Directed by Terence Young and financed by Unification movement founder Sun Myung Moon, the film stars Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United States' surprise amphibious landing at Incheon, South Korea in 1950, with Jacqueline Bisset, Ben Gazzara, Toshiro Mifune and Richard Roundtree.

The film concludes with the American victory over North Korean forces in the Battle of Inchon, which is considered to have saved South Korea.

Produced on $46 million with filming taking place in South Korea, California, Italy, Ireland and Japan, it encountered many problems during production, including a typhoon and the death of a cast member.

After premiering in May 1981, the film was released theatrically in the United States and Canada in September 1982, before being quickly withdrawn due to critical and financial failure.

The protagonist of the film is General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United States surprise amphibious landing at Incheon in 1950.

Meanwhile, her husband, Frank Hallsworth, is attempting to break off an affair with a young South Korean woman, Lim.

Hallsworth and his former lover succeed in turning on a lighthouse to signal 261 U.S. ships, and the South Korean woman's father activates mines in the channel.

Sun Myung Moon formed One Way Productions in 1974, with Japanese newspaper publisher Mitsuharu Ishii as its head.

[8] Additional funding was provided by Robert Standard, the associate producer and a member of the Unification Church of the United States.

[15] In his book Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, author and scholar of religion J. Gordon Melton noted that "Moon has attempted to project his ideas into all areas of American society" and cited Inchon as an example.

The labor unions criticized the film's production, saying that it was influenced by Moon and his Unification movement, in addition to the Korean CIA and was part of an effort to support the president of South Korea.

[7] During filming, the makeup process for Olivier took two and a half hours, but after it was complete, he thought he neither looked like himself nor like General MacArthur.

Director Terence Young recalled that between takes Olivier lay on a cot, virtually immobile with pain and exhaustion, but that when needed "he dropped fifty years and stepped forward without complaint".

Moon recommended editing and reshooting changes to the film's script, which "caused the production to return to South Korea three times, Rome twice and Los Angeles twice.

$1 million was spent to bring the crew back to film the three minute scene depicting MacArthur's victory parade.

[25] The production hired Samuel Jaskilka, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general who took part in the Battle of Inchon as a company commander, as technical advisor to the film.

[6][9][23] The Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea, founded by Moon in 1962, was featured in the film, with many Unification movement members.

He was needed in South Korea to shoot the final scene, but as a concession to his poor health, was allowed to film in Rome instead.

[28] In spite of the problems, Goldsmith was pleased with his score, describing it as a chance to "create interesting music out of a bad situation".

The original 1982 soundtrack LP comprised 38 minutes of music, edited and assembled by Goldsmith and engineer Leonard Engel into an ideal listening experience rather than a chronological one.

[29] The world premiere was held in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1981, via special screening at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,[6][9] as a benefit for retired United States Navy personnel chaired by Senator Alfonse D'Amato.

Although an additional forty-eight Members of Congress accepted tickets to the premiere, Lawrence H. Suid wrote in Guts & Glory that "... no more than fifteen or sixteen were willing to brave the pickets outside the Kennedy Center protesting the Unification Church and its involvement with the movie.

[35] He noted in his diary: "Ran Inchon—it is a brutal but gripping picture about the Korean War and for once we're the good guys and the Communists are the villains.

[40] The film, cut to 105 minutes, was released in the United States on September 17, 1982,[8] but was swiftly pulled from theater exhibitions due to poor commercial performance.

[49] In 1995, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that The Guinness Book of World Records called Inchon "the biggest money-loser in film history".

[50] In a 2006 list of "The top 10 biggest box office failures", Kat Giantis of MSN Movies placed Inchon as tied with Battlefield Earth (a science fiction film based on a novel by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, the fact this film was based on a book written by the founder of the Scientology religion meant that it was heavily promoted by Scientologists) for number seven.

One reason is that all plot digressions are simply window dressing to the film's focus on the brutally invading North Koreans and the big-scale counterattack by the good guys.

[31] Instead, The Times printed a one-paragraph critical synopsis of the film, also written by Sublett, which said in full: "Puerile dialogue, perfunctory acting and haphazard construction doom from the start this visually impressive would-be epic about love and dead Reds in wartime Korea.

[58] Reviewers Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert selected the film as one of the worst of the year in a 1982 episode of their program Sneak Previews.

[59] Multiple commentators have described Inchon as the worst film ever made, including The Washington Post,[60] Newsweek,[61] TV Guide[5] and the Canadian Press.