Patton (1970)

Written by Francis Ford Coppola & Edmund H. North

Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner

43 films in, and this is the 10th film to have war be a driving point in the narrative. With nearly a quarter of the winners thus far having been about the subject, or to feature it as a plot device, it’s obviously a favored topic of the Academy. It’s not a favorite of mine, however, so this was a bit tough to get through.

I spent most of my time watching Patton trying to decide if I would compare it more to 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia, 1957’s The Bridge on the River Kwai, or even 1930’s All Quiet on the Western Front. Ultimately, I found it had a lot in common with both Arabia and Front (sorry, Kwai), while managing to stand on its own. It probably shares a bit more with Front, in that there is proportionately more battlefield action than Arabia. Patton is the latest update on the “war film”, but there a lot more to follow.

The iconic shot which opens the film

Like Arabia, this film is long, and filled with gorgeous cinematography, but it’s nearly an hour shorter, which is FANTASTIC. The cinematography is really excellent in this film, starting right off the bat of the iconic shot of General Patton on stage, dwarfed by a massive American flag behind him. It’s one of those shots everyone knows, and it’s great. This film is beautifully photographed, and there’s a thoughtfulness behind the camera that seems to have been lacking in the last few films. The camera isn’t dramatic for dramatic sake, what it views and how seems deliberate. Care was given to the camera, and it shows.

Patton slaps a private and begins his long spiral down

Back to that opening sequence a bit, it’s the start of the film, even before the credits, and it’s a six-minute speech by Patton to unseen troops. It’s an excellent way to get all your major character work done early, and credit needs to be given to George C. Scott, who does a fantastic job as Patton within the film. Patton is passionate, no-nonsense, and, above all else, prone to sticking his foot in his mouth. He frequently thinks things through and gives deep insight into the ways of war, and just as frequently says or does something that has negative repercussions. The biggest incident is the slapping of a Private and calling him a coward, which really begins Patton’s overall downward spiral. It begins to feel a bit cringeworthy at the end, because it’s just waiting for the next moment that he’s going to ruin everything. One last note about that opening speech: in it, Patton says America will never lose a war. That would change five years later, with the ending of the Vietnam War.

Karl Malden

There were other hits and misses in the film. Karl Malden continues to show off his excellent acting ability. Everyone else...is just kind of there. There are also no female speaking roles (the only women seen are civilians or nurses). The film isn’t called Patton for nothing, and Scott has to carry the film on his own for the entirety of it (Scott actually won the Best Actor Award for his performance, and refused to accept it).

One flaw of the film is the difficulty during the battle scenes to determine who was who. The cuts were semi-frantic, and the designs so similar, that many times it was difficult to know who you were rooting for. A bomb would go off, and it was near impossible to know if it was an American or German as a victim. There’s also another subplot the film cuts to repeatedly, where the Germans discuss what Patton is doing. I’m not sure this really added to anything, however, or at least, as often as it did. There was a nice series of moments when there was frequent cutting back and forth during a battle scene, and the music was perfectly matching both sequences, but overall, I felt the entire series of German subplots could have been dropped, and the film wouldn’t have lost much.

Overall, it’s still a war film, so as good as portions of the film are, I just have a natural distaste for them, so it’s more difficult for me to be invested in them. George C. Scott’s performance definitely elevates the material, but at the end of the day, it’s still another film of people fighting. All Quiet on the Western Front did an excellent job of showing us a different side of war, the horror and PTSD that are inflicted, and no film on this list yet has been able to match that fresh sort of take on the war genre.

FINAL GRADE: C+