In God We Still Trust

Patton 1970 Film Analysis

Got a C on this paper... probably the spent the longest time on this paper ever.

The movie Patton(1970) was set during the Second World War. Its main character was the General George S. Patton. The movie follows the events starting with the Battle of Kasserine Pass which was the United States first engagement with the Germans in Northern Africa. The Americans were decimated in this battle unprepared for the German tactics. They were ambushed in a pass and over 1800 soldiers were killed. They were then led by General Lloyd Fredenhall who was soon replaced by General Patton who marched the German Army who was controlled by General Rommel out of Africa. General Patton then participated in the Invasion of Sicily. After this Patton was used as a decoy during the invasion of Normandy, but eventually led the way through to the march to Berlin. The movie portrays many historical figures other than George Patton, such as Erwin Rommel, Bernard Montgomery, and Omar Bradley, but follows them as they are involved with Patton’s role in the War. The locations go from Northern Africa to London to Berlin. There are many verifiable events that occur throughout the movie. Patton was released in 1970; about 24 years after the war had ended. It was set starting during the Second World War’s North African Campaign and ending in the Conquering of Berlin. This time period is well documented from many points of view. There were also living people who had participated in the events depicted in the film. General Bradley was the lead consultant to this movie and had participated heavily in most all aspects of World War II. Patton presents an accurate historical representation of World War II and General Patton through its characters and settings.
Omar Bradley is the first main character presented to the audience. General Bradley arrives at the scene right after the Battle of Kasserine Pass. He is sent by General Eisenhower for reconnaissance of the status of the Army after such a massacre. He was recruited by General Patton to be his First in Command during the Northern African Campaign. General Bradley is accurately portrayed in the movie and is represented well with his command of the army and the pushing back of the German Army across the continent of Africa in retreat. He then traveled to Algiers to help plan the invasion of Sicily. He actively participated by moving his division through the center of Sicily to follow General Patton and General Montgomery into Messina. General Bradley was in charge of the Normandy Invasion. Once they had landed General Bradley had command of the Army and pushed the German Army back through France. The movie accurately reflects the transition from General Patton being in charge of General Bradley to General Bradley being in charge of General Patton. Hitler commanded the German Troops to reinforce their position against General Bradley’s Army, while allowing General Patton to continue progress towards Berlin.(6)
Erwin Rommel is the second main character presented to the audience. Erwin Rommel is responsible for the defeat of the Americans in the Battle of Kasserine Pass. General Rommel plans his second attack once he learns that General Patton has been assigned to the newly rebuilding army on the Northern African front. General Rommel is heavily defeated in the second battle and is forced to retreat across the continent of Northern Africa with General Bradley chasing. Following this battle General Rommel is called back to Berlin to meet with Hitler. General Patton is depicted reading one of General Rommel’s books, which is accurate because General Rommel wrote several books. General Rommel is also shown openly criticizing Hitler in a scene in the movie, which accurately reflects his character and ultimately led to his demise, which is by forced suicide under the order of Hitler. (9, 10)
General Patton arrives on the scene after General Bradley has ascertained the situation to take charge of the Northern African front. The movie is highly based on General Patton and a biography written almost twenty years after his death in 1944 was the main resource. Fortunately General Bradley was still living during the creation of the film and was used as a consultant to the film. General Bradley was the main associate to General Patton throughout World War II. This contributed to the accuracy of the film. Some of General Patton’s behaviors can be validated by General Bradley. The aggressiveness seen such as when their African base was under attack and General Patton pulls out his sidearm and attempts to shoot at incoming aircraft is an example of the eccentric behavior Patton displays. He stops at a few locations and talks about being in major battles between ancient cultures with great sincerity. General Patton had showed a great desire to be the hero of the war, and made several attempts to make battle decisions to ensure that he would be the reaper of the glory of war. The American public regarded General Patton as the true hero of the war even though he was not the highest ranking officer. During the Invasion of Sicily, General Patton chose a route through Sicily to ensure his Army was the first into Messina to be the ones welcomed as liberators. (4) General Patton showed his displeasure in not being in command during the Normandy Invasion, and relished the opportunity to take command of an Army division even though he would be a subordinate of General Bradley. General Patton seemed to be happy to be in competition with General Bernard Montgomery. (3)
