If this wasn't a true story you wouldn't believe a character like Patton exists

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2009)

Before Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down there was a Patton. A serious film dealing with the psychology of the soldier that against the films of the time, that were no more than glorified exploitation pictures better known as Men-on-a-Mission pictures, seems almost revolutionary.
George C. Scott famously turned down his Oscar when he won for his portrayal of General Patton and it seems somewhat poignant that Scott seems to have carried across some of Patton's noble intentions. Actors, like soldiers, do a job and if they do it well most do so without attention or fuss. Only a select few are remembered.
Patton is essentially a multi-million dollar character study. It is about a man whose sole purpose is war and the intellect and ingenuity he displays while at it is remarkable. Yet to take him away from the horrors of war and he is useless. A lot of the film takes place away from the battlefield. Instead Patton is trapped in London hotel rooms sitting dutifully by the phone but utterly destroyed as his purpose in life is no longer appropriate. Patton may not be instantly likable - his attitude to cowardice is clearly incredibly vile but it is undermined by the humanism he displays for those who have been wounded or crippled in battle for their country.
Intrigingly Patton fights for a country and administration that are embarrassed by him. He is clearly intelligent and resourceful but to put the man in a domestic situation neuters him and Scott carries himself wonderfully throughout whether spewing angered rhetoric at his superiors or staring contemptibly at himself. He is almost a rebel except one that fights for the system yet feels free to tear it up from the inside.
Karl Malden is definitely a presence that is really missed when not on screen. That stoic everyman quality is fantastic next to Scott's exuberant performance. The direction is strong and while the film is over three hours long its length is not that noticeable until you are well into the third hour of the film.
It suffers from a few too many scenes of the same thing (Patton appears to whine a lot and shout a lot) but rather amazingly it works. It does not feel overblown like other historical epics such as say, Ben Hur or Cleopatra, nor is it an overly pretentious war film such as later works like The Thin Red Line. Instead it presents the epic scope of war against the intimate. There are more scenes in confined rooms than battlefields.
In a decade when cinema was supposedly changed this film got there before the tent-pole films of the decade in spending a lot of money on what is actually an intimate, personal, layered story. Before The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Jaws, Close Encounters or Alien there was Patton. And while it isn't quite as good as the films just listed. It is however still a great film that deserves your attention. On top of all this character study it is also just really entertaining. Watch it for the good film it is, even if it isn't quite a great as many of the other films that littered the ensuing decade.