Patton is almost three hours long but it is a surprisingly uncomplicated movie, telling its story with clean, simple scenes and shots. Schaffner is at home here; one of the best things about his Planet of the Apes was the simplicity of style he found for it. If Planet had gotten complicated, we would have laughed at it. The simplicity of Patton does not lead to any loss of subtlety; just the reverse. Because we are freed from those semiobligatory junk scenes that clutter up most war movies (the wife at home, the “human interest” drained from ethnic character actors, the battle scenes that are
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