Patton

Patton The 1970 movie Patton written by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner stars legendary actor George C. Scott portraying General George S. Patton Jr., America’s most flamboyant military commander who was both loved and hated by his own men as well as his superiors. The movie only follows Patton’s leadership of the 2nd Corps and the 7th and 3rd Army during World War II and while the viewer is not privy to Patton’s entire military career there is more than enough content to get a feel for the multi-faceted man. In watching the film I was particularly struck by the question “Do motion pictures about American history depict what really happened'” After a brief film summary I shall endeavor to answer this question. The movie opens with Patton in full dress uniform standing in front of a huge American flag addressing his troops. After that we see Patton arriving at Kasserine to take command of the American 2nd Corps, demoralized after a defeat by the Germans. Patton proceeds to whip the 2nd Corps into shape and win battle after battle. Then Patton was sent to Sicily to command patton, movie, film, general, after, patton’s, american, real, bradley, through, life, history, during, army, out, very, soldier, military, just, feel, before, battle, one, historical, finke, 3rd, way, war, troops, things, speech, sicily, shown, seen, really