Inchon (film)

Infobox Film | name = Inchon


caption = Movie poster for "Inchon"
director = Terence Young
producer = Mitsuharu Ishii
writer = Robin Moore
Laird Koenig
starring = Laurence Olivier
Jacqueline Bisset
Ben Gazzara
Toshiro Mifune
music = Jerry Goldsmith
cinematography =
editing = John W. Holmes
Peter Taylor
Dallas Sunday Puett
Michael Sheridan
distributor = MGM
released = September 17, 1982
runtime = 105 minutes
language = English
budget = about $40,000,000
imdb_id = 0084132
mpaa_rating = PG

"Inchon" (originally called "Oh, Inchon") is a 1982 film directed by Terence Young about the Battle of Incheon during the Korean War. One of the major financial backers of "Inchon" was the Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon, the church's founder, was a "special advisor" to the film. It opened in the United States and received generally bad reviews. Since that time it has sometimes been cited as one of the worst movies ever made. It closed after a few weeks (at a great financial loss) and was never shown publicly again, nor has it been released on videotape or DVD. [New York Times article: "Film: 'Inchon,' at Last" by Vincent Canby (September 17, 1982), page C9 [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9A03E0D8123BF934A2575AC0A964948260&oref=slogin link] ] [http://movies.tvguide.com/inchon/review/102041 T.V. Guide review] ]

Origin

"Inchon" was financed by Moon and Japanese newspaper publisher Mitsuharu Ishii. Before deciding on the subject of the proposed film they considered possibility of films on the life of Jesus or Elvis Presley. Psychic Jeanne Dixon was consulted to communicate with the spirit of General MacArthur. She also helped choose Terence Young, who earlier directed the James Bond films Dr. No, Thunderball, and From Russia with Love, as the film's director.

Moon later said in a talk to church members::Why did we put so much effort into the movie Inchon? No matter what the result the motivation was for people to understand about MacArthur. I wanted to show how MacArthur loved God and loved people. MacArthur came to Japan after World War II and put the nation back together. He really respected and loved the people. He also loved God very much and fought with great strength against tyranny and communism. That is what I want the people to understand. [ [http://www.unification.net/gwo/820828.html Ocean Church and America] Sun Myung Moon, 1982]

Production

"Inchon" was filmed on location in South Korea. A portion of the movie was filmed aboard the USS "Cleveland", an "Austin"-class amphibious transport dock. It was filmed during an amphibious operation off the coast of Korea in 1978. [ [http://www.history.navy.mil/shiphist/c/lpd-7/1978.pdf US Navy history site] ]

The lead role of General Douglas MacArthur was given to Laurence Olivier, at the time experiencing something of a renaissance as a movie star. Olivier was to be paid one million dollars for his work, but would eventually earn more as the film went over schedule. Ben Gazzara would receive $450,000 for a secondary role, and Toshiro Mifune, Richard Roundtree and David Janssen completed the primary cast.

Problems that beset the production included:
*A typhoon that destroyed a recreation of the lighthouse at Inchon, requiring it to be rebuilt at huge cost.
*The beach landings at Inchon had to be redone after an assistant director accidentally sent the ships in the wrong direction, which ended up costing $2 million.
*The scene where MacArthur greets the crowds in his limousine had to be shot three times. The first time, there were not enough people in the crowd. The second time, the shots did not match the first version. Finally, the producers hired a studio in Dublin especially for the scene at a total cost of $3 million.
*After hearing that the movie was backed by the Unification Church, the United States Department of Defense, which had supplied 1,500 troops as extras, withdrew support for the movie.

Reaction

"Inchon" was shown at Cannes film festival but failed to interest any buyers despite a $250,000 publicity campaign. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E1DC1238F93BA25756C0A964948260 Disputed Korean Film Creating Stir at Cannes] New York Times May 18, 1982] "Inchon" would end up costing $40.8 million (Some estimates have put the figure between $65 million and $104 million, which would make it one of the biggest flops of all time). The film took just $5.2 million at the box office, and was never officially released on video or DVD. Because the film did not have the backing of a major studio it is not often listed as an all-time box-office bomb. In 2000, Reason magazine, while calling it a "bomb" and a "didactic dud", cited "Inchon" as an early example of a major film critical of communism. [ [http://www.reason.com/news/printer/27732.html Hollywood's Missing Movies: Why American films have ignored life under communism.] Reason magazine June 2000]

Awards and nominations

*Golden Raspberry Awards:Won: Worst Picture:Won: Worst Screenplay:Won: Worst Actor (Laurence Olivier):Won: Worst Director (Terence Young):Nominated: Worst Supporting Actor (Ben Gazzara)

ee also

*Films considered the worst ever

References

* "The Complete Films of Laurence Olivier" by Jerry Vermilye, Citadel Press, 1992

External links

*imdb title|id=0084132|title=Inchon
* [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1982/0NCHN.html Box office statistics]