Patton (film)

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Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox film Patton is a 1970 American epic biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott as Patton and Karl Malden as General Omar Bradley. The film was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, who based their screenplay on Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago and Bradley's memoir, A Soldier's Story.

Patton grossed over $60 million against a budget of $12 million. It won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Scott also won the Best Actor for his performance, though he declined the award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The opening monologue, delivered by Scott as General Patton with an enormous American flag behind him, remains an iconic and often quoted image in film. In 2003, Patton was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". The Academy Film Archive also preserved Patton in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Plot

During World War II, the II Corps suffers a severe defeat at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in North Africa. General George S. Patton is sent to take command, reorganizes the corps, and imposes strict but necessary discipline. Frustrated by what he perceives as British commander Bernard Montgomery monopolizing the Allied effort, Patton leads the corps to redemption at the Battle of El Guettar.

Following Allied victory in North Africa, Patton and Montgomery propose competing plans for the Allied invasion of Sicily. Patton recommends landing his U.S. Seventh Army at Gela and advancing to capture Palermo and Messina before the British. Harold Alexander opts for Montgomery’s more cautious plan, landing Patton’s forces at Gela. Although initially intended to support Montgomery, Patton pushes northwest, taking Palermo and racing to Messina. During the campaign, he visits a field hospital and slaps a soldier for cowardice, sparking public outrage and requiring a formal apology.

Patton is then sidelined for the Allied invasion of France and placed in command of the fictitious First United States Army Group in London, a decoy to mislead the Germans about the main invasion location. At a public gathering in Knutsford, Patton remarks that the postwar world will be dominated by Anglo-Americans, alarming Allied leaders. George Marshall must decide whether Patton’s outspoken comments warrant sending him home in disgrace.

Weeks after the Normandy landings, Patton takes command of the Third Army, reporting to his former subordinate, Omar Bradley. Under his leadership, the Third Army sweeps across France, but is forced to halt before entering Germany due to fuel and supply allocations to Montgomery’s forces. Frustrated, Patton confronts Bradley, who warns him again about the dangers of speaking freely.

During the Battle of the Bulge, Patton’s staff plans a bold operation to relieve the trapped 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne. After Germany capitulates, Patton’s candid comparisons of American politics to Nazism create further controversy, and he is relieved of command of the Third Army. He is retained to oversee the occupation of Germany. In the film’s closing sequence, Patton narrowly avoids a fatal accident while walking with his bull terrier, and his voiceover reflects on the fleeting nature of glory:

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Cast

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Production

Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger declined the role of George S. Patton.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="nytimes.com">Template:Cite news</ref> Steiger later said it was his greatest mistake.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Charlton Heston was considered for the role of Omar N. Bradley before Karl Malden was cast.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

Development

Attempts to make a film about the life of Patton had been made since he died in 1945 but his widow, Beatrice, resisted.<ref name=AFI>Template:AFI film</ref> After her death in 1953, producer Frank McCarthy began the project and, the day after Beatrice was buried, the producers contacted the family for help in making the film, requesting access to Patton's diaries, as well as input from family members but the family declined to help.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> McCarthy also sought co-operation from The Pentagon; it also initially refused, as Patton's son, George Patton IV, was in the Army, and Patton's second daughter, Ruth, was married to an officer. By 1959, McCarthy had convinced the Army to co-operate.<ref name=photoplay>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=AFI/>

20th Century Fox bought A Soldier's Story, the 1951 autobiography of General of the Army Omar Bradley (who features prominently in the film, played by Karl Malden). Francis Ford Coppola wrote the film script in 1963 based largely on Ladislas Farago's 1963 biography Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, and on A Soldier's Story.<ref name=AFI/><ref name=photoplay/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Edmund H. North was later brought in to help work on the script.<ref name=photoplay/> The film was originally to be called Blood & Guts and William Wyler was originally scheduled to direct. Wyler quit before the planned starting date of January 1969.<ref name="AFI" />

Bradley, the only surviving five-star general officer in the United States after the death of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1969, served as a consultant for the film though the extent of his influence and input into the final script is largely unknown. While Bradley knew Patton, it was also well known that the two men were opposites in personality, and there is evidence that Bradley despised Patton.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> As the film was made without Patton's diaries, it largely relied upon observations by Bradley and attempts by other military contemporaries to reconstruct Patton's thoughts and motives.<ref name="Marshall">Template:Cite journal</ref> In a review of the film, Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall, who knew both Patton and Bradley, stated, "The Bradley name gets heavy billing on a picture of [a] comrade that, while not caricature, is the likeness of a victorious, glory-seeking buffoon.... Patton in the flesh was an enigma. He so stays in the film.... Napoleon once said that the art of the general is not strategy but knowing how to mold human nature.... Maybe that is all producer Frank McCarthy and Gen. Bradley, his chief advisor, are trying to say."<ref name="Marshall" />

