Saturday, March 5, 2011

Review: "Patton" (1970)

I recently watched Franklin Schaffner's "Papillon", and between that film and "Patton", I am not amazed at anything the director has done. The writing on the other hand, has some uniqueness to it. "Patton" was written by a group of people, but it's main influential writer was Francis Ford Coppola, the man behind "The Godfather".

There is a special thing happening when Coppola is inking a film, but I think the strength of this film was in the great person that was George Patton. It would probably be easy to harm a true story about such an awesome person, but between Coppola inking and George C. Scott's performance, this film is nearly impossible to let you down.

The film is a bit long, probably doesn't need to be, but if it was any shorter, you may want to demand more. When I finished watching the film, I felt like I had just finished watching a documentary with real footage of the real man. It was just that good. I could complement the film in many ways, specifically about the character of Patton, but how can anyone but Patton himself receive the credit?

The film wasn't perfect, missing out on some good camera work, but for what it did give, it punched hard. I can't confirm the true nature of the characters or moments in history, but they all felt real. This is just another great character study to be desired. One of the more unique characters and/or stories of World War II.

This is a must watch film for folks who enjoy character studies, war films, or just thoroughly enjoy good cinema.

"Patton"
7.5 / 10