Patton

Rating:
Summary: Patton-- More about the man than the war. Excellent.
Review: This movie was very well made, however, George C. Scott truly made it happen. His acting really makes us forget that he is just an actor and not the real patton. The line with the russian general where he calls him an SOB truly shows how out of touch with society he was. He was, i think, the greatest general of WWII.

Rating:
Summary: Patton!
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite movies. George C Scott is just excellent in the role of Patton, and he is backed up by and all-star cast playing the roles of other famous figures including Karl Malden as General Bradley...just an excellent job! The historical accuracy of the movie leaves a bit to be desired at time, but overall it does justice to the WWII experiences of one of the most legendary figures in American history! Check it out!

Rating:
Summary: Great Scott!
Review: One of the great movies of the 1970's was "Patton" with an outstanding preformance by George C. Scott. It was a bit controversial at the time because it was shown to a general public that was seriously divided over the on-going Viet Nam War. For many, the movie represented a glorification of war while, for others, it represented the power of the individual. It was a favorite of then-President Nixon (which was another mark against it for some). What it was for most of us was an excellent historical biography that displayed the best that Hollywood had to offer.

There was a lot of technical achievement in the film and it won Oscars for Art/Set Direction, Sound, and Editing while losing out to "Tora! Tora! Tora!" in the category of Special Visual Effects. However, the most noteworthy aspect of the film was George C. Scott's title role performance. He vividly portrays a determined, emotional, passionate man whose quick tongue and temper got him as much time in the dog house as in the spot light. The movie portrays the dilemna of a brilliant general leading a citizen army. No problem with the troops but they all had families and congressmen who seemed to have better ideas on how to do things. Patton, the ultimate warrior, died shortly after WWII. His portrayal in this movie makes one wonder if that wasn't for the best; who could imagine a peacetime Patton after what he had experienced?

"Patton" won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Direction (a relatively obscure Franklin Schaffner), Best Writing (Francis Ford Coppola) and, as no surprize, Best Actor. George C. Scott actually declined the award although without all the hoopola of Marlon Brando. Karl Malden gives an excellent preformance in his supporting role as General Omar Bradley.

I hadn't seen this movie in many years until just recently. Frankly, something about it seemed to have lost a bit of its' luster. However, I watched it so many times back then that I could practically say the lines along with Scott. More likely it was because the political and military climate had changed quite a bit in the intervening years. Oddly, maybe this was a movie that was released at just the right time.

Rating:
Summary: "The strangest duck I have ever known"-Omar Bradley
Review: Tunisia-Sicily-Luxembourg

Patton, the movie, does not chronicle General George S. Patton Jr.'s entire life, only the last three years, starting from when he landed in Casablanca, Morocco in November of 1942 until relieved of his command of the 3rd Army in October of 1945. The movie mainly highlights his exploits in the above mentioned countries in WWII. In North Africa, he and the British General Bernard Montgomery were on the trail of tanks sped along by the German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps. Later in Sicily, he and Montgomery raced each other to take Messina fighting the Germans along the way. During that time, the infamous slapping incident of a soldier occurred which would haunt his career to the end. Once in continental europe, Patton's 3rd Army would lead a blistering pace to liberate the beseiged city of Bastogne, Belgium, on the border of Luxembourg, and the entrapped U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division on Christmas day. The movie captures Patton's personality in the military arena, that part of his life that was his heart and soul. In the movie, he describes himself as a "combat soldier", and it is all too clear that he is deeply hurt when benched by his commanding officers to not fight at places like Normandy. Indeed, it seems he was more hurt and angered by orders not to fight than by orders to answer to his subordinate, General Bradley (Karl Malden), who was promoted to Patton's position. The story for this movie is based on two books, one written by General Bradley himself; the title for this review is a comment Bradley once made about Patton. In the movie, the relations between Bradley and Patton (George C. Scott) were always good; General Bradley, in the film, saves Patton's life by pushing him out of the way of a runaway ox cart that finally crashed into a parked jeep, a foreshadowing of how Patton was to die a few months later. Patton died on December 21, 1945 after having been in a coma for 12 days following an automobile accident in Germany when a U.S. army truck crashed into his car. This dvd has within it a chronology of Patton's entire life, mentioning his exploits in the first world war and his competing in the 1912 Olympics in the modern pentathlon. He was buried in Hamm in Luxembourg, fitting, in that the people of Luxembourg still regard Patton and his 3rd Army as their liberator. I love this movie. I could watch this movie over and over until the real doomsday! It is biased toward the Four star General Patton somewhat, however, historians seem to agree that he was America's greatest military commander. There is no adult material in this movie, the "F" word is not said, however, all of the "B" word expletives are. In fact, the first one is said after the 11th or 12th word to come out of Patton's renowned trash mouth at the beginning of the movie, so be forewarned! Trash mouth aside, I give this movie 5 stars; I give the real Patton 5 stars-FIVE STARS!!!

