MacARTHUR

US, 1977, 130 minutes, Colour.
Gregory Peck, Nicolas Coster, Ed Flanders, Dan O’ Herlihy, Dick O’ Neill, Edison Powell.
Directed by Joseph Sargent.

Mac Arthur is a biopic of General Douglas Mac Arthur who led American troops in the Philippines, had to retreat because of the Japanese invasion but vowed that he would return. From his base in Australia, he oversaw the war in the Pacific. After the war, he fell foul of the American government and was dismissed from his post by President Truman.

The picture gives a portrait, perhaps a Reader’s Digest kind of portrait, of the general from his military background, the discipline of his family, his own personal style, his touches of arrogance, his skills as military leader, his over-reaching himself in his vision of his future after the war.

Gregory Peck, who had been absent from the screen except for Billy Two Hats in 1974 for five years until he made a comeback in The Omen, is Mac Arthur. He then went on to make Old Gringo with Jane Fonda and a number of films during the 80s and 90s, particularly for television.

The film was directed by Joseph Sargent, who had worked in television since the 1950s, made a few feature films like The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 and Mac Arthur, but generally worked in television. Even around the age of eighty he was still making television films including the award-winning story of F.D. Roosevelt, Warm Springs (2005) and a remake of Sybil with Jessica Lange and Tammy Blanchard (2006).

The film serves as a useful reminder of Mac Arthur and his role in the war in the Pacific.

1.Audience interest in General Mac Arthur? In the 1970s? Later? An American military general, the war in the Pacific?

2.The scope of the film: Mac Arthur as a person, as a United States military leader, in the struggle with Japan, his role in World War Two, the return to the Philippines? His role after the war?

3.The strong cast, character actors, the skill of their impersonations of historical characters?

4.The re-creation of the period, the early 20th century, the background of World War One, the Depression, life in the Philippines, Australia during the war, New Guinea?

5.The editing, the pace, the staging of the battles? Intercutting Mac Arthur’s private and personal life? Colour photography, special effects? The Jerry Goldsmith score?

6.Gregory Peck as the choice to impersonate Mac Arthur? Strong American? The Mac Arthur family tradition, his father? West Point and training? His religious beliefs and righteousness? Congress, medals? Speeches? His spirit? Not wanting to be a warmongerer? His reputation, tough? The relationship with Roosevelt? His orders, his staff? Work in the Philippines, tough, people deprived of food, his hold over people? His being ordered out, sailing out? His wife? The mines, the Japanese reaction and their estimation of him? “I shall return”? In Australia, the medal, no reinforcements? The Australian training exercises? Determining the Brisbane Line? The Japanese attacking New Guinea? Wewak and starvation? The propaganda pictures? His interaction with the generals? Tours? Wainwright’s surrender? His political possibilities? The shower, combing his hair, carrying the cane, his pipe? Admiral Nimitz and Formosa? Roosevelt and the fact that Mac Arthur was never in the United States? His home – the Philippines, with memories of West Point? Leyte? His acting and rhetoric?

7.The picture of Roosevelt and the other politicians, politics in Washington? Mac Arthur and his reaction to Pearl Harbour?

8.The experience of the Philippines, the Japanese attack, starvation, the treatment of the people? Wainwright’s surrender? The landing at Leyte? The rhetoric? His encouragement of the Philippines? The scene with the wounded Filipino in the trench?

9.The Australian situation, arrival at Spencer Street, the news? Popular, training? The attack on Darwin? The Brisbane Line? Mac Arthur saving Australia? Australian troops in New Guinea?

10.The New Guinea battles, the slaughter? The Americans throwing it away? Spradling, the tours? Going to Pearl Harbour? The strategies, Nimitz, Mac Arthur, Formosa or Lusong for the landing? The explanations?

11.The intercutting of the Japanese activity? Estimates? Language techniques? Tojo? The time element? The Japanese failure? Propaganda, Tokyo Rose? The final confrontation with Mac Arthur? Seen as a monument or not? As a man?

12.The Philippines, the president, the landing, the slaughter? Going to the front line? Mac Arthur gaining his five stars, visiting the prisoners?

13.Truman, the funeral, his attitude towards God, the bombing of Japan? Mac Arthur and the occupation, the policy? Truman and 1948 – and the piano?

14.The dropping of the atomic bomb and its effect, leading to the Japanese surrender? Mac Arthur’s reconciliation with Wainwright? The signing ceremony, so many nations represented? Mac Arthur’s speech about war and peace? War as a most malignant scourge, the greatest sin of mankind? A new era? The war as Armageddon – Mac Arthur stating that the world had had its last chance?

15.Devastated Japan? The visuals? The courtesy and respect Mac Arthur received? Building a new country, his vision? The newsreels? Cultural changes after the war? The awareness of the oriental mind? Hirohito coming to Mac Arthur? The bodyguards, the possibility of assassination? The discussion with the girl, shooting or not?

16.The issue of war crimes, justice and responsibility, the legal officers, as seen by the newsreels? Ramsay and the discussions, Manila, discussions with the general? Umashita and language? The visit by Hirohito?

17.1948, the politics, the photo opportunities?

18.Korea, Truman’s attitude? Mac Arthur and his being given a last gift to an old warrior? At the battles, going to Formosa? The clash with Truman? The anti-communist stances? Mac Arthur and his arrogance, his vision of his destiny? Strategies, the battle of Inchon? His becoming obsessive? The conference at Wake, the reassurance of his return home, the Chinese attack? His being relieved by General Wridgway? Seoul, the war, political reactions leading to the ceasefire? His own attitude that stopping halfway was immoral and a compromise with evil?

19.Truman firing Mac Arthur, his reaction? Nixon and other politicians? The dinner story?

20.The portrait of Mac Arthur, an interesting man, his achievement, his over-reaching himself?