The Flawed Hypocrite

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2003)

First off, I would like to say that the two most redeeming qualities are George Scott's (why do we insist on including people's middle initials? no one else does in regular conversation and it makes no sense!) portrayal of the "magnificent anachronism" and the score by Jerry Goldsmith, one of the best ever written.
The problems, as follows, range from the script to the screen. The technical support from the Spanish Army is a load of hooey and the sound work is absolutely atrocious. Given, back in 1970 there was a general lack of quality sound editing, but this is terrible! Also, the supporting cast is terrible. I kept having flashbacks to the hollowness of Battle of the Bulge and Where Eagles Dare.
Fortunately, the cinematography is top-notch for a 70s movie like this, even when there is too much zooming. I noticed that, as far as quality filmmaking was concerned, Patton gets better as it progresses. The opening up until Sicily are poorly edited, chatty, and forced in depth. The last hour remains one of the greatest achievements in grand-scale filmmaking. Scott didn't like Patton as a person, but he has now transcended the actual person in the public limelight. He resembles a human Panzer tank, all bulked up and firing his outbursts with absolute power. So it goes...
The message, of course, is the futility of war. Many other movies have covered it, all with mixed results. Scott presents an interesting case, though it is hard to believe someone as batty as Patton could get in the army, no less a four-star general.
Jerry Goldsmith, who has done almost every kind of movie for Hollywood, creates a soundtrack of both rousing pomp certain to make pacifists cringe and organ postludes reminiscent of medieval times, thus enhancing Scott's throwback character.
Overall, PATTON fits in my Top 10 movies from the 1970s, crazy as they are. 4 out of 5 stars.