Inchon (1981)

Many years ago, before the existence of YouTube (where you can watch this movie if you really want to see it), I arranged for an Internet buddy of mine to watch my bootleg copy of it, since he really wanted to see it. After he saw it, his comment pretty much sums up my view of the movie: "Painfully dull and mediocre." Yes, you may have heard that the critical consensus at the time of the movie's release was that the movie was incredibly inept a la PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, but that's not the case. It's just boring for the most part, and unintentional laughs are hard to find. But there's more fault to be found than just that. It's frankly embarrassing at times to view Laurence Olivier, who was at this point far from his prime as well as being miscast. As a matter of fact, the rest of the cast doesn't do much better in giving compelling performances. And while an insane amount of money was spent on production, much of the movie has a made for television look and feel to it. I have a feeling that my comments won't stop people who really want to watch this movie (which as of this date has still not been issued on VHS or DVD) after hearing so many bad things about it over the years. To a degree I can understand this. But all the same, after you watch it, don't say that you weren't warned.

When I first saw all the bad comments of this movie, I thought this must be a boring one, and then Rev. Sun Myung Moon financed it also, it cant be that good.Anyways, I seemed interested in the fact that this was an 50 million dollar movie, so I went on searching for it. I must say it was very hard to find, but I finally found it. Having a critical mind about this movie I set on watching it, and this is the following I have to say:1- This movie is worth while watching, it is very professionally made, and comparing to other trashy movies which have gotten a much higher score this movie is obviously underscored.2- The 50 million dollars weren't for nothing put into this movie, you really get a 50 million dollar movie, tanks explode, airplanes crash, armies of thousands of men combat each other in a very real scene. Nothing compared to cheep crap which is done through computer, this is the real thing.3- Actors and storyline are great, I mean what else do you want, I really got touched.Conclusion: This movie has been obviously discarded by the media, and why, I think this movie could have hit the 1982 top, but rather disappeared as the mist. My guess why this is so? I think the reason for all these bad comments and scores, is only and only because of the person who financed this movie, The Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Religious leaders and media were very strongly opposing Sun Myung Moon in the 80's and logically a 50 million movie wouldn't be welcome.So don't believe all the nonsense written about the movie, watch it yourself and then you will know.

i just watched the 140 minute version of Inchon which i bought on DVD. while its list of shortcomings is long, it was reasonably entertaining. Olivier's performance seemed OK to me, it was believable. MacArthur was something of a prima donna and manly enough not to be shy about his belief in God. as mentioned by other reviewers here, the venom drizzled on Inchon comes in large part from people's animosity toward any mention of God in general and the Unification Church in particular. the version i saw included scenes with Rex Reed and David Janssen (who delivered the story about the death of Arthur MacArthur, not the Gazzara character). Olivier and MacArthur are both fascinating men, and Inchon in worth seeing.

I never thought I'd ever hear that line in my entire life. Laurence Olivier is a highly esteemed well-established actor with many film accreditations under his belt from a career in the film industry that has spanned well over six decades. Why he chose to sign on to this monstrosity of a film is just beyond belief."INCHON" had the misfortune of being released in 1981, the first year the infamous Golden Raspberry Award (a.k.a. Razzie) came into existence and it grandly swept nearly every category including Worst Picture and Worst Actor.Upon it's theatrical release, "INCHON" was heavily panned by the critics and played in theaters to which no one bothered showing up. It was pulled almost a few weeks after its initial release. The production and creativity involved with this highly-expensive film project involved nearly 5 whole years in the making, a crew of 250 technicians, 3000 actors (mostly extras), 18 tanks, 12 armored personnel carriers, 24 jeeps, a plethora of explosives and special effects and a bloated budget of nearly 48 million dollars. Did I also forget to mention that this film was financed by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon?Yes, in published interviews with Reverend Moon, he has openly stated that 'God' himself TOLD him to make this movie. With that controversy aside, "INCHON" itself is a repulsive scrap of film. The premise for "INCHON" is loosely based on the incidents involving the United Nations forces landing at Inchon, port city of Seoul, during the Korean War on September 15, 1950. It is a wretched retelling of General Douglas MacArthur's amphibious victory in the early stages of the Korean War.Laurence Olivier portrays MacArthur, supported by an international star cast which would include Ben Gazarra, Richard Roundtree, David Janssen and Jacqueline Bisset who looks absolutely ridiculous in the role as the wife of an Army Major. Unfortunately, the biggest problem here is that the director, Terence Young, finds it impossible to overcome the poor script which generally leaves only the wartime melodrama and pyrotechnics for interest. There is absolutely nothing positive about "INCHON" to talk about. The unedited version runs for nearly two and a half hours. It is a painful experience to watch this off-base and factually incorrect travesty. Furthermore, I find it extremely embarrassing to watch Laurence Olivier making a fool out of himself by appearing in this noisy and absurd garbage when he should have been finding time to redeem his reputation after starring in the Razzie-winning "THE JAZZ SINGER".Shame on everyone involved in this movie. It is extremely impossible to find a copy of "INCHON" at your local video store and no cable channel would dare run it, which is just as well. Trust me, you don't want to see this movie.My Rating - 0 out of 10