One of the greatest war movies that I’ve seen is undoubtedly the film Patton. This movie shows the side of General George Smith Patton commanding the United States
George C. Scott who plays Patton is remarkable in this film by the way he conveys Patton’s emotions and intense theories behind warfare and what it means to be a coward. This movie is similar to Slaughterhouse-Five in a lot of ways. Vonnegut doesn’t describe ghastly imagery of war, but rather the personal motives for soldiers. Billy says he wants his companions to leave him alone, he wants to quit and go back home. There is a scene in Patton where General Patton erupts on a soldier who claims he’s been injured and can’t go on. This side character is a lot like Billy because he doesn’t wish to continue on even though it may be dishonorable.
I think Mary O’Hare would not like this movie because it makes war out to be a complex game that is played by loony individuals that don’t have to feel the effects of war because they are simply controlling the pieces, not being the pieces.
Ahhh yes yes, truly a wartime classic. I would agree that this movie has a distant feel to regular warfare, I think General Patton feels like a song from yesteryear. Twas a great song once sung many a year ago, One Night in Bangkok, "...And thank God I'm only watching the game -- controlling it..."
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites too Mark! (I stole your idea for my war movie haha) I really love what Coppolla does with the screenplay because there are a lot of people out there that hated General Patton, but Coppolla makes him into a character that everyone can relate to. On my DVD of Patton, Coppolla talks about how he intentionally tried to do this.
ReplyDelete