(viewed on 7/13/11)
Was it Patton or Platoon that my dad always tried to get me to watch when I was a kid? Maybe both. I have a feeling Patton is the superior film.
Patton was a bad-ass, worthy of an excellent biopic. It took me a few tries to watch the entire film, but on the second try I was hooked. Adoring war, making it your business to kill as many humans as possible, living for glory… I don’t relate or respect. His opening speech is terrifying! But what’s interesting about Patton, and why the movie is so good, is that he’s a man out of time. He thinks about war through the lens of history. He makes no attempt to conform to modern times. If he weren’t a general, he’d be a regular psychopath, hopefully committed. It’s fascinating.
My favorite line of the film is during a battle, as Patton watches his troops winning through his field binoculars: “You son of a bitch, I read your book!!” The man did his research.