What I loved most about Patton which this movie brings out was his knowledge of history. He not only studied the past, as Confucius urges (my favorite quote-see my review of Swords, Ships, and Sugar), he lived it and relived it since he firmly believed in reincarnation. One of my favorite scenes is the one where he makes his driver turn in the wrong direction and leads himself and Bradley to the ruins of Carthage in North Africa. He has a flashback of what actually transpired, explaining everything that happened there on that battlefield 2000 years ago. Spooky stuff, and probably explains Bradley's quote, my title for this review. Was Patton a child of God? I think so. If God can give visions and dreams of the future, can he give visions of the past??? Interesting. (I personally don't believe in reincarnation, it's not in my bible, yet I don't think it's a critical issue). My favorite reply of Patton's in this movie was his answer to a priest who asked if Patton read the bible he kept by his bed. He replies, "Ev'ry God d--ned day!!!" Me, too!!! ME TOO!!!

The reporters and journalists who swarmed around Patton, particularly after the slapping incident, reminded me so much of the scribes, pharisees, spies, who hounded Jesus, ready to twist and turn around every word that was said to nail him on. I loved the bible verses that were read while he was walking out to meet the newsies which are from Psalm 63, probably from the English Standard Version. The last verse, my favorite, reads: But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.



Rating:
Summary: one of the best ww2 movies i ever saw!
Review: this is about the greatest general in the second world war,george patton!he gets in,shapes up the platoon,and goes (...)!its an excellent war movie too.there are better though.full metal jacket,deer hunter to name a couple.any history or war buff should dig this one.its true.patton belived in reincarnation and even wrote poetry.of course,he belived he was a warrior in many of his past lives and thats innaccurate as far as reincarnation goes.well,spiritual lesson aside,its good.watch it!

Rating:
Summary: My favorite movie
Review: I can't remember exactly what prompted me to buy this DVD, but it its first five minutes left quite an impression. For those who have seen it, that is, of course, "The Speech". For medical reasons beyond my control, I was not able to stay in the Army (15 Oct 1997 -- 15 Jan 1998, MOS 11M [would-be]), but those first few minutes made me want to jump back in and kill every damned terrorist on this planet, because everything he said about the "Hun" could be said about fighting the "Arab" and the "Persian" equally.

The last line of the speech proper, the visualization of his troops' firesides 30 years from now, is quite possibly the most important line of the film. It gives a view, albeit only microscopic, of his command of history, and how he lived, ate, slept, and breathed the history of his profession, and was able to understand the propensity of the occasion as it was happening.

The only other two parts that compete with it also lift, for a few short moments, the veil of the past.

The first is the scene at what I would guess Patton and Bradley were at Zama (among the runins after Patton orders the driver off the beaten path), where the Roman Scipio Africanus beat the more famous Hannibal, in what was probably the most important battle for the Romans, republic or empire, where, even though I don't believe in reincarnation, his clearer-than-crystal view of the past makes it hard not to.

The second is the end scene as he walks out in the meadow with "Willie". The monologue is so picturesque that, were I to fall asleep during that scene, and I woke up later, I would probably be looking for my sword and fumbling around in my chair looking for the reins of a chariot.

Among the most well-done scenes were those done with Capt. Steiger, the Nazi officer assigned to research Patton. He, better than anyone except for Scott, conveyed the Patton "mystique" in this film. His best scenes were warning Col-General Jodl that Patton would attack Sicily (because the Athenians did in the Peloponnesian War, and the final scene in the command post, where Patton's picture is burned, and he is bid a fond farewell as the "Pure Warrior". If this latter scene actually happened somewhere in the doldrums of the Nazi regime, it is pure prophecy, because the absence of war ultimately did kill him inside, to the point that it was almost a good thing that he died when he did, so that his legend was cemented.

While this film was worth the six stars we have bestowed on General Washington, it is not beyond reproach.

Part of the problem is Bradley's influence. I respect Bradley, and I loved his comment about Monty's proposed "dagger thrust" (Bradley likened it more to a "butter knife thrust"), but I don't think that Bradley's and Patton's friendship was always as amicable as is put forth in the show. Patton's and Ike's relationship was also a bit better than portrayed. There's also the glaring omission of any discussion about FDR before his death. More than any adverse relationship between Patton and Bradley, I think these scenes were just a matter of Bradley not fully understanding what Patton was about. As is said in the movie, Bradley does his job because he is trained to do it; Patton does his because he loves it (l'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!). That one was probably correct, and a good explanation.

The only thing that angered me about the movie was that, at times, Patton is portrayed as a micromanager or a figurehead. The most glaring display of this, is his return out of the doghouse, before he gets 3rd Army, and he is shown just riding around in a jeep, with a big grin on his face; he was much more than that.

Any who have had the honor of knowing a former 3rd Army soldier, or even one from II Corps or 7th Army, know that other soldiers will give their unit, whereas soldiers in those Armies or that Corps, when Patton commanded, will almost invariably say "I was with Patton." Not only that, on the way to a church service project one time, I was reading a summary of 20 decisive battles, and that morphed into a conversation where one of my friends said the same exact words...about his uncle. Patton's influence is one that will be felt long after we have gone the way of the dodo bird, and no general that just sits in a jeep can have that kind of effect.

The only glaring inaccuracy in the film is at the speech. No, the editing of the language was done for the general public; he generally would only cuss profusely in front of his troops. He was only a Lieutenant General (3 stars) at the time of "The Speech."

Other than these slight criticisms, it is a perfect movie. The music, especially the theme music, is also perfect. Again, six stars.