The Last Days of Patton

Like Exorcist III, a great movie that was largely shunned by original Exorcist fans because it wasn't spooky enough, "The Last Days of Patton" is another piece of powerful cinema which was shunned by many Patton fans because it didn't have enough action. The point in both of these sequels was not to continue/rehash the heart-pounding spectacle of the first, but rather to present a quiet, heavy, introspective, script driven drama. Who else but the great George C Scott can pull this off?

"The Last Days of Patton" begins on June 7, 1945 when a victorious Patton returned to Bedford, MA to throngs of fans & reporters, and it takes us through the last 6 months of Patton's life which ended in December that same year. There's no combat, no gunfire, no "war" other than a frustrated General Patton attempting to take charge and rebuild a war-ravaged Bavaria, much to the opposition of Eisenhower's political interests. This is a quiet drama that focuses on the private hell of a soldier without a war.

George C Scott and an excellent script full of literary quotations make this an intellectual film, and I'd be lying if I said I recognized all the references. I found myself pausing the movie so I could google things like who said "Up he rose, and forth they went / Away from battleground, fortress, tent / Mountain, wilderness, field and farm / Death and the General, arm-in-arm" (save you the trouble: it's Arthur Guiterman). The character also quotes Kipling, Foutenelle, Napoleon and others, with each quote holding deep significance and insight into the mind of the general.

One of the most memorable lines, spoken as only Scott could with a mix of bitter irony and light hearted humor: "I do not suffer, my friends; but I feel a certain difficulty in existence."

Supporting actors and actresses were fantastic with a standing ovation for Murray Hamilton (Patton's friend General Hap Gay) who himself was dying of cancer during filming and passed away the month it was released, Sep 1986. Knowing this, you might be particularly affected by a scene where Hap laments the impending death of his friend Patton, a quiet but powerful monologue where he talks about the tragedy of a great life ending in such a common way.

The only "problem" with this film, through no fault of its own, is that it's in serious need of restoration. The only available copies seem to be on DVD transferred from VHS in 4:3 made-for-tv screen size. I would pay good money if this were remastered from the original 35mm print and released on blu-ray. In the first half there are stunning scenes of the European natural landscape, as well as convincing recreations of war-torn Bavaria with wrecked streets and castles. Unfortunately since this is an obscure film, we might never get that. So grab it while you can.

I'm curious about the assertion that some have made that the film was a "character assassination." I myself saw nothing that would lead one to come to such a conclusion. Certainly, the film indicated he was not without faults, but I believe this only served to make this formidable militarist icon more approachable, actually breathing life into a dusty history lesson.

I enjoyed the film a great deal, even though I think it could have benefited by some reduction in the length. The ending was quite moving- -giving us a personal glimpse into the last moments of a living, breathing human being--instead of just a decorated martinet. It forced me to turn my thoughts to my own mortality and the events that have shaped my own life. As a result, I had a long and fruitful discussion with my parents which had been long over due.

I'd recommend the film highly, giving it an "8" out of 10.

I found this movie compelling to watch. Selecting only the final days of its subject's life, it is not really a biopic. There is no plot--the life of any person seldom has a plot. I call it a character study, probably the least spectacular of all dramas. What character studies lack in spectacle, they're supposed to make up for with a fascinating portrait of the subject's personality--like looking at a great oil painting of a famous person--except that it's a motion picture. Having said that, I found this film to be remarkably well done and could have been better were it not budgeted as a TV movie. I think the film's theme (rather than plot) is how a person handles his own impending death. When the subject is General Patton, a first-class soldier and real hero, a man who always wanted to die by the last bullet of the last battle of the last war of his life, and the circumstances of his dying is by a fender-bender that breaks his neck and renders him an invalid for 12 days, a recipe for a real dramatic character study emerges. How a man like Patton handled the absurdity of his transition to death is the human question that permeates the whole movie. It starts off by his return to the States for the first time since November 1942. He has his wife on his arm, and the couple is surrounded by reporters. The reporters demonstrate that, whether pro or con, Patton is a legend and he makes good copy. Beatrice at his side reminds us that he was also a family man--and a good one--a man who compliments his wife publicly. The film is filled with reminiscing flashbacks which shows two things: that Beatrice was a good match for Patton, particularly the scene where she drives the tank prototype, at her husband's request, to demonstrate the ease with which it can be driven before the Army brass; a man who is sorely tempted to see no more point to continue living is tugged one way by memories (thus, acknowledgment) of having lived a good life and tugged another way to put up a cheerful front in facing the absurd, anticlimactic present. Beatrice realizes this in a scene with General "Hap" Gay in a darkened hospital room where she reveals her understanding that her husband has everyone fooled by his charm and bravado--but her husband is slipping and he knows it. The movie shows that Patton's heroism was not an act put on for his soldiers or for the public or the press--nor was it self-delusion--his heroism ran deep--steeped as he was in his knowledge of history, his own ancestry and family, the film shows that the dying, invalid Patton was heroic in another way: he was kind and generous to his doctors and their staff; he tried greatly to spare his wife any unnecessary hurt. Even in his attitudes towards the de-Nazification policy--is not driven by any political motive. No real warrior takes any pleasure in seeing a vanquished people suffer after they've been disarmed. Given his upbringing and values he had demonstrated all his life, I believe that Patton saw his job as military governor of Bavaria to help the Bavarian people survive the winter and to get back on their feet. Even if he were wrong about de-Nazification, the film is interested in the character that drove the man. His attitude towards the Soviets was probably also driven by what he saw as very cruel and heartless conduct by the Soviet forces against the conquered German population. This movie is not for everyone. It will not entertain anyone who needs real spectacle to remain entertained. The natural audience for this kind of movie is a more mature--or emotionally deep--audience.

... but it isn't as bad as the other commentators might make you think.

Based on Ladislas Farago's followup to Patton: Ordeal and Triumph (one of the source materials for the original film), Last Days shows Patton on his deathbed, and intercuts flashbacks, mostly of his early life, his courtship of Bea Ayers, his days at the Point and before the first world war. (Patton's adventures on Pershing's 1916 Punitive Expedition to Mexico, and in World War I could make another great film, in the right hands.)

Eva Marie Saint plays Bea very well, and it's always nice to see a pair of contemporaries playing an aging couple, rather than allowing the casting to be dictated by "who's hot," and then relying on makeup to age them.

Overall, a good movie, although I'm tempted to agree that is was an unnecessarily long movie.

It is OK that they made a sequel concerning Patton's life at the end of the war. Proud of his Anglo-Saxon heritage, he has some identification with the Germans for this reason and because he was strongly anti-communist. Whether he made some of the specific remarks he made here is open to question (it can more easily be proved that he said something than he did not say something, of course). In any event, it is historically true that he made an impolitic remark that, like his soldier-slapping, got him into trouble and transferred away from his military governor position.

But after he is seriously injured (spinal column and paralysis) in the auto accident, the movie drags on way too long, over an hour when he is in a hospital bed. There are reminisces from him and many parties, flashbacks, and many well wishers and helpers. The problem is that nothing really happens of significance, it is just a failed attempt at tear-jerking. Patton himself was fiery, so not a person who lends to easy identification with all the softness. For those worried about being bored, I would stay away or leave halfway through. Clearly, a maximum of 20 minutes was needed to cover this period and the director's insistence on doing much more wrecked the movie, in my book. Adding to the pre-injury time would have been a better decision.