Product: George C. Scott: The Last Days of Patton (1986)
Rating: 2.0
Pales in Comparison to its Prequel
I enjoyed Ladislas Farago's similarly titled book. The book details Patton's activities during the last months of the war and continues to his untimely demise. It also briefly explored the conspiracy theory's surrounding Patton's accident. Unfortunately the movie concentrates on George S. Patton Jr.'s time as military governor, thinly veiled attempts to militarily rehabilitate German POWs incarcerated in Bavaria, and blatant animosity toward the Soviets. Additionally, the film spends an awful lot of time on a paralyzed Patton, complete with flashbacks, imobilized in his hospital bed.It was great to see George C. Scott reprise his role as Patton. The problem was that it was easier for a late 1960s Scott to be made up to appear as an older general in PATTON than it was to tackle the problem of an older and more stout Scott as Patton in the 1986 television movie. Scott was just too plump for the role and those overly puffy white eyebrows were more appropriate for Santa Claus than Patton.Remember too that this was a television movie filmed in Great Britain. As such, the budget and associated production was not that of the original motion picture. The US military vehicles are obviously from museums and private collector collections as the gray-green paint is absolutely perfect. Likewise the GIs appear to be wearing less authentic looking period uniforms. Additionally, where the original PATTON was filmed in a variety of Spanish locations including beaches, desert, and thick forest, LAST DAYS is mired in limited British locations. In one scene the painted matte background of the Bavarian Alps is phony and distracting.Although I cannot imagine anyone other than George C. Scott playing the part of Patton, he was not physically ready to take on the role. Remember that the previous year Scott also portrayed a very chubby Benito Mussolini in MUSSOLINI: THE UNTOLD STORY. Other former 'Pattons', such as George Kennedy, Kirk Douglas, and Darren McGavin never fit the role. This movie probably should never have been made in the first place, or limited as a narrarated docu-drama.THE LAST DAYS OF PATTON is as far removed from the original wide-screen movie as THE DIRTY DOZEN: (THE) NEXT MISSION is from the first THE DIRTY DOZEN film.Worse for the film is that its sale and distribution, much like older movies that entered the public domain, have fallen to several different media companies. As such you can find this movie with different covers, sometimes matched with other movies, and differing quality. My advice is for you to buy a copy of the book and avoid the disappointing movie.