''MacArthur'' is a 1977 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Joseph Sargent Joseph Sargent (born Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente; July 22, 1925 – December 22, 2014) was an American film director. He is best known for his feature-length works, like the action movie '' White Lightning'' starring Burt Reynolds, the biopi ...

and starring

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...

in the eponymous role as American

General of the Army Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

Plot

The film portrays MacArthur's (

) life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan in World War II, to 1952, after he had been removed from his

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

command by President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

( Ed Flanders) for

insubordination Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying a lawful order of one's superior. It is generally a punishable offense in hierarchical organizations such as the armed forces, which depend on people lower in the chain of command obeying orde ...

. It is recounted in flashback as MacArthur visits

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

in 1962.

Cast

* Ed Flanders as President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

Dan O'Herlihy Daniel Peter O'Herlihy (1 May 1919 – 17 February 2005) was an Irish actor. His best-known roles included his Oscar-nominated portrayal of the title character in Luis Buñuel's ''Robinson Crusoe'' (1954), Brigadier General Warren A. Black in ...

as President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

* Ivan Bonar as Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland * Ward Costello as

George C. Marshall * Nicolas Coster as Colonel Sidney Huff *

Marj Dusay Marjorie Ellen Mahoney Dusay (; née Mahoney; February 20, 1936 – January 28, 2020) was an American actress known for her roles on American soap operas. She was especially known for her role as Alexandra Spaulding on ''Guiding Light'', a role ...

as Mrs. Jean MacArthur *

Art Fleming Arthur Fleming Fazzin (May 1, 1924 – April 25, 1995) was an American actor and television host. He hosted the first version of the television game show ''Jeopardy!'', which aired on NBC from 1964 until 1975 and again from 1978 to 1979. ...

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986) was an American politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was a founder of Harriman & Co. which merged with the older Brown Brothers to form the Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. investment ...

Russell Johnson Russell David Johnson (November 10, 1924 – January 16, 2014) was an American actor. He played Professor Roy Hinkley in '' Gilligan's Island'' and Marshal Gib Scott in '' Black Saddle''. Early life Johnson was born in Ashley, Pennsylvania, ...

Fleet Admiral An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

Ernest J. King * Sandy Kenyon as Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright *

Robert Mandan Robert Mandan (February 2, 1932 – April 29, 2018) was an American actor, best known for his roles as Sam Reynolds on '' Search for Tomorrow'' (1965–1970), Chester Tate, the philandering businessman husband of Jessica Tate ( Katherine Hel ...

as Representative Joseph W. Martin *

Allan Miller Allan Miller (born February 14, 1929) is an American stage, film, and television actor. Biography Miller served in the U.S. Army after World War II during the occupation of Japan.Miller, Daryl H"Stages of Development" ''Los Angeles Times'' ...

as Colonel LeGrande A. Diller * Dick O'Neill as Major General Courtney Whitney * G. D. Spradlin as Major General

Robert L. Eichelberger Robert Lawrence Eichelberger (9 March 1886 – 26 September 1961) was a general officer in the United States Army who commanded the Eighth United States Army in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, Southwest Pacific Area during W ...

* Addison Powell as

Chester W. Nimitz Chester William Nimitz (; 24 February 1885 – 20 February 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in Chief, ...

Kenneth Tobey Jesse Kenneth Tobey (March 23, 1917 – December 22, 2002) was an American actor active from the early 1940s into the 1990s, with over 200 credits in film, theatre, and television. He is best known for his role as a captain who takes charg ...

William F. "Bull" Halsey *

Charles Cyphers Charles George Cyphers (July 28, 1939 – August 4, 2024) was an American actor who is known in the horror movie community for his work in the films of John Carpenter, especially his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in Carpenter's 1978 movie ''Ha ...

as Brigadier General Edwin F. Harding * Garry Walberg as Lieutenant General

Walton Walker Walton Harris Walker (3 December 1889 – 23 December 1950) was a United States Army four-star rank, four-star General (United States), general who served with distinction in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, where he commanded the ...

James Shigeta James Saburo Shigeta (; June 17, 1929 – July 28, 2014) was an American actor and singer. He was known for his roles in ''The Crimson Kimono'' (1959), ''Walk Like a Dragon'' (1960), ''Flower Drum Song (film), Flower Drum Song'' (1961), ''B ...

(''

deleted scene A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread, and can al ...

s'') as General Tomoyuki Yamashita

Production

Gregory Peck said, "I admit that I was not terribly happy with the script they gave me, or with the production they gave me which was mostly on the back lot of Universal. I thought they shortchanged the production." Parts of the film were shot at the beach near

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

, and at San Diego's main passenger rail station, known locally as the Santa Fe Depot.

Historical inaccuracies

* In a meeting in

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

between President Roosevelt, Admiral Nimitz, and MacArthur to discuss East Asian strategy, MacArthur points to Lingayen Gulf in Western Luzon, calling it Leyte Gulf and referring to it as the site of his re-entry to the Philippines. The

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf () 23–26 October 1944, was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. By late 1944, Japan possessed fewer capital sh ...

and the

Battle of Leyte The Battle of Leyte (; ; ) in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the amphibious invasion of the island of Leyte in the Philippines by American forces and Filipino guerrillas under the overall command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fou ...

, which included MacArthur's first return to Philippine soil on 20 October 1944, were in the Visayas, in Central Philippines. The

Invasion of Lingayen Gulf The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf (; ; ; ), 3–13 January 1945, was an Allies of World War II, Allied Amphibious warfare, amphibious operation in the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Philippines during World War II. In the early morning of 6 Janua ...

, with MacArthur making a similarly dramatic landing in the main island of Luzon, occurred on 9 January 1945. * On the ship's stateroom wall of the Roosevelt, Nimitz, and MacArthur meeting on Pearl Harbor is a painting of the . However, it was commissioned only on 22 July 1945 and so was not used for World War II. However, it won five battle stars during the Korean War. * The uniform of the Soviet Lieutenant General Kuzma N. Derevyanko is erroneously presented with the shoulder boards of a Soviet senior lieutenant instead of a lieutenant general. * The Japanese surrender of World War II scene aboard shows the battleship's 40 mm quad guns covered (mothballed) during the movie. * When MacArthur and his aides are planning the U.N. landing at Inchon in 1950, they review a map of the Korean peninsula which shows the current armistice line dividing the two Koreas. That line was not established until 1953. Their map should have been showing the original line at the 38th parallel.

Reception

''MacArthur'' received mixed reviews, it currently holds a 45% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

from 11 critics. The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in the following lists: * 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains: **

General Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army. He served with distinction in World War I; as chief of ...

– Nominated Hero

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:MacArthur 1977 films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s war films American biographical drama films American war films Biographical films about military leaders 1970s English-language films Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith Films directed by Joseph Sargent Films set in 1942 Films set in 1943 Films set in 1944 Films set in 1945 Films set in 1946 Films set in 1947 Films set in 1948 Films set in 1949 Films set in 1950 Films set in 1951 Films set in 1952 Films set in Japan Films set in the Philippines Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New York (state) Korean War films Pacific War films Films with screenplays by Matthew Robbins Universal Pictures films World War II films based on actual events Films about Douglas MacArthur Cultural depictions of Franklin D. Roosevelt Cultural depictions of Harry S. Truman 1977 drama films Japan in non-Japanese culture 1970s American films Films shot in San Diego English-language biographical drama films English-language war films