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The movie shows Patton after visiting the wounded seeing a shell-shocked soldier. The G.I. was unable to continue fighting and had been sent behind the lines for treatment. Patton is outraged when he sees the soldier who does not have any physical wounds and is assumed by him to be a malingerer and he verbally and physically assaults him. When this was seen by a reporter it was widely publicized in America and elsewhere <ref>Lovelace, Alexander G. "The Image of a General: The Wartime Relationship between General George S. Patton Jr. and the American Media", Journalism History, 40 (no. 2 (Summer 2014)), pp. 108–120</ref>. This incident did lead to Patton being ordered to stand down and he was not given a front-line posting for almost a year. However, what the movie failed to show was that Patton slapped two different soldiers who he accused of being cowards. The scene where Patton apologizes to the soldier was accurate. The movie accurately reflects Patton’s reaction to his disgrace in Sicily.

It is generally accepted that Patton or "Old Blood and Guts" as his men liked to call him was an outstanding soldier who possessed an oversized personality. He captures the essence of the man and his many contradictions. Patton was a cultured man and believed in traditional values yet he could also be crude and a bully.<ref>Essame, H., Patton: A Study in Command (New York City: Scribner & Sons, 1995), p. 67</ref> The drive and the ambition of Patton are also brilliantly captured in the movie. He was a very ambitious man and believed that he was a great leader and from childhood he believed that he was destined for greatness.