacArthur was also grandly eloquent and Gregory Peck captures some of that eloquence in some of the orations that made him as much a legend as victories on the battlefield. Listen to Peck at the Japanese surrender, at MacArthur's farewell to the nation before the joint session of Congress, and of course his speech to the cadets in 1962. Watch the newsreels and see if you don't agree.

MACARTHUR was a film made in answer to the George C. Scott biopic PATTON, this time telling the story of the general made famous in the Pacific theatre in WW2. It's a lower-budgeted affair than expected, pretty convincing when it comes to depicting life in the Philippines and subsequently back in America, but lacking perhaps a little 'oomph' elsewhere. The film significantly lacks a decent supporting cast; there are lots of roles played by unknown actors where you'd expect a solid character actor or two like Martin Balsam to show up. On the plus side, Gregory Peck gives his usual exemplary performance, really inhabiting the character and bringing him ably to life.