The Last Days of Patton

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.

George C. Scott is excellent as is the rest of the cast in this compelling and very well made film. Most of the other posters seem to have missed the point of the film though. "Patton" 1970 was an epic war film which played on Patton's mythic status and personality extremes. Scott played it with such skill that he made it become more than just a war film and it took on the quality of a Shakespearean tragedy. Sequels in general have a hard time usually because they are lazy and thinly-veiled remakes of the original film they follow. The very few excellent sequels that I have seen take a new direction to the original and explore new territory e.g. French Connection 2. This is probably why "The Last Days of Patton" receives such low ratings - this film is not a war film at all, is not epic in scope or budget(being made for t.v.) and concentrates instead upon Patton's personal friendships, family, his youth and also the softer side to his character that was not really explored in "Patton". The story is quite sensitive and moving - very different to the original but in it's own way just as good. An excellent companion piece that complete's the Patton story.

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.

This film, a made-for-TV sequel to the movie "Patton", is exceptionally well done. With essentially the same cast as the film, it follows the career of General George S. Patton from victory in Europe to his untimely death following an automobile accident in Bavaria. While the movie "Patton" portrays the brusque, sometimes profane side of General Patton, this sequel shows his softer side. He was a brilliant strategist and tactician but also felt deeply the role and demands of the common soldier, with whom he desired to be buried. The script for this film was derived from the book by Ladislav Farrago, author of the excellent biography "Patton". Farrago was a WWII OSS agent who experienced the rigors of war firsthand. At the time he wrote "The last days..." and writing about Patton's painful last days in the hospital, he was himself dying of cancer. His wife and son finished the work. This film is an important footnote to history and should be recorded on DVD.

... 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.