Patton (1970) * * *

Directed by: Franklin J. Schaffner
Starring: George C. Scott, Karl Malden

Funny how I've seen two films with similar ideas in the past week, albeit presented in very different ways. Patton and Chariots Of Fire both contain characters that are lost unless they have one more battle to fight.    In Chariots Of Fire, the Harold Abrahams character expresses these sentiments by saying, "I know the fear of losing, but this is the first time I've expressed the fear of winning." General George S. Patton surveys a battlefield and says, "I love this. More than I love my life."   The end of World War II left Patton itching to start a fight with the Russians, but his death in December 1945 ended any chance of his doing something about it.

Watching Patton, it's not that farfetched to think he would do his damndest to get something started with the Soviets.   When he's not fighting the Germans, he's fighting his superiors or even a shell-shocked soldier whom he famously slapped in the head and called a coward.   For this general, fighting wasn't merely an obsession.   He believed in reincarnation and believed that he was a soldier in all of his past lives.   He believed the glory of battle was a destiny handed down through the ages.

The movie based on General Patton's life, Patton, won Best Picture in 1970 and garnered a Best Actor Oscar for George C. Scott which he famously refused; likening the Oscar ceremony to a "meat parade."  Oscar or not, Scott carries this film with a full, three-dimensional characterization.   The film was criticized for being pro-war when it was released during the height of the Vietnam war. Gen. Patton sure was pro-war, to the point that the film excludes any hint of his personal life and focuses strictly on the idea that Patton the man was incomplete unless he had an army to command.

Of course, Patton's behavior and attempts to embarrass his superiors put him in hot water.    His criticisms of Allied strategy and disobeying orders put him on the sidelines during the planning and execution of D-Day.    Why was he always so critical of Eisenhower and British General Montgomery?   Two reasons: a. Since he believed he was Hannibal's reincarnation, who is Ike to overrule his quest to dominate the world? and b. Because it was a battle to fight in between the ones involving troops and ammunition.

Patton runs nearly three hours and takes us from Patton's rise to fame in North Africa to Italy and on into France and Germany. At no point does Scott fail to fascinate.  He was only 43 at the time of filming, but yet carries himself with a gruff intelligence and bulldog-like tenacity which the General (who was 60 at the time of his death) was famous for.   Does the film prove to be as fascinating as Scott?   Sometimes yes, but the film suffers because the editing needed to be tightened on some of the marching and battle scenes.

The lead role was offered to other actors before Scott, such as Rod Steiger, who turned down the role and regretted it later.   Steiger's penchant for overacting wouldn't have served the role well. Especially if you consider one scene in which Patton screams at his subordinates to carry on a 100-mile trek to Bastogne, Germany with no sleep or rest. His right-hand man asks, "The men don't know if you're acting or for real." Patton replies, "I'm the only one who needs to know that." Scott pulls off that fine line.