Patton Review
Patton is a 1970’s movie produced by Frank McCarthy who intended to make a movie about the most controversial general in World War 2. The film Patton is very accurate in portraying the real General Patton and his journey through World War Two in many ways. Firstly, the personality of the General is performed precisely by George Scott for many reasons. The real general was an intimidating presence to his soldiers and demanded fear for him. In the film, General Patton is shown walking through the soldier’s hospital and rewarding medals to the soldiers who were injured in battle. Patton shows disgust when he hears of a soldier in the hospital is being treated for shell shocked. General Patton slaps the soldier in the face as he does not tolerate cowards in his army and sends the soldier back into the front lines. Another example would be when Patton requires every person in the army even the cooks and doctors to wear proper uniform such as helmet and boots. The atmosphere created in the slapping incident would be been similar to the real event as hospital stopped and just focused on what the general had just done. The incident created great controversy over whether the General was fit to command soldiers or not.
The film also had a great representation of the Patton’s relationship with the other Allied Generals and German Generals. Allied generals such as Omar Bradley, Bedell Smith, Bernard Montgomery, and Harold Alexander were visually shown to have a great influence on Patton’s life as a general. Even the German’s best generals Erwin Rommel and Alfred Jodl shows great admiration for Patton’s skills in leading the army and regarded him as the best commander the Allies have. In the film, Patton has a very close relationship with Omar Bradley, but as the film progressed, the relationship appeared to become weaker than it started. Patton is heavily criticized by fellow allies for his foul language and egoistic attitude. The personality of other Generals is shown accurately such as Erwin Rommel treating his American prisoners of war well by saluting to them. Omar Bradley was shown with a conservative attitude towards his soldiers as he was not as hot tempered as Patton. Famous British General Bernard Montgomery is shown in the film as a competitor to Patton’s army as they race to see who can accomplish their objective faster and who is intelligent enough to beat Rommel. These famous generals are accurately replicated in the film as their personalities and relationship with General Patton are correct.
Finally, the famous American battles of World War two are well portrayed in the film. The invasion of North Africa under the name Operation Torch was headed by Dwight Eisenhower with General Patton also landing his forces in Morocco. Patton’s first battle was the Battle of El Guettar where the famous German panzer division was defeated by the well positioned American forces. The conditions of the battlefield at El Guettar were very similar to real life as the land was mostly desert and both sides relied heavily on their tanks. The most famous battle shown in the film was the Battle of the Bulge between the Americans, British and the Germans. The battle was Germany’s last offensive to try to win the war. The battle took place at the Ardennes Forest in Belgium which Patton had predicted. The weather was very horrible for fighting with heavy snow fall and freezing temperatures. One of the most important conditions the film showed was the need to concentrate all of the Allied forces into this battle as the success of the battle would completely get rid of any doubt that the Allies were going to win the war and shatter Germany’s morale. Patton completely disengaged his troops from fighting and started to move towards helping to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. Soldiers and Equipment was affected greatly by the bad weather as they could not move as fast and were not used to the conditions. Heavy causalities were suffered on both sides due to these conditions.
Overall, the film Patton would deserve a 4 out of 5 star rating. The film’s ability to capture the viewer’s attention, show accurate portrayals of various Generals of the war, replicate General Patton’s personality, and the accuracy of the battles of World War 2 is the reason for its high rating. The film constantly shows the excitement that occurs in the general’s life which advances the plot. The actors were well chosen to represent the famous World War 2 generals where the difference between the real life generals and the actors was hard to tell. Also, the battles were very realistic and accurate making the viewer think that he or she was actually experiencing the battle with the snow and mud. In conclusion, Patton is considered one of the greatest and most accurate war movies of all time; therefore it should receive a very high rating.
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