Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

General George Smith Patton is probably the most iconic American general of the Second World War (MacArthur could give him a run for the money -- maybe.) Franklin J. Schaffner's "Patton" along with star George C. Scott's portrayal are probably responsible, more than anything else, for Patton's enduring pop culture myth. If they were presented with the genuine General Patton, most people today would probably say something like "That's not Patton, he's not tall enough to be Patton... And what's up with that squeaky voice?" Patton has become Scott and to a large degree vice-versa. So it goes.

George Patton was an anachronism, born too late. He may have been the last of the non-political generals, a throw-back. Patton would have been more comfortable on a Napoleonic, Medieval or even Classical battlefield than the swirling political and public relations currents of modern warfare. He was a martinet in many ways, very concerned with spit-and-polish soldiering. In Patton's Army, if you weren't shooting at the Germans, you'd better have your tie on.

Unless you knew him, this movie is probably the first thing you think of when you hear the name Patton, in fact probably the only thing you think of. Not that this is especially a bad thing. Schaffner has done a fairly decent job of capturing the man. General Patton was great for theater he was a general made for movies.

This movie joins Patton's life at the beginning of the Second World War, the crucible in which Patton's legend was born. After the disastrous outing for the US Army at the Kasserine Pass, Patton was called in by Eisenhower to command US II Corps. Here, he came into command, as someone once said of his arch-rival, Montgomery, "like Christ come to cleanse the Temple." Patton's command in North Africa is treated only briefly by the movie. It proceeds rather rapidly to Sicily where the rivalry between Patton and Monty began to blossom in full. This campaign was also where the touchstone elements of Patton's personality came to the fore. The hospital slapping incident, and his brilliant but disobedient grandstand taking of Messina are shown happening there. Patton's high-irony "apology" for the slapping incident, ordered by Eisenhower, is one of the highlights of the film. Patton's career was almost destroyed by the slapping episode and for a long time he inhabited Ike's doghouse. He was put in charge of the Allied FORTITUDE deception operation which cleverly flummoxed the Germans who could imagine that any army would cashier it's best general (as they considered him) was actually in trouble for merely striking a private soldier. After this he proceeded to command the Third Army in France and Germany. He ended up, as Lord Tennyson's Ulysses, "Dolling unequal law to a savage race." as a military governor of conquered Germany -- where he managed to stick his foot in his mouth, again. The movie spares viewers what I'm sure he would have considered an inglorious death as the result of a traffic accident.

Geroge Patton was an accomplished man, a renaissance man of sorts. He was a talented athlete who represented the US in the 1912 Olympics in Fencing. He designed the the saber presently used by the US Army for ceremonial occasions. He was an old fashioned horse Cavalryman who helped bring the tank into its own in US Army service. He was a cultured well-read man who swore like a sailor. He wrote poetry. A loudmouth prima donna who could be moved to tears by a wounded soldier. He was a devout Christian who apparently had a sincere belief in his own re-incarnation. Schaffner treats these issues with varying degrees of success. Where the thumbnail sketches wear thin the director shouldn't be judged too harshly, the subject is really just too big to delve in detail even in a movie approaching three hours in length. The director utilizes the device of a German intelligence officer trying to suss Patton out to address this depth and complexity.

The strange thing about this movie is that for all of its role in constructing the modern General Patton myth as the film moves along Patton becomes less heroic, as his fleeting glory flits away leaving him bereft, alone and discarded he appears almost a pathetic figure. Not at all what one would expect from seeing the triumphant opening sequence speech and triumphal processions early in the film. I was struck that as a frequent reader of Julius Caeser and other classical works it would have behooved Patton to have someone riding behind him whispering "Thou art mortal". I wonder if he would have appreciated the irony.

As I've gone on through life my view of George S. Patton has changed. Early on I was a Patton believer. I pretty much bought the whole myth. As I went on I heard something of the minority report on Patton, including a first hand report of a veteran of Darby's Rangers who lost $25 at Patton's hands, no necktie. At the same time I've become more enamored of Omar Bradley, who is brilliantly played by Karl Malden in "Patton" who was everything George Patton was not. Where Patton was supremely interested in appearing to be the Great General, Bradley looked like another dogface. He seemed to share his men's hardships more that Patton. He rose further than Patton and he deserved to.

Now I should say I'm not trying to take anything away from General Patton as a military leader. He led from the front with undauntable energy and vision. At the end of the day, that's enough, I suppose. I just worry sometimes about the way some military people use his life as a sort of bible. Example: there's a story, I believe in Patton's diaries. Sometime before the war Patton's unit was on the range practicing with 37mm anti-tank guns. One of the guns blew it's breach block off injuring (or killing, I don't recall) the crew. After the mess was cleaned up, the firing resumed (this was in the 1930s, safety wasn't job one, I guess). Then it happened again. Then firing was resumed. The crux of the story is that Patton took it upon himself to fire the first round from the next gun. It didn't explode, it wouldn't have dared. Patton's rationale was that this would give his troops renewed confidence in the equipment. Sorry, I don't agree. There was clearly something wrong here, I suspect a bum ammo lot. Continuing the firing wasn't brave leadership, it was just dumb. He also discouraged his tank crews from piling additional armor on their tanks, for similar reasons. Considering the normal outcome of a one-on-one battle between a Panther or Tiger and a Sherman, I can't agree here either.

Anyway.

The DVD has a brief commentary by the president of the George S. Patton society which I didn't listen to very much of and a few other odds and ends, nothing too exciting in the DVD extras department but no damage done.

"Patton" is a excellent movie, if a bit on the long side, unavoidably. Military equipment fans will be either excited or disappointed by the appearance of Spanish Army 1950s/1960s era tanks standing in for the US and German sides, depending on their dispositions. The real life Spanish Air Force He-111 bombers are a treat. If you're a military history fan or are intrigued by the larger-than-life legend of George S. Patton this movie will reward the time you invest.

One last Patton story, I can't resist. Ralph Zumbro reports, in his book "Tank Aces", one of those stories that, if it isn't true, it otta' be. It was during the US involvement in World War I. Zumbro reports that one day Major George S. Patton encountered Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur on the front line. Zumbro tells us that the two men strolled up and down the parapet of the trenches, as enemy fire splashed all about them, each trying to be more nonchalant than the other. Makes one wish for a TARDIS.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older