Of the major American generals in World War II, few stand taller than George S. Patton. He was already a well-known and popular figure, standing out for his colorful personality, strange religious beliefs, and his very aggressive tactics. Of course, it helps that he became the subject of one of the best war/biographic films of all time. Patton was a movie that took almost two decades to get into production. Producer Frank McCarthy wanted a biopic made in the early 1950s, but Patton’s widow Beatrice wouldn’t allow it. Even after she died, it took years to finally get into production. This is perhaps for the best, because the fact that the movie was made at the tail end of the 60s allowed for more ambiguity and thematic exploration than was common in the 50s.
Patton’s screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola would ultimately be derived from two major books on World War II. One was journalist Ladislas Farago’s Patton: Ordeal and Triumph. Of more interest is A Soldier’s Story by General Omar Bradley. Bradley was a very modest and practical man, focused more on the welfare of his soldiers and developing effective strategies than getting good press. In the movie he’s the second most important character. Played by Karl Malden, his more everyman persona puts him in stark contrast with the eccentric and loud Patton. Because he’s closer to Patton in rank (subordinate earlier on, but advancing to a superior position when Patton is sidelined), he’s able to call him out while other characters are too cowed or awed. Bradley himself was still alive and kicking in the 60s, so he served as a consultant, though to what extent he influenced the film is unclear. He’s certainly friendlier with Patton than he was in real life, his criticism coming off more as a concerned friend than someone who wishes he wasn’t with the other general.
Interestingly, the filmmakers did not make use of Patton’s own diaries, except perhaps secondhand through Farago’s biography. Because of this Patton’s ideals and thoughts are derived from how others perceived them. Perhaps this was an intentional choice on the part of screenwriter Coppola and director Frank Schaffner, as this makes the titular lead much more enigmatic and ambiguous. It’s said that Patton is a Rorschach test, enabling viewers to project their own biases into the movie. It can be pro-war, anti-war, or somewhere in between. And Patton himself can range from a figure to admire (with the flaw of a loose tongue, perhaps) to a figure to revile (with a couple good qualities). Even the excellent musical score by Jerry Goldsmith rarely tells us what to feel. Outside of a few heroic refrains of title march, the sparse musical score (little over half an hour in a three hour film) is often mysterious in mood.
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| Patton (George C. Scott) confers with Omar Bradley Karl Malden) when he takes charge in North Africa |
Of course the movie ultimately hinges on the performance of the lead actor, and George C. Scott performs the ultimate role of his career. Scott was a famously temperamental man, and this is why Schaffner wanted him cast. He felt he was the only actor of the right caliber and temperament to pull off the character. Scott himself spent hours watching real footage of Patton so he could nail all his mannerisms, down to walking and standing like the general. There is one inaccuracy to note, however. Patton’s real voice was squeaky. It was felt that this would not work for the movie, as the squeaky voice would seriously undermine everything else about his persona. In fact, the real Patton felt the same way. The reason he was so foul-mouthed was that he felt he needed the swear words to sound strong and intimidating. George C. Scott, on the other hand, was able to simply put more intensity into his naturally gravelly voice. Because Scott was so iconic as Patton, general audiences remain shocked and perhaps even betrayed when they hear the real voice.
Auditory
aspects aside, the movie Patton is very close to reality. The opening speech,
where Patton stands and paces in front of a massive American flag, is a
compilation of his actual sayings, there to tell us what his ethos of war is.
He’s obviously aggressive, more than eager to win, and perhaps rather violent.
He not only doesn’t seem to muse on the downsides of war, he seems to glory in
it. At one point he tells another officer that he knows he shouldn’t love war,
but God help him, he does. Not only is Patton determined to win glory in World
War II, but he thinks he already won his fair share in previous lives. Despite
claiming a firm Christian faith, Patton also held views of reincarnation. The
movie touches on this several times, including one nice eerie scene where he
visits the ruins of Carthage and describes the last Punic War (here the movie
makes some serious historical gaffes, like saying that Arabs were around in
ancient North Africa to strip the dead). All throughout the story Patton drops military
history tidbits, not just because he’s into the subject, but because he has
what can be considered an antiquated attitude, a desire to duel the enemy face-to-face
even with the advances in technology.
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| The Great Slap |
Patton was often his own worst enemy. He often spoke without a filter, not a wise thing to do when the Allied leadership was trying to keep very different powers on the same page. His own distaste for the communists of the Soviet Union led him to imply, or even flat out say, that America should turn its military power against its ally once Nazi Germany was defeated. But the movie makes the biggest deal about the slapping incident. Patton could be very tender with troops who were wounded in battle, but he absolutely loathed any cowardice, real or perceived. Actually, there were two such incidents occurring about a week apart during the Sicily Campaign, but the movie streamlines them into one event. In both incidents, while visiting the wounded in the field hospitals, he came across a soldier who had no wounds, but was suffering what we now call PTSD. Patton couldn’t fathom such a mental condition and decided they were chickenshit cowards. Angered that they were taking up hospital space, he slapped them. These incidents caused so much public outrage that he was forced to apologize and then got sidelined until after the Normandy Landings. Naturally, this allowed the filmmakers to have a historically accurate narrative low point to work with.
