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Contents © 2004
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

TALK ABOUT MOVIES
June 2004

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Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Starring George C. Scott, Karl Malden. 1970, color, USA, English/German/French/Russian, 170 minutes. Available at Kensington Video.

Matthew: He's in love with war -- that's why he says he was there at the great historical battles.

Ernie: He believes in winning war to achieve peace.

Matthew: Not him. He is, like the German researcher says, "a pure warrior."

Ernie: He's going to have some love for war, since war is the framework for military virtue. The question is, does he love virtue or glory more?

Matthew: It's clear he has a love for military virtue, starting with discipline. He wants his soldiers to be presentable and punctual. He knows that discipline will affect how they fight. But I say Glory. He pushes his men until their tanks run out of gas, and they're sitting ducks before the enemy. It's after that, while he's surveying the carnage, that he says, "God help me, I love it so." And he calls D-Day "the opportunity of a lifetime." For what? Glory. He talks of being allowed to fulfill his destiny.

Ernie: But he catches himself there -- though he says God will not allow him to be kept out of the war, he concludes, "His will be done." And at the end, he says that even Roman conquerors were reminded in the midst of victory that "all glory is fleeting."