Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

Essential though Patton may be – as war movie, as American history, as biopic – it’s not the epochal statement the Academy thought they were canonizing with seven Oscars in 1971, including Best Picture. Back then Frances Ford Coppola’s script seemed subversive, undermining American militarism during the trauma of the Vietnam War. Today it seems like a rudimentary evocation of the Greatest Generation.

Thank God for the Greatest Generation. General George S. Patton was one of their foremost exemplars, even if his distinctive flamboyance marked him as something of an anomaly.

The biopic about him is flawed by a tinge of revenge served cold (from the staid Omar Bradley towards the flamboyant George Patton) and from the ironic grandstanding of the famous opening scene, cinematically bracing though it may be.

Still, we’re talking Great Movie here. Gotta view it if you’re a war or history movie buff.

Acting - Great 4.0

George C. Scott’s performance does deserve canonization. It’s the type of portrayal that obscures the famous man it depicts and ever brands its creator. Interestingly, the real Patton had a “high-pitched, nasal and somewhat squeaky voice,” according to Wikipedia, just the opposite of Scott’s moviestar vocal tones.

Karl Malden, an everyman actor, is ideal as “The G.I.’s General” Omar Bradley.

Film - Great 4.0

Ironically, the film suffers today due to its iconic opening scene, where a heavily bedecked Patton pontificates in front of a huge American flag. Director Franklin J. Schaffner’s camera leeringly pans up, down and over the medals before Patton launches into the pep talk to unseen troops.

The problems are that Patton never wore all his medals in public, so the pornographic irony of showing them is contrived to make him look like a martinet. More importantly, the scene is out-of-time. It should have come later in this otherwise linear film, when its gravity would have been apparent. In fact, Patton really did deliver the speech and it’s a humdinger. However, he delivered it the day before D-Day, in a situation that could hardly be more dire.

Thus, it wasn’t a peacock’s show of bravado, as in the film. It was a sterling act of military leadership.

Edge - Risqué 1.8

The salty language and fierce war violence are damn near tame compared to contemporary standards.

Reality - Glib 1.2

General Patton’s brilliance and hyper-aggression dramatically hastened the end of Hitler’s demonic reign. Thank God he couldn’t tolerate being anything but a winner.

1 Comment

• Wick Jun 4, 2011 12:57PM

  Regarding BrianSez’s Review
  Great pickup Bri. Amazingly I’ve never seen it, so have added it to my Gotta View List.

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