Most
of the remaining cast is subordinate officers, usually on Patton or Bradley’s
staff. However, Schaffner does provide two reflective personalities for Patton
from other armies. Michael Bates portrays Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery of
the British Army. Like Patton, Montgomery was a highly controversial and
egotistical figure who often said what he thought without a filter. This does
not make him and Patton get along. In fact they downright despise each other,
and risk heavier casualties as they try to get the glory of reaching the major
Sicilian city of Messina first.
By
contrast Patton admires his enemy Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (Karl Michael
Vogler). Perhaps this is because he’s a worthy foe he can spar with rather than
an obnoxious co-worker like Montgomery. The actor they chose is a bit young and
robust for the sickness-ridden and balding field marshal, but it doesn’t really
matter. Much to Patton’s regret, he never gets a chance to square off with him.
For his part Rommel hears a description of Patton’s military philosophy and
immediately recognizes him as a serious threat. Rommel doesn't have the personality issues of Patton, but he does have the same belief in aggressive armored drives.
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| Rommel talks with one of his subordinates before leaving for Germany. |
The whole aspect of the Germans fearing Patton is a post-war fiction. Contemporary evidence shows that while many German officers respected Patton, he was not ever-present in their strategizing until much later in the war. In post-war memoirs and interviews, many generals tried to obfuscate their failings by hyping up Patton as a major adversary. Interestingly, it can be argued that the British equally inflated Rommel to explain their major defeats in North Africa. While on the Germans, I want to mention the fictional and highly competent Captain Oskar Steiger (Siegfried Rauch). He’s tasked with gathering intelligence and in particular studies Patton. He comes to completely understand Patton as a man with a 19th Century attitude fighting a 20th Century war.
Finally
I should get into the actual battles. The movie goes from Kasserine Pass to the
Battle of the Bulge (skipping after that to the immediate post-war period).
Originally Schaffner shot a ton of battle scenes, but it was decided that the
movie needed to be trimmed and that ultimately the character of Patton was more
important than the action. There’s still a good dose of battle footage, but with
brief snippets thrown in to remind us exactly what’s happening with the
thousands of men Patton controls. It’s astounding to think that expensive
action scenes were removed, and 20th Century Fox felt the same. The
footage was preserved and then used for a TV World War II movie called Fireball Forward. This movie is set in
France, so there was plenty of high-quality battle scenes available from Patton’s
Third Army drive through that country.
Colonel Charles Codman (Paul Stevens on the left) often accompanies Patton while wearing a diplomatic smile. Codman was a war veteran, but not a regular soldier, instead working in the wine business in France when the Wehrmacht invaded. His fluency in French got him a job in the Army, where he caught Patton's eye and became his aide-de-camp.
The
battle scenes, and in fact most of the movie, was filmed in Spain. Spain, run
by dictator Francisco Franco, wisely allowed foreign movie studios to film
there at reduced costs (and also lend its military for big battle scenes).
Despite the lower costs, Spain still raked in quite a bit of money from this.
Unlike many later World War II films and shows, there wasn’t a lot of accurate surplus
on hand, so ironically the Americans use the 50s tanks named after Patton,
while the Germans use Spanish ones.
The
movie opens with the aftermath of Kasserine Pass and Patton's arrival. I have to say the filmmakers
have a particular talent for staging post-battle scenes, with lots of evidence
of highly diverse chaos. The Battle of El Guettar, a following battle in
Tunisia, gets a full-fledged scene. The movie diverges from actual history
here. The real battle is considered inconclusive in its results, with both
sides suffering high, but nearly equal casualties in proportion to their
strengths. In the film’s narrative Patton scores a clear victory, though he’s
disappointed when he learns that Rommel wasn’t actually commanding the opposing
army at the time.
The
Sicilian Campaign is shown in snippets, the scenes focused on how obsessed
Patton is with getting to Messina before Montgomery, even if he has to murder
some mules (contrary to what some people claim, they did not actually kill mules
for this movie). After the slapping incident Patton is shuffled away to
unimportant posts and then has to pretend to command an army in Britain that
diverts the Germans’ attention away from the real invasion at Normandy. He
finally gets back into action with the Third Army in France and does great
until his army runs out of gas. The movie doesn’t take a clear side as to whether
he was screwed by the higher-ups’ inability to provide resources or that he
moved too far, too fast and outran his supply line.
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| Patton has to entertain British civilians while posing as the head of what is actually a phony army. The white bull terrier is Willie, Patton's dog. In the movie he's named after William the Conqueror, but Patton actually named him after a boy who left an impression on him. |
Patton’s big moment is the Battle of the Bulge. There’s a great back-and-forth montage with German armor advancing through the Ardennes while American officers note their progress with concern. Patton comes to the rescue, but is halted by severe winter weather. The moment where Patton commands a chaplain to circulate a prayer to God for good weather did happen, and has become one of the most legendary moments of World War II because it actually worked.
It
was a delight revisiting Patton. It’s
a tribute to the real figure’s persona that it’s such a compelling character
study while still largely accurate. It should be noted that this movie was released
in the midst of the Vietnam War. Because of this, the movie was the subject of
intense discussion, especially since so many aspects were purposefully left up
to the viewers’ interpretation. President Nixon, who became a big fan and
repeatedly watched it, definitely saw it as a heroic story, as he decided like
Patton he needed to get really aggressive and thus ordered troops to drive into
Cambodia to counter Communism’s expansion there.
Rating:
10/10
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