Patton (film)
Patton is a
1970 biographical film which tells the story of General
George Patton's commands during
World War II. It stars
George C. Scott,
Karl Malden, and
Michael Bates. It won many
Academy Awards, including the
Academy Award for Best Picture. The
opening monologue, delivered by Scott with an enormous American flag behind him, remains an iconic image in film.
In
2003 the United States
Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the
National Film Registry.
The film documents the story of General George S. Patton (
George C. Scott) during World War II, beginning with his taking charge of demoralized American forces in North Africa after the disastrous
Battle of the Kasserine Pass. He participates in the
invasion of Sicily and races against the equally egotistical British General
Montgomery to capture the port of
Messina. After he beats Montgomery into the city, he is relieved of command for slapping a
shell-shocked soldier in an Army hospital and threatening him with one of his signature ivory-handled .45-caliber pistols. Later, he begs his former subordinate, General
Omar Bradley (
Karl Malden), for a command before the war ends. He is given the
U.S. Third Army, and distinguishes himself by leading it in relieving the vital town of
Bastogne during the
Battle of the Bulge, following on with thefamously rapid movement of his tank corps into the Nazi homeland, and implies its role in the rapid defeat of Germany.
The movie depicts some of Patton's more controversial actions, e.g. his remarks following the fall of Germany, comparing the Nazis to losers in American political elections. Although he is shown to be a military genius, the film does not try to conceal the darker, more elitist and brutal side of Patton.
There were several attempts to make the movie, starting in
1953. The Patton family was approached by the producers for help in making the film. They wanted access to Patton's diaries and input from the family members. By coincidence, the day they asked the family was the day after the funeral of
Beatrice Ayer Patton, the general's widow. After that, the family was dead-set against the movie and refused to give any help to the filmmakers.
Owing to a lack of help from the family,
Francis Ford Coppola and
Edmund H. North wrote the film from two biographies:
Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by
Ladislas Farago and
A Soldier's Story by
Omar Bradley. It was directed by
Franklin J. Schaffner. In
2005, his wife's "Button Box" manuscript was finally released by his family, with the posthumous release of Ruth Ellen Patton Totten's (his daughter's) book,
The Button Box: A Daughter's Loving Memoir of Mrs. George S. Patton.[
1]
Patton opened with a famous military "Pep Talk" to members of the Third army, simply set against a huge American flag. Thefilm throughout is a tour de force in the use of 70mm epic scale presentation. The imagery and the stereo sound brought avisual magnificence, that sometimes approached the cinematic quality of the earlier 70mm
Lawrence of Arabia (film). The film was accepted by its audiences as another great depiction of a major, modern-military figure—in the spirit of David Lean's complex portrait of "Lawrence".
Scott's performance as Patton won him an
Academy Award for Best Actor (which he famously refused, stating that the Oscars were "a meat parade"), and has been called "one of the great performances of all time".
The film won six additional
Academy Awards, for
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration,
Best Director,
Best Film Editing,
Best Picture,
Best Sound and
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced. It was nominated for
Best Cinematography,
Best Effects, Special Visual Effects and
Best Music, Original Score.
In
2006, the
Writers Guild of America selected the adapted screenplay by
Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund North as the 94th best screenplay of all time. The screenplay was based upon the biographies
A Soldier's Story by General
Omar Bradley, and
Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by
Ladislas Farago.
*
George C. Scott -
George S. Patton*
Karl Malden -
Omar Bradley*
Stephen Young - Chester B. Hansen
*
Michael Strong - Hobart Carver
*
Carey Loftin - Bradley's Driver
*
Michael Bates -
Bernard Law Montgomery*
Frank Latimore - Henry Davenport
*
Morgan Paull - Richard N. Jenson
*
Karl Michael Vogler - F.M.
Erwin Rommel*
Bill Hickman - Patton's Driver
*
Siegfried Rauch- Captain Steiger
*
Richard Münch-
Alfred JodlA made-for-television sequel,
The Last Days of Patton, was produced in
1986. Scott reprised his title role. The movie was based on Patton's final weeks after being mortally injured in a car accident, with flashbacks of Patton's earlier life.
* At the end of the movie, Patton is nearly run over by an oxcart and says, "Imagine, after all I've been through, imagine me going out like that!". In December 1945, Patton was injured in a freak vehicle accident and died a few weeks later.
* The movie writers of Patton's famous speech had to tone down Patton's actual words and statements.
* Patton's driver was played by Scott's golf instructor, George Slingerland.
* The
M-4 Sherman tank was used in large numbers in Patton's forces (with the
M-26 Pershing becoming available very late in the war). Ironically, however, many of the tanks on both sides in the film were the M-47 and M-48 models of the
Patton tank series of the 1950s, which were post World War II developments of the M-26, as they were the models used by the Spanish Army which assisted in the production of the film. There were few actual Word War II vintage tanks seen in the film except in archival newsreel footage.
*Several other incorrect props are used as well. 1950s M38 Jeeps can be seen, 1960s M35 cargo trucks are used (for both American and German trucks), Navy Model 1928 Thompsons are carried by many soldiers when the M1A1 Thompson was the weapon issued, very few Navy Model Thompsons were used in the European Theater
*
Paul D. Harkins, the general who preceded
William Westmoreland in
Vietnam, wrote a book about Patton in 1969 and received a technical credit in the movie.
*
Richard Nixon often watched this film for inspiration, especially after the start of the Watergate crisis.
* First shown on TV November 19, 1972
* The scene at the beginning of the film with Patton delivering his monologue was actually the last scene filmed. Originally, it was supposed to have been the first scene shot, but Scott requested that he be saved for the end of filmaking. It was Scott's belief that the scene called for Patton to be so over the top, that it would affect his performance in the rest of the film.
* All the medals and decorations shown on Patton's uniform in the monologue are authentic replicas of those actually earned and/or awarded to Patton. However, the general never wore all of them in public. Patton only put them all on once, in his backyard in Virginia at the request of his wife who wanted a picture of him with all his medals on. The producers used a copy of this photo to help recreate this "look" for the opening scene.
*
Opening Speech from the Movie in Text, Audio and Video from AmericanRhetoric.com
*
Patton at
DVDInMyPants.com*
Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago*
The Patton Society Homepage (Life of the General)*
The history of the famous Patton speech*
The real Patton speech*
Patton Uncovered
