Product: George C. Scott: The Last Days of Patton (1986)
Rating: 4.0
Baloney!
BALONEYI'm glad the overall rating for this film is 4 stars. I say, Baloney, to the nitpickers. This is a very, very fine film that treats both the facts and the book upon which this film is based with accuracy and sensitivity. There's nothing wrong with the long final scene with Patton talking non-stop while lying in a hospital bed. In some ways, that is more about the true Patton than the image of him barking out orders. This death scene, in my view, is an achievement in biographical film making. True, some facts in the film were softened, such as Ike's chastisements of Patton, turning the final interview into an austere reprimand rather than the catalysimic destruction of a friendship that it was. And Patton was secretly under observation for signs of psychopathology (good thing our Civil War generals didn't live in the 20th Century!) And Patton was a lot more disgusted with the European Jews--and a lot chummier with the German Regular Army officers, than depicted in the film, but these facts are suggested in the film. And I feel that all of this is okay. Generally speaking, this genre is watched by history buffs, anyway, and we can fill in the blanks. We should all know by now that there's only so much you can do with a two-hour movie. I'll never forget the scene of Patton's wife in a powder blue dress and floppy hat test-driving a prototype tank in front of the mossback Cavalry Generals. By the way, Scott was 42 years old when he performed in the original PATTON. General Patton himself was between ages 59 to 60 during WW2. In this present film, Scott is the same age as Patton was. Good film. Well done.