Patton (Cinema Classics Collection)

There's probably not a lot of neutral ground for comments on "Patton". You either loath the man as portrayed or see him as a brilliant true warrior perfectly fit in the right place at the right time. In an included intro to the movie, screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola talks about the balancing act he did in trying to appease a mostly anti-war audience of the time immersed in Vietnam yet still honor the positive aspects of this fighting general to the more traditional members of the movie audience. I believe it was a very well-done proposition and resulted in one of the finest war biopic movies ever made. You basically get General George Patton warts and all. The iconic beginning scene's image of General Patton standing in front of the screen filling American flag delivering his famous speech to the 3rd Army is burned into our cultural collective memories. George C Scott strides the entire movie like a colossus. You're mesmerized by his portrayal whether acting out the full narcissism and megalomania of Patton or showing the brilliant, heroic leadership that caused real fear in the German generals. Karl Malden is also excellent in counterpoint portraying General Omar Bradley as both close confidant and friend as well as stern, brutal critic. The movie's 3 hour run time flies by. Even if the viewer is not a big war movie fan the character study of this famous and highly controversial general is very well worth a watch. There is no question that Fox got this 2nd go around at a Blu-ray release dead on near perfect. The remastered image here is beautifully filmic with light, tight grain showing excellent detail and resolution. Colors pop when needed but are not over hyped. There is no dreaded DNR or edge enhancement present here. Just a wonderful theatrical looking image that at times has a more modern movie appearance to it rather than showing its 50+ year old age.The DTS HD Master audio sound is actually quite good with gunfire, explosions and military aircraft roaring with lots of good LFE effects. Dialog is well delineated, and the fantastic Jerry Goldsmith score comes through loud and clear with great fidelity. There are some great feature length documentaries as extras. This is a must own for war movie fans as well as anyone that would appreciate the acting clinic put on by the late great George C Scott.

Very thankful Amazon had it available. If war can ever be a joy to watch, this is it. I had a Marine Corps colonel who got the full pattern retirement with the flag on the screen and the music, and he even dressed the part. He always carried a swagger stick anyway. I loved the guy. He had a sense of humor too, pretty much like Patton. Thanks Amazon.

The times, history, character well written and portrayed. No sugar coating, but brings home human foibles that had he been allowed his tactical genius WWII might have ended sooner.

Patton with George C ScotIs an amazing film!!

The movie speaks for itself. The Blu-Ray edition is magnificent! Picture & sound are flawlessly perfect! Special features are included as well. A+!!

“All real Americans love the sting of battle…” “We’re going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks…” “We are not holding… we are advancing…”I first saw this movie in Atlanta shortly after its release in 1970. It was not my idea – it was my girlfriend’s at the time – she thought it would be a teaching lesson on what the “military mind” was like (admittedly, I felt no need to go, having just had an in-depth almost two-year tutorial in what that mind was like). No question, George C. Scott is a great actor. I’ve admired his performance as General Buck Turgidson in “Dr. Strangelove.” (“Come on, Mr. President, you’re not going to fault an entire program because of one little mistake”?) “Patton” commences with Scott, standing in front of an enormous American flag, with his swagger, riding boots and baton, making the above quoted statements during a time when I knew we had lost our first war, though it would take another five years to make it official.After a brief time in Morocco, the scene shifts to “policing up” the battlefield at the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia. It had been a significant defeat for the Americans, who were poorly led, riding in tanks called “purple heart boxes” because one piece of shrapnel, and the gasoline explodes (shortly thereafter, the Americans shifted to tanks powered by diesel, a considerably less volatile means of propulsion). Karl Malden seemed typecast to play Omar Bradley, “the G.I.’s general,” as Ernie Pyle dubbed him. Bradley and Patton would have an odd couple relationship throughout the war: Patton’s swagger and bravado to Bradley’s self-effacing humility; each seemed to need the other. At the Kasserine battlefield both were 2-star generals.In numerous ways Patton was an anachronism. He hated the 20th century, wrote poetry, believed in reincarnation. A VMI grad. He knows his history, at one point stopping the jeep from going to the present-day battlefield to look at the terrain where three Roman legions attacked and defeated the Carthaginians. “I was there,” he proclaimed. Preparing for battle, he read Rommel’s book. And there was the stupidity of standing in the middle of the street firing his 45 at a German dive bomber.After victory in North Africa over the Axis forces, the movie follows the rest of Patton’s on again, off again career during the Second World War. There is the invasion of Sicily, and the rivalry with British Field Marshall Montgomery on who would take Messina first. Patton did, and at the cost of GI lives. Ike relieved him of his command and forced him to publicly apologize to his troops for having slapped a GI in the hospital who was suffering from shell shock. Patton had loudly proclaimed he was a yellow bas… Patton was used as a “decoy” for the D-Day invasion, assigned so that Hitler would think the American main thrust would be at Calais. Later he would play a vital role leading very real American troops with armor when they broke out of the St. Lo salient and quickly liberated Paris. He would also play the essential role in relieving the 101st Airborne when they were trapped at Bastogne, in Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, when the Germans counterattacked during the winter of 1944. After the war, he hated the Russians, even causing scene at diplomatic functions. Much like General Turgidson did in Dr. Strangelove. The movie did not cover his death, during the occupation of Germany, in December 1945, caused by a car wreck, but provided that slight hint, which has helped fuel conspiracy theories, that he had “served his purpose.”Like a ball of yarn, the threads of my life have been entangled with Patton’s, even though he died the year before I was born. For an entire year, the tank that was named in his honor, the M 48A-3, was my home. Diesel-powered, for sure. The condition that so upset Patton, a soldier being “shell shocked,” now has a new name, familiar to many by its initials, PTSD. Dr. Robert J. Lifton, a Psychiatrist, was the driving force behind establishing PTSD as a recognized medical diagnosis. In his book, “Home from the War,” Dr. Lifton said that his work with Sp5 Dwight H. Johnson was instrumental in establishing that diagnosis. Sp5 Johnson was in my unit, the 1/69th Armor, and was the only crew member of five tanks that were caught in an ambush on the road to Dak To, in January 1968, who was neither killed nor wounded. For his actions that day, Sp5 Johnson was awarded the Medal of Honor.Race relations again (appropriately) are featured in the news. As for Patton’s views, Wikipedia provides the following quote, from a letter that Patton had written home to his wife: “Individually they were good soldiers, but I expressed my belief at the time, and have never found the necessity of changing it, that a colored soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor.”Sp5 Johnson, who died in 1971, in a robbery of a convenience store, was, as is the current expression, a person of color. As his mother said: “Sometimes I think Skip just grew tired of life and needed someone else to pull the trigger.”In the entire movie, the only person of color was Patton’s orderly. 4-stars for the movie.

