Patton (1970)
(Patton: Lust for Glory)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 171m
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates
Synopsis:
The World War Two career of General George S. Patton, from Tunisia to Sicily, through a period of disgrace as a decoy for the Normandy landings, and finally as commander of the 3rd Army, pushing relentlessly at the German lines both before and after the Ardennes counter-offensive. His romantic idealism, the demands he places on his men, and his outspoken opinions make him variously a thorn in the side of Eisenhower's high command, and a figure of awe and admiration for both his troops and the enemy.
Review:
Like Lawrence of Arabia, Schaffner's film takes a quixotic and highly cultured individual from the pages of history, and focuses on the man, with all his idiosyncrasies, rather than the wider war. Although pictorially it is far from the equal of Lean's masterpiece, it nevertheless strikes some impressive compositions, boasts superb locations, and has a cracking score from Goldsmith that seems to hint at the subject's pretensions to reincarnation in its echoing bugle motif. Above all, however, it is a monument of incarnation in Scott's portrayal, which contrives to make us warm to the man's integrity and humour, just as we recoil in horror at his bloodlust.
(Patton: Lust for Glory)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 171m
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates
Synopsis:
The World War Two career of General George S. Patton, from Tunisia to Sicily, through a period of disgrace as a decoy for the Normandy landings, and finally as commander of the 3rd Army, pushing relentlessly at the German lines both before and after the Ardennes counter-offensive. His romantic idealism, the demands he places on his men, and his outspoken opinions make him variously a thorn in the side of Eisenhower's high command, and a figure of awe and admiration for both his troops and the enemy.
Review:
Like Lawrence of Arabia, Schaffner's film takes a quixotic and highly cultured individual from the pages of history, and focuses on the man, with all his idiosyncrasies, rather than the wider war. Although pictorially it is far from the equal of Lean's masterpiece, it nevertheless strikes some impressive compositions, boasts superb locations, and has a cracking score from Goldsmith that seems to hint at the subject's pretensions to reincarnation in its echoing bugle motif. Above all, however, it is a monument of incarnation in Scott's portrayal, which contrives to make us warm to the man's integrity and humour, just as we recoil in horror at his bloodlust.
(Patton: Lust for Glory)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 171m
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates
Synopsis:
The World War Two career of General George S. Patton, from Tunisia to Sicily, through a period of disgrace as a decoy for the Normandy landings, and finally as commander of the 3rd Army, pushing relentlessly at the German lines both before and after the Ardennes counter-offensive. His romantic idealism, the demands he places on his men, and his outspoken opinions make him variously a thorn in the side of Eisenhower's high command, and a figure of awe and admiration for both his troops and the enemy.
Review:
Like Lawrence of Arabia, Schaffner's film takes a quixotic and highly cultured individual from the pages of history, and focuses on the man, with all his idiosyncrasies, rather than the wider war. Although pictorially it is far from the equal of Lean's masterpiece, it nevertheless strikes some impressive compositions, boasts superb locations, and has a cracking score from Goldsmith that seems to hint at the subject's pretensions to reincarnation in its echoing bugle motif. Above all, however, it is a monument of incarnation in Scott's portrayal, which contrives to make us warm to the man's integrity and humour, just as we recoil in horror at his bloodlust.