General Bernard Montgomery was the British General who assisted in many major battles throughout World War II. General Montgomery successfully squeezed General Rommel into General Patton’s direction and furthermore out of Africa. (5) General Montgomery worked in coordination with the American leadership, with the full support of General Eisenhower. General Montgomery was in competition with General Patton for the glory of being known as the winner. General Montgomery was included in the invasion of Sicily and wanted to be the first to Messina. Unfortunately General Patton arrived at Messina first to receive honor of being considered the liberator. General Montgomery was alluded to by General Eisenhower as misleading to his account of the Battle of the Bulge to make it seem as if he were the one who won the war, and that the Americans played only a slight role. General Montgomery was highly honored by the British, although his hubris was only envied by General Patton.
The movie Patton uses settings to create a realistic picture of the surroundings that were dealt with during World War II. Starting with the aftermath of the Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in Northern Africa, the setting is accurately portrayed as a Chaparral biome with not strictly desert with some moderate small vegetation. Tunisia borders the Mediterranean which is the reason for this type of non-desert setting. After the Axis defeat following the deployment of new leadership in the American Army and the push of the British Army in the Northern African campaign, the Axis retreated to the Island of Sicily. The Allies were steadily moving their Armies to the Island of Sicily with General Patton mounting a charge from Palermo and General Montgomery coming from Syracuse. They pushed the Axis powers off the island over to the mainland by overwhelming Messina from their respective locations. After the victory on the Italian front the movie then moves towards D-Day and Patton’s non-involvement with the event. Patton is stationed in London as a decoy to confuse the Germans who well expect General Patton to lead any charge that the Allies had planned. Patton then gets to rejoin the battlefront in France meeting with his new commanding officer General Bradley. Through coordination with the British Army with General Montgomery they invoke Operation Cobra which in turn results in the Battle of the Bulge. This is spearheaded by General Patton with the goal of taking the city of Bastogne, Belgium. The taking of Bastogne was an important part to give the Allies the advantage in the war. Bastogne was the center for many major roads in the area that were under German control. Throughout the movie real places can be viewed and verified as being accurate. The movie named accurate places and moved in a specific timeline that displayed real movement of the Allied effort against the Germans.
Patton gave an accurate representation of several historical events throughout the campaign of World War II. The small period of time that lapsed between the movie and the historical event played an important part in the accuracy of the account of history. The utilization of one of the main major players as a consultant to the movie assisted in creating an accurate display of events. Verification of events throughout the movie are recreated through interviews taken from people such as Sgt. Howard Gray’s account of his necessity to get his Gasoline trucks, “The Redball Express” to General Patton’s tanks. (8)The rise of the information age has created a vast amount of information directly from the time period that allows for accurate representation and fact checking of most events in the 20th century.

Works Cited:
1. Battle of Sicily: March from the Beaches; TIME; July 26, 1943 Rick Atkinson
2. World Battlefronts: Battle in France: Meeting in Normandy; TIME; July 10,1944
3. World Battlefronts: The Star Halfback; TIME; April 09, 1945
4. Eighth Army is on the Move, Churchill Says; The Spartanburg Herald; March 21, 1943; Associated Press, p.1
5. British Watch: Rommel’s Rout; LIFE; December 28, 1942, p. 22
6. Omar Nelson Bradley; LIFE; June 5, 1944; Charles Christian Wertenbaker, p.100
7. Germany, Hitler, and WWII; Gerhard L. Weinberg, 1995, p.267
8. General Patton’s Forgotten Troops: African Americans Soldiers in World War II in their own words, History Channel; Washington High School; 1998; Paul Larue
9. Patton and Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century; Dennis Showalter; 2005; p.2
10. Interrogation of Wilhelm Keitel; Col. JH Amen, Office of US Chief Counsel of the Prosecution of Axis Criminality; September 28,1945

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