The Chairman (1969)

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the US government sends a scientist to China to steal the formula for a new agricultural enzyme developed by the Chinese.

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Jay Richard Kennedy (novel), Ben Maddow (screenplay)

Stars:

Gregory Peck, Anne Heywood, Arthur Hill

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gregory Peck	...	John Hathaway
Anne Heywood	...	Kay Hanna
Arthur Hill	...	Shelby
Alan Dobie	...	Benson
Conrad Yama	...	The Chairman
Zienia Merton	...	Ting Ling
Ori Levy	...	Shertov
Ric Young	...	Yin (as Eric Young)
Burt Kwouk	...	Chang Shou
Alan White	...	Gardner
Keye Luke	...	Professor Soong Li
Francesca Tu	...	Soong Chu (as Francisca Tu)
Mai Ling	...	Stewardess
Gordon Sterne	...	U.S. Airforce Sergeant
Robert Lee	...	Hotel Night Manager

Storyline

An American scientist is sent to Red China to steal the formula for a newly developed agricultural enzyme. What he is not told by his bosses is that a micro-sized bomb has been planted in his brain so that should the mission ever look likely to fail, he can be eliminated at the push of a button!

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Plot Keywords:

explosion | exploding car | exploding truck | fire | shootout | 

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Taglines:

"This is it. They're finally together. Right now we can detonate our explosive and destroy the Chairman."

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

M

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

July 1969 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Chairman

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$4,915,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

APJAC Productions, Twentieth Century-Fox Productions, Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min (FMC Library Print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally intended as a starring vehicle for Frank Sinatra.

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Goofs

As John Hathaway is making his escape from China, he's seen driving a British army scout car.

User Reviews

Cold war oddity

Gregory Peck is a scientist. He is sent on a mysterious mission to China, where it turns out a scientist has developed an amazingly beneficial enzyme, and thinks Peck is the only man who can work out how to duplicate it for mass production, cure all known diseases, etc. Peck and said scientist are idealists who want to share it with the world, while the US and Chinese governments just want it for themselves. And, to make the whole thing more credible, Peck is equipped with a micro-transmitter in his brain which monitors his physical status and bugs his every conversation, including the one he has after playing table tennis with Chairman Mao.

It sounds silly, and, frankly, it is, but the espionage and the attempts to detect it are fairly tense, and Gregory Peck indulges in a fair number of good old humanitarian rants which suggest that Chinese totalitarianism and US militarism aren't necessarily wonderful things either.

I rather enjoyed it.