"The absence of war will destroy him"

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 2010)

George S. Patton (1885 - 1945), a highly-decorated and outspoken U.S. officer, was influential in the Allied victory of WWII, notable for his campaigns in North Africa and while commanding the Third Army across Europe. He was not without his controversies, of course. In 1943, after slapping a shell-shocked "coward" in the medical hospital, Patton was severely reprimanded by General Eisenhower, and the incident nearly cut short his military career. In Franklin J. Schaffner's 'Patton (1970),' George C. Scott offers a commanding portrayal of the man, a master strategist and an egotist, who ruled his troops with an iron fist in his self-serving bid for historical immortality. WWII is portrayed, not as a battle of patriotic wills, but rather a battle of egos: throughout the North African campaigns, General Patton and British ally Montgomery (Michael Bates) engage in a petty rivalry, bluntly sacrificing strategy for personal glory.
Whereas most military men would be glad to see an end to war, General Patton was a rare breed. Surveying the carnage of a disastrous overnight skirmish, he expresses his unashamed love for the stench of battle, his speech recalling Robert Duvall's "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" monologue in 'Apocalypse Now (1979)' {Francis Ford Copolla, as co-writer with Edmund H. North, won his first Academy Award for 'Patton'}. In one memorable scene, Patton bends down to kiss a shell- shocked soldier. His action is sickeningly transparent, a clumsy attempt to attain the humility of the great historical generals whom he admires with such fervour. It would have been more honest of Patton had he simply slapped the soldier as he had Charles H. Kuhl previously. A fine strategist he may have been, but Patton's showboating is depicted as a perpetual distraction from his military goals.