Film Snail

7.5

Patton

PG·1970·172m

War

Drama

History

War

Drama

History

Summary

"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with Patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.

Cast

George C. Scott

Gen. George S. Patton Jr.

Stephen Young

Capt. Chester B. Hansen

Frank Latimore

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Davenport

Karl Michael Vogler

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

Karl Malden

Gen. Omar N. Bradley

Michael Strong

Brig. Gen. Hobart Carver

Carey Loftin

General Bradley's driver

Lawrence Dobkin

Colonel Gaston Bell

Albert Dumortier

Moroccan minister

Morgan Paull

Captain Richard N. Jenson

Bill Hickman

General Patton's driver

Pat Zurica

First Lieutenant Alexander Stiller

James Edwards

Sergeant William George Meeks

David Bauer

Lieutenant General Harry Buford

John Barrie

Air Vice-Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham

Richard Münch

Colonel General Alfred Jodl

Siegfried Rauch

Captain Oskar Steiger

Michael Bates

Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery

Paul Stevens

Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Codman

Gerald Flood

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder

Jack Gwillim

General Sir Harold Alexander

Edward Binns

Major General Walter Bedell Smith

Peter Barkworth

Colonel John Welkin

Lionel Murton

Third Army chaplain

David Healy

Clergyman

Sandy McPeak

Correspondent

Douglas Wilmer

Major General Francis de Guingand

John Doucette

Major General Lucian K. Truscott

Tim Considine

Soldier Who Gets Slapped

Abraxas Aaran

Willy

Clint Ritchie

Tank Captain

Alan MacNaughtan

British Briefing Officer

Florencio Amarilla

Soldier (uncredited)

Brandon Brady

Lieutenant Young (uncredited)

Charles Dennis

Soldier (uncredited)

Paul Frees

voice (uncredited)

Dolores Judson

Knustford Welcome Club Dignitary (uncredited)

Hellmut Lange

Major Dorian von Haarenwege (uncredited)

Bruce Rhodewalt

Cynical Wounded Soldier (uncredited)

Lowell Thomas

Himself - Movietone News Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Harry Towb

American GI Cook (uncredited)

Billy Kearns

Officer Callagher (uncredited)

Crew

Director

Franklin J. Schaffner

Book

Ladislas Farago

Book

Omar N. Bradley

Screenplay, Screenstory

Francis Ford Coppola

Screenplay, Screenstory

Edmund H. North

Reviews

John Chard

January 12, 2020

I love it. God help me I do love it so. I love it more than my life.

Patton is directed by Franklin J Schaffner and is adapted to screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North from Ladislas Farago's "Patton: Ordeal and Triumph" and Omar N. Bradley's "A Soldier's Story". It stars George C Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, Edward Binns, John Doucette, Stephen Young, Michael Strong and Cary Loftin. Music is by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Fred J. Koenekamp.

Pic is a part biography of George S. Patton Jr. which follows his exploits in WWII until his retirement from service.

Released at the time of the Vietnam War, there's a certain bravado in the makers choosing this period to release a biopic about one of America's most famous - and controversial - military characters. Led by a tour de force performance by Scott as Patton, Shaffner and his team rightly portray the man as full of flag waving bluster, gigantic egotism and majestic tenderness. The complexity of the man in Scott's hands is what drives the film to greater heights.

Schaffner's (Planet of the Apes) shows a smart eye for battle scene construction (shot in 70 millimetre - Dimension 150), this puts us viewers right in amongst the horrors of warfare. The supporting cast do sterling work in the face of Scott's barnstorming show, which when all told as a film leaves us with a war biography of great depth and one that rightly is held up as a marker for such genre ventures. 9/10