Filming

The ruin of a stone arch on grass. A tourist poses by the arch.
The Triumphal Arch of Volubilis in Morocco

The film started shooting February 3, 1969 and was shot at seventy-one locations in six countries, mostly in Spain, which had a lot of the U.S. Army's World War II surplus equipment.<ref name=photoplay/><ref name=AFI/> Francoist Spain had sustained a currency control for decades and filming in the country was the only way to indirectly recover the profits of the box office from American films. Cheap labor also encouraged runaway productions.<ref name="Torres">Template:Cite book</ref>

One scene, which depicts Patton driving up to an ancient city that is implied to be Carthage, was shot in the ancient Roman Mauretanian city of Volubilis, Morocco. The early scene, where Patton and Muhammed V are reviewing Moroccan troops including the Goumiers, was shot at the Royal Palace in Rabat. One unannounced battle scene was shot the night before, which raised fears in the Royal Palace neighborhood of a coup d'état. One paratrooper was electrocuted in power lines, but none of this battle footage appears in the film. The scene at the dedication of the welcome centre in Knutsford, Cheshire, England, was filmed at the actual site. The scenes set in Tunisia and Sicily were shot in Almeria in the south of Spain; Pamplona in the north was used for France and Germany; while the winter scenes in Belgium, including for the Battle of the Bulge sequence, were shot near Segovia (to which the production crew rushed when they were informed that snow had fallen).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=photoplay/><ref name=AFI/> Interior shots were filmed in Seville.<ref name="AFI" />

The film was shot by cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp in 65 mm Dimension 150, only the second film to be shot in that format after The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966).<ref name=AFI/>

A sizeable amount of battle scene footage was left out of the final cut of Patton, but a use was soon found for it. Outtakes from Patton were used to provide battle scenes in the made-for-TV film Fireball Forward, which was first broadcast in 1972. The film was produced by Patton producer Frank McCarthy and Edmund North wrote the screenplay. One of the cast members of Patton, Morgan Paull, appeared in this production.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Opening

File:Patton1.jpg
The opening scene of the movie.

The film opens with Scott's rendering of Patton's speech to the Third Army, set against a huge American flag.<ref>≠°Travers, Steven. The Duke, the Longhorns, and Chairman Mao: John Wayne's Political Odyssey."</ref> Coppola and North had to tone down Patton's actual words and statements in the scene, as well as throughout the rest of the film, to avoid an R rating; in the opening monologue, the word fornicating replaced fucking when he was criticizing The Saturday Evening Post. Also, Scott's gravelly and scratchy voice is the opposite of Patton's high-pitched, nasal and somewhat squeaky voice, a point noted by historian S.L.A. Marshall.<ref name="Marshall" /> However, Marshall also points out that the film contains "too much cursing and obscenity [by Patton]. Patton was not habitually foul-mouthed. He used dirty words when he thought they were needed to impress."<ref name="Marshall" />

When Scott learned that the speech would open the film, he refused to do it, as he believed that it would overshadow the rest of his performance. Director Schaffner assured him that it would be shown at the end. The scene was shot in one afternoon at Sevilla Studios in Madrid, with the flag having been painted on the back of the stage wall.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

All the medals and decorations shown on Patton's uniform in the monologue are replicas of those actually awarded to Patton. However, the general never wore all of them in public and was in any case not a four-star general at the time he made the famous speeches on which the opening is based. He wore them all on only one occasion, in his backyard in Virginia at the request of his wife, who wanted a picture of him with all his medals. The producers used a copy of this photo to help recreate this "look" for the opening scene.Template:Citation needed

Music

The critically acclaimed score was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. Goldsmith used a number of innovative methods to tie the music to the film, such as having an echoplex loop recorded sounds of "call to war" triplets played on the trumpet to musically represent General Patton's belief in reincarnation. The main theme also consisted of a symphonic march accompanied by a pipe organ to represent the militaristic yet deeply religious nature of the protagonist.<ref name="Filmtracks" >Clemmensen, Christian. Patton Template:Webarchive soundtrack review at Filmtracks.com. Retrieved 2011-04-22.</ref> The music to Patton subsequently earned Goldsmith an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score and was one of the American Film Institute's 250 nominees for the top twenty-five American film scores.<ref>AFI's 100 Years Of Film Scores Template:Webarchive from the American Film Institute. Retrieved 2011-04-22.</ref> The original soundtrack has been released three times on disc and once on LP: through Twentieth-Century Fox Records in 1970, Tsunami Records in 1992, Film Score Monthly in 1999, and a two-disc extended version through Intrada Records in 2010.<ref name="Filmtracks" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2010 Intrada Records album

