PATTON Movie Review

Patton—Lust for Glory
Patton: A Salute to a Rebel

1970 Franklin J. Schaffner

“Ohmygod—it's George C. Scott!”

Goldie Hawn's reaction when she opened the envelope for the winner of the Best Actor at the 1970 Academy Awards ceremony is the first thing many people think of when they hear the name Patton. It's an understandable reaction, because the actor had made such an issue of his refusal to accept the award, saying, among other things, that he felt he had not done justice to the man he was portraying. Of course, by saying that, he drew even more attention to himself in a way that the real George S. Patton Jr. would have understood instinctively. The real Patton would also have understood that the tactic virtually guaranteed Scott a special place in the history of the Academy. (Quick, who won the Best Actress Award that year?)

Scott's protestations not withstanding, few actors have ever been so convincing in such a strong, colorful character. Only Peter O'Toole's T.E. Lawrence comes immediately to mind. Both he and Scott create their characters out of complementary contradictions—Lawrence detests the savagery of war but embraces it; Patton cannot separate the conduct of war from his own personal glorification—and both actors are given large canvases upon which to work.

Writers Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund North and director Franklin Schaffner (who also won Oscars and accepted them) introduce their hero with a risky, indelible six-minute, 15 second scene. In full uniform, his chest festooned with decorations, Patton steps up before a huge American flag and addresses an unseen gathering of soldiers, defining himself in unambiguous terms as a man who revels in war. “All real Americans love the sting of battle!” he proclaims, defining himself and daring the movie audience to disagree. Cut to a close shot of scorpions crawling across the body of a dead soldier at the Kasserine Pass. The camera then pulls back to reveal dozens of Arabs busily stripping more bodies.

The American Army has just suffered its first defeat at the hands of the Germans. Patton is put in charge of a demoralized, undisciplined force. He is, without question, as much prima donna and showman as soldier. He doesn't wear a uniform; he wears a costume, and he is never careless about it. With the help of his friend Gen. Omar Bradley (Karl Malden), he whips the men into shape and prepares to re-engage Field Marshal Rommel (Karl Michael Vogler). At the same time, his rivalry with British Field Marshal Montgomery (Michael Bates) intensifies to an almost ridiculous extreme. The rest of the film follows the two inseparable sides of Patton's career, the professional and the political. For every victory he enjoys on the battlefield, he suffers a public humiliation. Patton courts reporters, reveling in the attention they give him but rising to the bait whenever they ask delicate questions.

His most embarrassing moment comes when he slaps a soldier (Tim Considine) in a hospital. The incident occurs because Patton's views of bravery and cowardice are so severely limited. The man who has the imagination to write poetry and to believe that he has been reincarnated cannot conceive of a psychological wound that he cannot see.

Patton's tank battles are fought on broad plains. Action coordinator Joe Canutt, son of legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt, does an excellent job of illustrating the distances and forces involved, and the later battles in Europe are even more intense. Shaffner maintains that sense of large open space in the interiors. They tend to be vast, cavernous places, suggesting that Patton's personality is too big to be confined in conventional rooms, and those physical spaces diminish with Patton's state of mind when he falls from grace. The filmmakers also often turn to the Germans for comments on Patton's abilities. All of those simple devices are used to illuminate various sides of a remarkable personality. The portrait is so compelling that it's easy to overlook Patton's own final words in the film, “All glory is fleeting.”

Cast: George C. Scott (Gen. George S. Patton), Karl Malden (Gen. Omar Bradley), Stephen Young (Capt. Chester Hansen), Michael Strong (Brig. Gen. Hobart Carver), Frank Latimore (Lt. Col. Henry Davenport), James Edwards (Sgt. William G. Meeks), Lawrence Dobkin (Col. Gaston Bell), Michael Bates (Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery), Tim Considine (Soldier who gets slapped), Edward Binns (Maj. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith), John Doucette (Maj. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott), Morgan Paull (Capt. Richard N. Jenson), Siegfried Rauch (Capt. Oskar Steiger), Paul Stevens (Lt. Col. Charles R. Codman), Richard Muench (Col. Gen. Alfred Jodl), Karl Michael Vogler (Field Marshal Erwin Rommel); Written by: Francis Ford Coppola, Edmund H. North; Cinematography by: Fred W. Koenekamp; Music by: Jerry Goldsmith; Technical Advisor: Omar N. Bradley, Gen. Paul D. Harkins, Col. Glover S. Johns Jr., Lt. Col. Luis Martin Pozuelo. Producer: 20th Century-Fox, Frank McCarthy. Awards: Academy Awards ‘70: Best Actor (Scott), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Director (Schaffner), Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Story & Screenplay; American Film Institute (AFI) ‘98: Top 100; Directors Guild of America Awards ‘70: Best Director (Schaffner); Golden Globe Awards ‘71: Best Actor—Drama (Scott); National Board of Review Awards ‘70: Best Actor (Scott); New York Film Critics Awards ‘70: Best Actor (Scott); National Society of Film Critics Awards ‘70: Best Actor (Scott); Writers Guild of America ‘70: Best Original Screenplay; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘70: Best Cinematography, Best Original Score. MPAA Rating: PG. Running Time: 171 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, Letterbox.