MacArthur

"Where the legend ends and the man begins."

1977 2h 10m EN

😐

6.2

MID

🥫

45%

ROTTEN

⭐

6.5

IMDB

★6.2TMDB · 97🥫45%Rotten Tomatoes★6.5IMDB · 5,705

DramaHistoryWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The film portrays MacArthur's life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, when he was removed from his Korean War command by President Truman for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.

“Where the legend ends and the man begins.”

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Cast

Gregory Peck
Douglas MacArthur
Ivan Bonar
Lt. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland
Ward Costello
Gen. George C. Marshall
Nicolas Coster
Colonel Sidney Huff
Marj Dusay
Jean MacArthur
Ed Flanders
President Harry S. Truman
Warde Donovan
General Shepherd
Branscombe Richmond
Korean Soldier

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joseph Sargent
Writers: Matthew Robbins, Hal Barwood
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

49 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor George Jay Nicholson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Gregory Peck and Ivan Bonar and Ward Costello carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Where the legend ends and the man begins.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0076342 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 97 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joseph Sargent directs. Jerry Goldsmith scores. George Jay Nicholson cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

149 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
3Editor George Jay Nicholson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Gregory Peck and Ivan Bonar and Ward Costello carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "Where the legend ends and the man begins.".
6IMDB entry: tt0076342 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 97 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: George Jay Nicholson
Production design: John J. Lloyd
Costume design: Larry Harmell
Makeup / hair: Frank McCoy
Stunt coordinator: Joe Canutt
Runtime: 130 min · 2h 10m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $9,000,000
Box office: $16,300,000
Return: 181% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: MacArthur (1977)
Rotten Tomatoes: 45% 🥫 Rotten
IMDB rating: 6.5/10 · 5,705 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

2 nominations total

Also by

Joseph Sargent

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-12-31
★ 6/10
Gregory Peck dons the uniform of the four/five star American General who rose to prominence in the far east theatre of operations during World War Two. We start with the Japanese over-running the Philippines and seeing him strategically withdraw to the relative safety of Australia. There he finds that there is little appetite in Washington to take the fight to the enemy, indeed there’s considerable uncertainty as to whether they can even defend Australia itself. Fortunately, his relationship with President Roosevelt (Dan O’Herlihy) sees his plan to invade Luzon approved and back he goes to press home the allies’ increasing advantage and, with the help of the atomic bomb, take the surrender. With Truman (Ed Flanders) now in the White House and troubles brewing in Korea between them and the Soviet-backed red Chinese, there are yet more eggshells for this officer to tread carefully upon as battle lines are being drawn both on that peninsula and back in a Washington anxious not to be drawn into anymore foreign wars. Meantime, his press officers are ensuring that he stays front and centre of the public agenda and there are even talks of him running for political office himself. This is all a rather dry chronology with Peck doing fine, but never really imbuing his character with much of the charisma that MacArthur himself undoubtedly had. Nor do we really get much of an insight into the geopolitics of the time, or of the scale of the fighting - which is largely left to a few archive inserts from warships. I suppose there are parallels to be drawn with George C. Scott’s depiction of “Patton” (1970) but this comes off very much the more lacklustre as it tells it’s story episodically.

Production companies