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Rated: PG
Starring: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, et al.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner Review
One of the greatest screen biographies ever produced, this monumental film
runs nearly three hours, won seven Academy Awards, and gave George C.
Scott the greatest role of his career. It was released in 1970 when
protest against the Vietnam War still raged at home and abroad, and many
critics and moviegoers struggled to reconcile current events with the
movie's glorification of Gen. George S. Patton as a crazy-brave genius of
World War II. How could a movie so huge in scope and so
fascinated by its subject be considered an anti-war film? The simple truth
is that it's not--Patton is less about World War II than about the rise
and fall of a man whose life was literally defined by war, and who felt
lost and lonely without the grand-scale pursuit of an enemy. George C.
Scott embodies his role so fully, so convincingly, that we can't help but
be drawn to and fascinated by Patton as a man who is simultaneously bound
for hell and glory. The film's opening monologue alone is a masterful
display of acting and character analysis, and everything that follows is
sheer brilliance on the part of Scott and director Franklin J. Schaffner.
Filmed on an epic scale at literally dozens of European locations, Patton
does not embrace war as a noble pursuit, nor does it deny the reality of
war as a breeding ground for heroes. Through the awesome achievement of
Scott's performance and the film's grand ambition, Patton shows all the
complexities of a man who accepted his role in life and (like Scott)
played it to the hilt. --Jeff Shannon -----------
When this movie was released, it was almost immediately recognized as one
of the finest, most accurate and most sensational biographies ever filmed.
The unique integration in "Patton" of such fine acting, such a wonderful
script, and the filming itself combined to make this a gorgeous film to
watch, be entertained with, and also learn from in terms of its historical
value as an absolutely superb depiction of a most controversial man and
his times. All that said, this is a movie best enjoyed with the kind of
visual clarity, terrific cinematography, and matchless Technicolor it
offers by way of DVD technology.
George C. Scott gives the performance of a lifetime as the
ego-drive, brilliant, and iconoclastic Patton, marvel of the U.S Army, a
man the Germans are convinced is far and away the single best General the
Allies have, and they watch him convinced he is the only logical
centerpiece for American plans for the impending invasion of Europe. Of
course, they didn't understand the politics of the day, or the degree to
which Patton was his own worst enemy. Yet the progress of the story on the
screen convinces the viewer of the accuracy of the German command's
judgments of him; he is at once bold, brilliant, and innovative, willing
to improvise as he goes along to seize the opportunity of a given moment,
attempting to grab hold of the ever-present chaos of the situation to
transform it into an asset he can employ to gain advantage and win the
engagement.
Such men as Patton (and MacArthur and others) are uniquely
suited for war; they do not ordinarily fare well or survive with much
public acclaim during less extreme and bloodcurdling times. The fact that
Eisenhower, for example, succeeded so well as President is probably due
more to the fact that he was less a battlefield commander and leader of
"desperate men in combat" like Patton than he was a superb organizer and a
natural politician. The movie "Patton" is an investment in both great
entertainment and a colorful, dramatic, and educational video you can
share with your sons and daughters to help them understand better the
chaos, contradictions, and cruelties of war. Enjoy!
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