I am beginning to write this review whilst my superiors think I am making up yet another list of people to call and to beg for money. Don’t snitch on me. But I do wish to reiterate my thanks to Maxwell for allowing me to maintain the dailiness of this blog while doing some freelance/mercenary work for another. See how I laud you with praise if you contribute to this blog? You can be this guy too! Don’t be afraid.
Anyway, Patton, directed by Franklin Schaffner, was made in 1970 and is based on a couple of biographies of the famous World War II general. One of the biographies, A Soldier’s Story, was written by General Omar Bradley, who is the second most prominent character in the movie, so unlike most “based on a true story” or even “inspired by a true story” movies, I found myself assuming and believing that most of the events of this movie actually happened. That’s a lot of the appeal of the movie for me, to see a story like this that would more often than not be told by smiling bearded historians with voices so dry that firemen would attach the Sahara desert to a hose to douse them.
So that’s what we have here: a living history. And just what, exactly, gives Patton such life? Well, let’s start with the obvious: George C. Scott as the title character is phenomenal in both subtle and obvious ways as the eponymous character; a role for which he won the 1971 Academy Award, though he rejected it on the grounds that he did not feel he was competing with other actors. But enough has been said about his performance already, though I will just say that I loved how many different things his crazy-ass smile could mean throughout the movie. Karl Malden as Omar Bradley was his usual incredible self; he’s just one of my favorite character actors from bygone days, and this is late-period stuff for him, but he’s still the same stand-up guy he was in On The Waterfront.
The music in this film, though, is the standout to me. Anyone with a modicum of pop culture or film knowledge will recognize the trumpet figure that is prominent throughout, but the incorporation of bugle calls and military themes and their modernization was just incredible to me.
Patton’s character, though not the creation of the movie, fascinated me to a great degree, what with his interest in reincarnation and his granite moral center that was incredibly predictable, though it gave him an outward appearance of unpredictability. He stands as one of those enigmatic, brilliant military leaders that seems to come around once an era, yet maybe not ever again.
The cinematography, sound, editing were all incredible, because it didn’t glorify the battles, even though they were shot from afar. The shots had a touch of realism, that feel that the movie was a documentary played by actors that I really dug.
Still, for all of its technical beauty (and there was a lot of it), I couldn’t help but feel that the movie wasn’t seen through fully, for the single reason that so many of the one-line characters, the non-central supporting cast, seemed stiff and poorly directed/poorly cast. The string of stiff, dull small characters irritated me. But that was really my only gripe with the film – that it wasn’t perfect, and this was its imperfection. It’s still one of the better movies I’ve seen, and I can imagine wanting to rewatch it with someone willing to give it some time with me.
So I started this review uncharacteristically early and finished it uncharacteristically late as a result. Just goes to show me, once you have a routine that works, stick to it. Stupid Matt, stupid stupid Matt.
I Ate My DVD Collection 