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This movie dramatizes the period of General George S. Patton’s military career that occurs during World War II. As it happens, this period is also during the last few years of Patton’s life. He died on December 21, 1945.
I believe the movie shows Patton for what he was: a driven, glory-seeking man who liked hurling divisions into combat, and who won his battles at the expense of his troops. His casualty lists were rather long. For example, in the Battle of El Guettar, Patton has roughly 4,000-5,000 killed or wounded, and the result of battle was indecisive. That is a lot of deaths for a single battle. He did not seem to mourn his dead and wounded, so long as he won the engagement.
The movie shows Patton slapping battle-fatigued enlisted personnel, screaming that they are cowards, and ordering them back to the front. Even though a doctor advises Patton that one man has a serious infection, Patton orders that man sent back to the front as well. The slapping incidents shocked General Eisenhower, who ordered Patton to apologize to the combat troops he slapped, the doctors and nurses who treated them, and to his entire command. The slapping incidents shock me, too. Patton was too uncontrolled and impulsive to be given an active role in the Allied invasion of France. Command of those troops actually went to Omar Bradley, and a wise decision it was.
The movie also shows Patton’s finest battle decision of that war: the decisions he made as commander of the U. S. Third Army that allowed them to relieve the 101st Airborne Division, which was trapped in Bastogne. It is no easy thing to reposition 133,000 troops and their supplies, and hurl them down a completely different axis of attack, but Patton and his staff did manage to do it, and in extremely bad weather. As Patton says in the movie: “They’ll [his troops] do it not because they like me, but because they are good soldiers…”. His troops certainly succeeded, and Patton probably won his 4th star as a result.
One scene shows Patton and a staff member walking in a field littered with dead troops. Many dead Americans are seen, numerous wrecked American vehicles, some wrecked German tanks, and just one or two dead Germans. He finds one wounded American soldier still alive and asks him if he is in command. He learns that the American motorized unit had run out of fuel, and a hand-to-hand fight with German troops erupted. Patton kisses the man’s head and walks away…without trying to help the badly wounded man or getting him medical attention. Perhaps there were no medics to be found, or perhaps Patton realized that the soldier was going to die no matter what help was rendered. The movie simply shows him walking away from the soldier, who presumably died afterwards.
I think this movie is about average for war movies. George Scott does a good job of acting as Patton, but his excellent work still does not emotionally involve the viewer in the movie. The different scenes could have been selected better and considered more carefully. I watched this movie partly because the screenplay for the opening sequence was done by Francis Ford Coppola. I also watched from curiosity about Patton as a military strategist and leader. The opening minutes of the movie show Patton for what he truly was, a man who cared little for anyone or anything except winning battles. The movie goes on to show sequences of Patton’s challenging his own chain of command (Walter Bedell Smith and Eisenhower) and battle scenes, where Patton generally stands at roadsides while his troops march and suffer, fight, and suffer, and die. The movie does not show him planning battles, or attacking in a way that yields as few casualties as possible, while still winning. Patton is not depicted in a way that has the audience interested and involved in the movie. It is a ho-hum, unexceptional war movie.
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Customer reviews
A winner without a doubt. Patton was as tough as hell and this picture portrayed him with sympathy and understanding. We owe him a great deal for how well he served our country. How well I remember the Second World War (I was a child [now 81], but my memory is intact and those days of the war [at home] are unforgettable. I had close family members who served our country and came back shell-shocked, bewildered, wounded, and forever damaged because of their war experiences; one of them permanently contracted malaria because he was separated from his unit and spent over two weeks of terror in dense jungle eluding the enemy, without food or water; he was was miraculously rescued, but forever changed from the man I first knew him to be. Another family member was a radio operator right in the thick of fierce and unrelenting jungle fighting for over three years, facing fearful odds against survival every minute he served. He survived as well. We are still, and were back then, proud of our military. As a former U.S. Navy WAVE I was proud to serve my country. We were a more united country back then, but despite all our current problems and hurdles we have to conquer and overcome, I still believe we are a united nation because we respect the ideals and principles upon which this nation was formed. We had military leaders like Patton and countless other brave military forces back then, as well as in other wars and conflicts, and we owe them all tremendous thanks for preserving our country despite the odds. To all who served and have given their lives for our country, I say God Bless all of you for your service and sacrifices. "Patton" is a classic film every American should see. The film actors are above reproach and their performances are touching and thrilling. Thanks, too, to the people who made this picture. They honored our military forces and forever preserved our country's history in an honorable and fitting manner.
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