Tommy Lee Jones as MacArthur

I think MacArthur has faded a bit in the public consciousness over the last few decades. Older people remember what he sounded like for sure. Personally, I am more concerned about whether Jones captured the overall spirit and personality of the man than his voice. I have only seen a few clips of the movie, so I'm going to reserve judgement.

As for the last comment, sure MacArthur was arrogant but overrated? Hardly. He is consistently rated by military historians as one of the most brilliant field generals in American history. Not a political general like Ike, although there is certainly a place for that.

He was actually very caring about sacrificing his men's lives. Manchester points this out in his biography of Mac, 'American Caesar'. For example, he could have returned to the Phillipines MUCH sooner than he did, but he deliberately conserved his men's lives by island-hopping over enemy strong points, instead of stupidly hammering those strong points as another branch of the military did. "Hit 'em where they AIN'T" he called the strategy.

Even his supposed "f-ups" like his withdrawal from the Phillipines was executed masterfully. And don't forget the Inchon landing, which is one of the most brilliant military manuevers in all of history. Every time I see someone criticize MacArthur the field commander, they always rave on and on about his "pomposity". You can get hung up on his personality, but don't let it bias you against the accomplishments of a military genius.

MacArthur's record speaks for itself. No other military officer in modern history comes close to his accomplishments and successes. He was a true warrior and earned the battle scars and decorations to substantiate so and was never afraid to risk his life and limb. Thank god he was a pompous ass and a ham because his messages and bold leadership inspired the allies and brought fear to the enemy. His ego illuminated his personality and his intelligence and expertise led to his sound strategy and execution. He respected his troops and the enemy as well. He had a huge staff and listened to sound advice. He made informed decisions and often gained success by brilliant unexpected moves that saved lives and shortened wars. He was not perfect. No leader is. As for Peleliu MacArthur insisted that the island be taken to protect his flank. Admiral Nimitz agreed. MacArthur had nothing to do with the planning nor the execution of the Peleliu invasion. Initially the USMC with naval support attacked the island. Bad intelligence, overconfidence, and underestimation of geography and enemy defenses as well as a change of tactics by the Japanese led to a deadly battle of attrition. The marine general in charge refused to acknowledge the tenuous situation and ordered the marines on. The marines fought with uncommon valor and eventually the island was taken with grievous casualties. Was the battle necessary? MacArthur critics say no. Was it sound strategy? Yes. Many lessons were learned from Peleliu and paid for dearly in the lives of soldiers, sailors and marines. Macarthur was instrumental in winning the war and the peace with Japan, even if he was a pompous ass. And Tommy Lee Jones got his image right, to hell with the sound of his voice.

At the time of Pearl Harbor, a war warning had been issued, specifically listing the Philippines as a possible point of attack. General Brereton,head of the Air Forces under MacArthur, had his B-17s fueled, loaded with bombs, and his navigators had the course plotted to bomb the Japanese bombers on Formosa. MacArthur later claimed that his chief of staff had prevented Brereton from seeing him at the time, but that is just revisionist history, which is the one thing MacArthur was really good at. According to Brereton, MacArthur sat there wringing his hands and saying "I am not supposed to attack Japan until I am attacked". After many hours of this, and NINE HOURS after the Pearl Harbor attack was reported, the Japanese air force appeared and destroyed most of Brereton's airplanes on the ground. MacArthur should rightly have been court martialed for that.

I once knew a guy who had personally watched Mrs. MacArthur's antique furniture loaded onto a B-17 to Australia - there was certainly another 15-20 guys who could have avoided the Bataan death march.

The concept of bypassing many of the South Pacific islands, and just letting them "wither on the vine" for lack of support, was entirely the idea of Admiral Nimitz, and he had to argue strongly with MacArthur, who wanted to capture every Japanese held island along the way. After the war, MacArthur claimed this was entirely his idea and that he had thereby saved thousands of lives.

Many years later when he was commander in Korea, and several hundred Chinese soldiers were reported fighting south of the Yalu river, MacArther forbade his intelligence people from reporting this to Washington, because he had told reporters "Mao would never dare to attack me". By the time the Chinese involvement could no longer be covered up, many American soldiers died because they were totally unprepared.

It is probably a little known fact that during MacArthur's command in Korea, he never spent the night with his troops - he flew to Japan every night and stayed in a fancy hotel. Can anyone picture Patton doing that?