The phrase “met expectations” implies a lot of things. It’s frequently used to describe a work that’s mediocre or merely passable. But when I bought a DVD copy of Patton, I had great hopes. I expected a timeless masterpiece of film, anchored by a sublime performance from George C. Scott. So when I say that Patton met my expectations, I mean that as very high praise indeed.

There are two things that make this movie a true classic. The first one is scope. The period setting of this movie is flawless and every perfectly-crafted detail is on display. The movie takes great pains to show every tank that blows up, every soldier slaughtered, every musician marching in rank and every desperate pauper who loots a battlefield.

We see Patton’s actions both in and out of the war zone and we see their consequences on a global scale. We see British and American soldiers working with Patton and plotting behind his back. We see Patton in the field commanding troops, we see him marching beside them and we see him giving medals to the wounded. Through vehicle decorations, we also get glimpses into Patton’s effect on troop morale.

Then there are the Nazis. The movie very pointedly neglects to mention the Holocaust, nor does it make any attempt to paint the Nazis as evil. Rather, Patton makes a subtle decision to portray the Nazis as equals to the Americans: Equal in intelligence, equal in patriotism, equal in strength and both equally hindered by internal politics and incompetence. Additionally, the Nazis are very cleverly used as an external means of exploring our title character. They frequently detail Patton’s backstory and comment on his character, all toward the purpose of knowing their enemy. This is exposition done right, folks.

Patton also has a way of making even the lowliest character three-dimensional. It’s very frequent for the movie to introduce solid and realistic characters, only to dispose of them just as quickly a few moments later. Their sole purpose is to add background. The film is better off for their momentary presence and no worse off for their sudden disappearance. It’s exceptionally rare to see this in movies because making it work is damned hard. But it was a primary strength of Casablanca and it’s a primary strength of Patton.

The bottom line is that everything is shown, nothing is sanitized and the illusion of reality is never anything less than rock solid. All of this detail does pad out the running time significantly, but it does so much for the film, I can’t hold that against it.

The second thing that makes this movie great is George C. Scott. It is stupidly inadequate to say that every scene he has in this movie is the stuff that Oscar gold is made of. I don’t have the words to describe his performance. I only have this link.

That monologue comes at the very start of the movie, even before the opening credits. And in those six minutes, Scott has presented us with everything we could possibly need to know about his character. He grabs the audience’s attention with that monologue and he doesn’t ever let go until long after the credits have rolled.

There’s an especially remarkable scene in which he fantasizes a duel with Nazi rival Erwin Rommel.

I’d meet Rommel face to face; him in his tank and me in mine. We’d meet out there somewhere… salute each other, maybe drink a toast, then we’d button up and do battle. The winner would decide the outcome of the entire war.

This is one of many times in which Scott portrays the fascinating idea that Patton doesn’t see the Nazis as an evil, but more as a formidable opponent. He doesn’t want to eradicate them for goodness’ sake, but to defeat them out of pure competitive spirit. The scene is also one of many that portrays Patton as a devout fanatic of war history, disillusioned with where the the world is going in regards to combat and international relations.

In fact, I’d say that the true antagonist of Patton is nothing more or less than the world around him. Patton is a 20th century man who’d much rather be living in the 16th century. In fact, he desires this so much that he’s come to believe he really was a warrior in past lives, living and fighting in ancient times. Not that the fantasy helps any — Patton remains entirely incapable of dealing with the modern social and diplomatic norms so familiar to his peers in the Allied armies, not to mention the journalists and politicians back home. To that end, Patton is sidelined quite frequently, though he continues to lead his troops through impossible tasks.

Many biopics have a common problem in that they don’t know how to end. They ramble endlessly (A Beautiful Mind), they end too abruptly (Kinsey) or they end on a nonsensical note (The Aviator). But this film ends perfectly, with an apropos voice-over from Patton. The movie has an acute knowledge of the fact that Patton can only ever be a warrior who could never live in times of peace (“The absence of war will kill him,” said Nazi Cpt. Steiger). So the film spends barely five minutes with Patton after combat ceases in Europe.

If I have one nitpick with this movie, it’s the music. Jerry Goldsmith shows expertise in knowing which scenes need music and which ones don’t, but I found what little music he does provide to be rather bland.

Nevertheless, this is — in every respect — the caliber of movie quality that all would-be Oscar winners should aspire to. It’s perfectly cast, perfectly shot, perfectly scripted and perfectly directed. Patton has rightfully earned its place in cinema history as a classic and a masterpiece.