‘No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country…’
The Academy loves a biopic. Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi and Amadeus all took home a Best Picture Oscar. As the tumultuous ’60s were coming to a close, another Oscar winning biopic went into production. The ace in the hole? George Campbell Scott…
General Patton (Scott) is an eccentric, war-mongering wildcard who should be stopped at all costs. Or he is an expert in military warfare who single-handedly won the Second World War for the allies. Franklin J. Schaffner’s epic war biopic offers both interpretations of Patton and allows the viewer to choose their favourite.
I went into this expecting a slow and stuffy meditation on a man I knew very little about. What I actually got was a film that is frequently hilarious, always exciting and still prescient all these years later. Scott’s performance is an absolute tour-de-force, as with almost anything he turns his hand to. He carries this movie across an almost three hour running time (including an intermission!), and he fully deserves the Best Actor gong he received off the back of this performance (even if he did refuse his Oscar as he didn’t believe in competition between actors).
Some people may have a problem with the flag-waving, pro-American feel to the whole thing, but Patton is just as happy to dwell on it’s eponymous hero’s flaws as it is his victories. The subject matter and the running time might put a lot of people off, but Scott’s performance here really is one for the ages and ensures that this particular Best Picture winner should be on the watchlist of every committed cinephile. Oh, and the score is wonderful too. Just a great movie.