This was my favorite movie before Schindler's List and I still think it is the single best performance by an actor in a role. George C. Scott was Patton, I actually had a teacher in high school who served under Patton and he said, that Scott's portrayal of Patton was as close to the real person as he could ever imagine and not actually be him. Scott's performance earned him an Academy Award for best actor which he made history for doing so by being the first actor to turn down the award.

The movie is about arguable one of the greatest and certainly more controversial generals in American history. The movie follows Patton as he takes command of an American force that was destroyed by the Germans in Africa called the Battle of Kasserine Pass. General Patton turns this group of undisciplined soldiers into a crack military outfit that defeats the German Army in Africa. He then goes on to lead his soldiers into battle in Sicily. However, his belief of wanting to win at all costs, forces him to break orders and lose men at an alarming rate compared to other generals. Patton's greatest controversy was when he slapped a private for crying at a field hospital while other men lay wounded in the same hospital. Patton is relieved of his command and almost sent home. Fortunately for us, he is given another chance and given command of another Army and not only helps the allied army break out after the Normandy invasion, but he is the key element in defeating the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He was a most complex General who could never have survived in these times of politically correct warfare. He had no aspirations of being a politician, he was a soldier plain and simple. He was severely injured in a car accident a couple of months after the war in Europe was over and died December 21st, 1945.

George C. Scott (Dr. Strangelove, The Hustler) did a magnificent job of portraying an over the top character in real life, realistically. He showed the person behind the legend. The scene during the slapping is magnificent in the fact that you can see that he feels no sympathy towards this person who is a coward in his eyes. Yet he also shows the pain that Patton felt at the loss of his aide in Africa. The very opening of the movie shows Scott as Patton in front of a huge American Flag giving a speech that is one of the best speeches in motion picture history. It's his command of the real life person that makes Scott's performance so believable. It is as if he studied Patton the person for years, which chances are he didn't, not for years, which makes his performance all the more amazing. Scott makes Patton come to life on the screen.

The movie was directed by Franklin L. Schaffner who also had directed the original Planet of the Apes and Papillion. While I did not find his work amazing, he did a nice job of letting Scott act and allowing the other actors to compliment him. Again the scene with the soldier getting slapped was just amazing. The writing was also well done, and the screenwriter was none other than Francis Ford Coppola (writer/director of The Godfather.) It was co-written by Edmund H. North. They did a great job of blending the two books that the movie is based off of, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, by Ladislas Farago, and A Soldier's Story by General Omar Bradley.

Another actor of note in this movie is Karl Malden (On the Waterfront, Birdman of Alcatraz) who played General Omar Bradley. In real life as in the movie, Bradley was the antithesis to Patton. While Patton thought that losing troops was a part of war, Bradley seemed to be disturbed by each one. Malden does a nice job of bringing this historic military leader to life. In every scene between the two stars, the tension and the friendship between the two soldiers was evident and done masterfully by the two actors. One of the ironic stories about the relationship between the two soldiers is the fact that while in Africa and Sicily, Patton was in charge and Bradley was his subordinate. After the slapping incident, while Patton was relieved of his command, Bradley was eventually promoted and led the invasion of Normandy. After Patton was given command of an army group, his immediate commander was General Bradley.

If there are any drawbacks to this movie, and I consider them to be none, but have to be mentioned for some people is that the special effects are not the greatest by our standards today. The large battle scenes are nice, especially in Africa, but this is not an action movie and it shows. This movie is a drama about a war hero, so there are constant scenes of battle, but it is not a war movie. Since it was made in 1970, the battlefield deaths are very Hollywood and not very real, but this does not take away from the movie because the battles are not the storyteller, the action behind the lines tells the story and that is what is important.

I feel that this movie is one of the finest ever made. It took a magnificent to surpass this one as my favorite. But I do not know if I will ever see a performance better than the one that George C. Scott gave in this movie. Simply stated, he is Patton.

Brian - the Naked Gun