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George C. Scott famously won an Oscar for his role as General Patton, and refused to accept it because he disapproved of creating competition between actors. So, after having seen this movie, I not only admire Patton, but the man who played him, both for their presence and their principles.

It was interesting to hear Frances Ford Coppola's introduction to the movie, which tells about how he wrote the script a long time before production began and that everyone hated the opening sequence, which is now a very famous movie moment, of Patton standing fully decorated in front of a giant American flag, giving a speech. I like how the edits cut closer and closer to his face, just as the figure of Patton is becoming bigger and bigger in military significance as the movie progresses. Similarly, at the movie's end, we see him from a very wide shot, as his moment in the sun is complete, and his sense of self-importance is humbled a little bit.

I enjoyed this movie very much, especially the emphasis on Patton as a 16th century man in the 20th century (almost reminds one of the appeal of an analog cop in a digital world in the Die Hard series), who approaches his battles from a wide historical context. I don't know how much of the movie is based on fact, but the sense of admiration from the Nazis, who sensed that Patton was their biggest threat even though the British military were in the spotlight most of the time, was a nice touch. While the movie does display a lot of his temper, rule-breaking (it was originally titled "Patton: Salute to a Rebel"), and big mouth, it balances out these moments with the poetics of of the man, including portions of his poem, Through a Glass Darkly. I found the poem here - not bad for a military man!

Through all of this, as well, the movie looks good, sounds good, and has little downtime, even in its subdued scenes. I thought it was a great piece of filmmaking and a warm attempt at giving the audience as complete a picture of a man as possible in two and a half hours. I came away from watching the movie with a fired up attitude about the sense of respect for war veterans he emitted, and told Ric, "I liked that he hit that soldier on his helmet, dangit!" Watching this movie made me think about Colin, who, by the way, is already one month into his deployment and has already made significant contributions to his mission out there.

Winner of several Academy Awards and nominated for even more, I think Patton fully deserved the recognition it received and am happy I finally got to it on the queue (especially considering how long ago I added it!). Great movie.