Review of Patton (1970) by Shane S — 06 Sep 2011

So, it's a movie that glamorizes the life of Gen. Patton AND a critique of his admittedly outdated tactics. This movie, despite trying to show Patton's gaping faults as a general and a person, does indeed give off the impression that he is one hell of a commanding officer.

I still don't get why Internet personalities misinterpret this film as "glory is so awesome - get it any way you can." It's obvious from the script that glory isn't exactly an awesome thing - in the end, despite Patton whipping the Germans back to Berlin, he's just another human walking his dog. Another human who had his fifteen minutes of fame and was thrown out when people simply did not see any need for him anymore. If anything, this film should make the likes of Linkara and That Guy with the Glasses into the most humble people out there. They shouldn't try to go towards ambitious things if they know they're not going to succeed - the only reason why Patton tried those "impossible" things was because he had the power to do so.

Cinematography's beautiful, by the way. Now I'm off to watch some Terrence Malick.