Patton/YMMV

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 Patton: Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your BOOK!

  • Memetic Mutation: Patton's "You Magnificent Bastard, I read your book!" spawned a new phrase which, among other things, named a trope.
    • The scene of Patton before a huge American flag giving the world's most famous pep talk has been homaged and parodied in other films.
  • Misaimed Fandom: The film was a favorite of Richard Nixon's, who watched it shortly before ordering an invasion of Cambodia.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Patton nearly sinks into Complete Monster territory during the Sicily campaign. Upset that Monty is trying to claim all the glory, Patton ignores orders and follows his own way to Palermo, leaving Bradley's Army to suffer heavy losses against dug-in German defenders. Enraged that a mule-cart is blocking a bridge he shoots the mule in front of the horrified Sicilian farmer. And topping it all is when Patton discovers a victim of shell-shock at a field hospital and goes berserk, slapping the soldier. Patton wins Sicily but the slapping incident nearly destroys his career.
    • Your mileage may indeed vary in many of these cases, as nearly all of them are justified (in at least Patton's mind). To Patton, the Germans in Palermo would have had to have been dealt with sooner or later, and his high-cost tactics averted heavier casualties later on. The mule on the bridge was holding up a column and exposing them to air attack; Patton had personally witnessed several American soldiers killed and wounded by strafing Germans just moments before. Only the last is truly an unprovoked Jerkass moment, as Patton famously disdained the concept of battle fatigue, and slapped the soldier out of pique.
    • Patton returns to the Moral Event Horizon at the end of the movie, after the Nazis are finished and the war is over. Eager to keep fighting, Patton itches to take on the Russian Army, telling his handler from Eisenhower's office he can figure out a way to stage an incident and blame it on the Soviets. The second the handler hangs up the phone in disgust, Patton realizes he's just killed his career.