The Chairman | 
 enlarge | Director: J. Lee Thompson
Actors: Gregory Peck, Anne Heywood, Arthur Hill, Alan Dobie, Conrad Yama
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $9.98
You Save: $10.00 (50%)
New (32) Used (11) from $8.99
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 27950
Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 98
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: FOXD2238132D
UPC: 024543381327
EAN: 0024543381327
Theatrical Release Date: 1969
Release Date: November 7, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/07/2006 Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Pg13
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
Atmospheric Cold War Thriller... June 13, 2009
In 1969, Red China was a dark and mysterious place, closed to the outside world, in the grip of the cultural revolution, and run by the charismatic Mao, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. When American scientist and Nobel Prize winner John Hathaway receives a letter from a former mentor now living in China, he is asked by his government to make a visit. His old teacher may have invented an enzyme that allows crops to be grown anywhere.
Gregory Peck is gruffly realistic as Hathaway, scientist and aging former intelligence asset. His handler is a General Shelby, played with bureaucratic starchiness by Arthur Hill. Shelby, at the head of a combined US, British, and Soviet operation, dispatches Hathaway into China with a micro-transmitter emplanted in his head.
Upon arrival in China, Hathaway is graced by an audience with the Chairman himself, an intriguing political set-piece. Hathaway finds his mentor in a remote rural compound near the Russian border, where the old man is under siege by the fanatical Red Guard. When Hathaway suspects Chinese security is closing in, he will make a try for the enzyme formula and a break for the border. The thrilling escape sequence is made all the more suspenseful for the audience by the knowledge, not shared by Hathaway, that Shelby will not let his agent be taken alive.
The Cold War theatrical effects of "The Chairman" look slightly overdone at this distance of time, as does the effort to portray Hathaway as both spy and humanitarian. However, the location shooting in China is grittily authentic and recreates the claustrophobic atmosphere of a revolution out of control. The Chairman's meeting with Hathaway is stagey but contains a key philosphical point. Hathaway's escape attempt holds up extremely well as a thrilling action sequence. "The Chairman" is therefore highly recommended as a dated but still worthwhile Cold War thriller.
 Curious Film - Long Unavailable October 7, 2007
I can't think of another thriller where a living world leader was depicted onscreen, not using stock footage like Day of the Jackal or Hennessey, but by an actor. Perhaps that's why this film vanished for decades. (Or that may have been due to the hero's humanist impulses.) In any event, this is still worth watching and the picture looks great on the DVD.
The commentary track is the same guys as several of these 60s era thrillers and they do a good job. (Although a fair amount of time is taken up instructing us that Mao was a bad guy.) But they also seem to think the picture's scenes set in China are documentary evidence of the country at the time and not, in fact a Western entertainment's take on it. (As they tell us themselves -- some of this footage was shot in Scotland!)
 Great film and superb extras May 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It was great to see this film get the five star treatment it deserves. The deleted scenes, especially the ones for 'overseas' countries are fantastic. The audio commentary is both informative and entertaining.
A must have DVD for any fan of 60s cinema and Gregory Peck. Now if only Fox will release Hard Contract (1969) with James Coburn...
Best of Genre March 25, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Gregory Peck was without peer as a convincing actor who always brought something special to every role he played.
Here, he was a renowned scientist, pretending to know more about hybrid plant species than he did. This helped him in a role of deception so that he could unlock a secret from an enemy (Red-China) that would neutralize their ability to have an undue and unbelievable influence on third world nations struggling to feed themselves.
What Peck's character did not know was that people in his own governmment,(the USA) were not telling him everything about his covert mission and what he did not know could have killed him.
An exciting film about a very nervous time in our recent history.
Opportunity, oppression and an explosive opportunity January 14, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
We are in the middle of the cold war. Too bad because we ar also victims of increasing population and decreasing farmland.
Looks like Professor Soong Li (Keye Luke, of Charlie Chan fame) has invented an enzyme to produce extra cheap food. Unfortunately he is behind the iron curtain in Red China. The formula cannot come out so someone capable of understanding it must go in; Dr. John Hathaway (Gregory Peck) a scientist with scruples.
Naturedly incase he can not get out they fitted his head with a micro-transmitter so he could relay the formula. They seem to have forgotten to tell him the transmitter was also a bomb large enough to take out anyone standing near.
We see how ruthless and conniving the red's are and how they humiliate Soong Li for being a professor.
Should we take revenge and a perfect opportunity as Dr. John Hathaway stands next to the Chairman (Conrad Yama?)
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