"Patton:" Just A Great Movie

"Patton" is just one of the greatest "personality" pictures ever made, played to the hilt by actor George C. Scott. Scott's portrayal is so intense, I cannot to this day, over forty years after the release of the picture, hear or see something about the real General Patton without thinking of George C. Scott. If I remember correctly, I went to see the movie three times during its original release. The writers worked many of General Patton's own words into the picture,* "salty" language and all, and the movie certainly captures the nutty instability, fanaticism, brilliance, showmanship and ego problems of the famous general's personality. It begins with his command of American troops in North Africa during the last stages of the war there to defeat Rommel. While he sees the German field marshal as a worthy opponent, whose defeat can enhance his own career, he also develops an enduring rivalry with another man of similar ego problems, British General (later Field Marshal) Montgomery, "Monty," during this period of the war. Rommel, played by German actor Karl Michael Vogler, and Montgomery, played by British actor Michael Bates, are two "obsessions" which drive Patton throughout the war.

The writers also took the interesting angle of providing insight into Patton's personality by showing how the German military viewed Patton, and there are numerous scenes at German military headquarters at various points during the war, where top generals try to keep tabs on Patton. Much of their information comes from an army intelligence captain (a fictional character used by the writers) who tells them how Patton is a military historian who believes in reincarnation (which he did). The captain calculates Patton's future moves through this information, such as the invasion of the Italian island of Sicily. Historically, the decision to invade Sicily was made far above Patton's command, by the Allied political leaders, with input from the military, but it was not Patton's decision. If you follow the movie closely enough, it does not claim that Sicily was Patton's decision, but it simply tries to show how the Germans began to obsess over Patton's movements, and how they attributed many major decisions to him, since they saw Patton as the "best commander" the Allies had.

The movie then takes the viewer into the campaign in Sicily, where Patton drives his army to great military exploits, often with great casualties. His reputation is tarnished by his unstable temperament which is put into the spotlight by his slapping of a shell shocked soldier in a hospital. He then threatens to shoot the soldier himself. The Germans think this whole episode is a ruse to cover what they believe is Patton's real mission, the command of the Allied forces assembling for the invasion of German-occupied France. They so respect Patton, they cannot believe his slapping of a soldier would keep the Allies from giving "their best general" the top command. Herein is one of Patton's historical legacies; he fights to free people from the Nazis, yet his love of war and his tactics, ruthless at times, are similar to those of the Nazis. The fact that the German military was so respectful and fearful of Patton has only served Patton's critics as proof of his Nazi-like similarities. That is something you'll have to decide for yourself.

The movie takes the action to France, where Patton, deprived of the top command, is given command of an army that will lead the breakthrough effort in Normandy. The Allied advance has been held in relative check by the Germans, under none other than Field Marshal Rommel. With Montgomery also present in France, Patton and Monty race to see who can get to Germany first and secure a German surrender. Patton's inability to control his temper, and his statements to the press, keeps him in hot water throughout the movie (and in real life), including AFTER the war, when he said the Allies should then have gone to war with Soviet Russia, even rearming the just defeated German troops to do so.

If you have never seen this picture, please do so! If you haven't seen it for years, see it again. It is readily available on DVD. It is a war picture, but it is really about Patton first and foremost, and George C. Scott is unforgettable in the title role. For those learning German or for those wanting to practice their understanding of German, the film has several scenes in German (with English subtitles); likewise, there is a bit of French, too.

* General Omar Bradley, Patton's close associate during the war (sometimes being his subordinate and sometimes his superior), was a consultant for the film, and author Ladislas Farago's book "Patton: Ordeal and Triumph" provided much of the material for the script. Bradley, also a highly successful American commander during World War Two, had a very different personality compared to Patton, and the two, while friends, often clashed over matters. Bradley is portrayed in the movie by Karl Malden, who then went on to star in the television crime and detective drama, "The Streets of San Francisco," during much of the 1970s.  

WORD HISTORY:
General-This word, used as both an adjective and as a noun, goes back to the Indo European root "gen," which meant "produce, offspring." This gave its Latin "offspring" (I couldn't help that) "genus," with the meaning "type, kind, stock, race," a word still used in scientific/botanical lingo. This then gave Latin "generalis," with the meaning "from the overall genus, from the whole." This gave Old French, a heavily Latin-based language, "general," with the same meaning. The word seems to have been borrowed into English in the late 1100s or early 1200s in its adjectival form and still with the meaning "from the overall body or class of something;" that is, "not specific," and we still use that meaning today, as in, for instance, "general store;" that is, "a store that sells a little of everything, not a specialty store." During the 1500s, French used the term "capitaine general" for a military rank for "a captain in charge of a large body of troops," and "general" was still an adjective in this form. French, English and other languages dropped the "capitaine" part, leaving "general," a noun form, for a superior commander. German, too, borrowed the word in the same form, "General," but the pronunciation uses a hard "g."