In the history of warfare, no army has done what Patton’s Third Army did to relieve their comrades in arms at the Battle of the Bulge.In today’s world of skewed and/or omitted American history, we must reengage and remember our history. And we must be grateful to all those who gave up all their tomorrows so that you and I could have our today! And that begins by reinvigorating our patriotism!

Always a great one to watch

Present

Très bon film et au delà.Je suis allée plusieurs fois à Bastogne,le film rend très bien l atmosphère dense de la situation d alors.l acteur qui incarne Patton est particulièrement bien choisi.

Un vecchio film sempre bello

Gran edición de un clásico fílmico acerca de uno de los mas grandes Generales de la WW2. Esta version cuenta con dos discos, uno de ellos con la version original sin remasterizar, y el segundo con la edición en alta definición y los comentarios del director. Muy recomendable para toda colección.

Gekauft hatte ich mir den Film einfach nur aus dem Grund, dass ich etwas mehr über George S Patton erfahren wollte, dessen Bitterböse Zitate mitlerweile fast schon bekannter sind als seine Taten. Doch was ich dann zu sehen bekam übertraf alle Erwartungen. Man möge mir wiedersprechen, wenn ich mich irren sollte. Doch für mich lässt dieses Meisterwerk obwohl es aus den USA kommt den britischen Edelmonumentalfilm der 60er Jahre im Stile David Leans wieder neu aufleben. Den meienr Meinung nach handel es sich hierbei nicht um einen klassichen (Anti-)Kriegsfilm, der meist aus der Sicht eienr Gruppe Soldaten gedraht wurde. Vielmehr handelt es sich um eine durchaus interessante Charakterstudie dieser wahrlich umstrittenen Persöhnlichkeit. Got sei Dank ist diese aber nciht wie im modernen Film als blasses Drama sondern als bildgewaltiger Monumentalfilm inszeniet worden. Ähnlich wie bei Lawrence von Arabien wird dem Zuschauer ein durchaus interessanter Einblick in den Charakter des Protagonisten gewährt. Gleichzeitig weiß der Film durchs eine Landschafts und Schlachtenbilder den Zuschauer zu beeindrucken. Der typsich Pattonsche Humor sorgt zusätzlich noch für eine angenehme Atmosphäre.Natürlich kann es sein, dass das ganze hier und da auch mal von den historischen Tatsachen abschweift. Doch niemals verliert sich der Film im reinen Pathos. Vielmehr wirft er ein Durchaus kritisches Licht auf George S Patton. Natürlich befidnen wir uns hier außerhalb der klassich philosphischen Fragn des Antikriegsfilmes. Im Prinzip bedient sich nämlcihd er Film der klassichen Perspektive des Historienfilm. Diese Darstellung Pattons, als großer Feldherr in der Tradition Alexander des Großen oder Julius Caesars entspricht schließlich auch Pattons Selbstverständnis.Fazit: Überzeuge Pazifisten, die für Kriegsromantiker wie Churchill oder Patton nichts übrig haben dürften hier nicht viel Freude haben, auch wenn sie sich durch Pattons teils menschenverachtende Methoden teils bestätigt fühlen könnten.Wer aber Freude am britischen Monumentalfilm ala Lawrence von Arabien hat, der wird hier mit Fruede feststellen, dass auch Hollywood zu solchen Meisterwerken fähig ist.