A great war film, perhaps an even greater character study

Rating: Null/10 (29 April 2003)

George C. Scott becomes George S. Patton, Jr. There is simply nothing else to say about it. He captures Patton in all of his arrogance and egotism, and yet it is a tribute to his fine performance and the intelligent script that he raises him above that and makes it hard not to respect and admire Patton despite all of his flaws. I know next to nothing about the real Patton, and can't say how accurately he is portrayed here, but I can't imagine changing anything about the character. In my opinion, Karl Malden's peformance isn't particularly interesting or energetic, and is a little overrated by some of the users on this board, but maybe that's not his fault; this is definetely Scott's show. He's onscreen almost constantly; the few scenes not involving him are usually of German Colonel General Alfred Jodl and/or Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who are invariably talking about him. While their roles are fairly minor, Richard Muench and Karl Michael Vogler give effective performances despite not really looking much like Jodl or Rommel. When Jodl tells Rommel "I am not prepared to dispute the Fuhrer" and Rommel responds with an exasperated glare and a comment of Jodl being "prepared to accept nonesense", you get hints of their personalities as well.