Patton

Annotation for KRRR! 2010 by Řehoř K. Pernath

General George S. Patton is not a nice guy – in fact, you could say he is an arrogant, selfish, bossy and aggressive bastard, but a damn good soldier. He is deeply convinced of his truth and the legitimacy of the demands placed on the soldiers, whom he does not hesitate to physically attack if he feels that they are being lazy or, God forbid, cowardly. The film ingeniously portrays Patton through his complicated relationship with the much milder General Omar Bradley. Patton really lived, in case anyone was unaware of it, and the film itself is one of the important works of that incredible period of the late sixties and early seventies, when similar films were considered mainstream in American cinema. One of the screenwriters of the film was Francis Ford Coppola, whose participation was considered a kind of betrayal by his friends from the “independent” film circles. But Coppola managed to get some serious money, produce George Lucas's film debut at his Zoetrope studio, and most importantly, he was "included" on the list of potential directors for The Godfather. The most important element of this unpleasantly impressive war drama, however, can be considered the actor George C. Scott in the lead role, who was apparently in a similar human-professional relationship to Patton. He is still professionally stunning in the role of the psychotic general, and as a person he showed himself immediately when he arrogantly sent the Academy and the Oscar for Best Actor to hell, because he supposedly did not portray Patton believably enough. But we can't care less, right? Quickly to the cinema, where there is no risk of someone getting punched in the nose by Patton for three hours of lazy sitting in the hall. Which sounds pretty cowardly, so...