Disc One

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Disc Two

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Release

The film had its premiere on Wednesday, February 4, 1970, at the Criterion Theatre in New York before its roadshow release starting the following day.<ref name=AFI/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

First telecast

Patton was first telecast by ABC as a three hours-plus color film special on Sunday, November 19, 1972, only two years after its theatrical release.<ref name=ratings/> That was highly unusual at the time, especially for a roadshow release which had played in theatres for many months. Most theatrical films at that time had to wait at least five years for their first telecast. Another unusual element of the telecast was that almost none of Patton's profanity-laced dialogue was cut (only two sentences, one of which contained no profanity, were cut from the famous opening speech in front of the giant US flag). The film was the fourth highest-rated film broadcast on television in the United States at the time, with a Nielsen rating of 38.5 and an audience share of 65%.<ref name=ratings>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Home media

In 1977, Patton was among the first 50 VHS and Betamax releases from Magnetic Video. The film would be released on Laserdisc in 1981, also by Magnetic Video. A widescreen version was released in 1989, which includes four newsreels about the real Patton. A THX-certified Laserdisc would be released on July 9, 1997, trading the newsreels for many new features. A THX-certified widescreen VHS was also released in 1998 by the same distributor, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Patton was first released on DVD in 1999, featuring an audio commentary by Charles M. Province, the founder of The George S. Patton Jr. Historical Society, and again in 2006, with a commentary by screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola and extra bonus features.

The film made its Region A (locked) Blu-ray debut in 2008 to much criticism, for its excessive use of digital noise reduction on the picture quality. In 2012, a remaster was released with much improved picture quality.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2013, Fox UK released the film on Region B Blu-ray but reverted to the 2008 transfer.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed an estimated $51,000 in its first week.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to Fox records the film required $22,525,000 in theatrical rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $27,650,000 so made a profit to the studio.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Eventually, it returned worldwide rentals of $45 million,<ref name=Solomon>Template:Cite book</ref> including $28.1 million from the United States and Canada from a gross of $61.8 million.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Critical response

Roger Ebert said of George C. Scott's portrayal of Patton, "It is one of those sublime performances in which the personalities of the actor and the character are fulfilled in one another."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gene Siskel gave the film three stars out of four and wrote that George C. Scott "has created an acting tour de force," but found it "repetitive – the second half doesn't tell us anything more than the first."<ref>Siskel, Gene (March 5, 1970). "Patton". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 11.</ref> Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "The most refreshing thing about 'Patton' is that here—I think for the first time—the subject matter and the style of the epic war movie are perfectly matched ... Although the cast is large, the only performance of note is that of Scott, who is continuously entertaining and, occasionally, very appealing."<ref>Canby, Vincent (February 5, 1970). "The Screen: 'Patton: Salute to Rebel'". The New York Times. 33.</ref>

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "'Patton' has, like Lawrence of Arabia, done the near-impossible by creating a finely detailed portrait despite all the tuggings toward simplification which are inevitable in the big budget, long, loud roadshow production desperate to attract mass audiences. As Patton, George Scott gives one of the great and unforgettable screen characterizations."<ref>Champlin, Charles (February 15, 1970). "'Patton' Features George C. Scott as 'Old Blood and Guts'". Los Angeles Times. Calendar, p. 13.</ref> Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the film "eventually shares the dramatic limitations, as well as the visual triumphs, of Lawrence of Arabia: yet another fascinating but inconclusive portrait of a mercurial military leader. The camera focus is sharp, but the dramatic focus is blurred. We never quite understand Patton in historical context, in relation to the other generals of the period, and to the entire Allied war effort."<ref>Arnold, Gary (March 1, 1970). "Take Your Pick of War Heroes: General Patton". The Washington Post. F1-F2.</ref>

Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote that "technically the movie is awesomely impressive," but went on to state that "I'm sure it will be said that the picture is 'true' to Patton and to history, but I think it strings us along and holds out on us. If we don't just want to have our prejudices greased, we'll find it confusing and unsatisfying, because we aren't given enough information to evaluate Patton's actions."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> John Gillett of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "While communicating a relish for the man with all his warts, [Schaffner] also pinpoints the monstrous prejudices which lay beneath the surface. And, of course, he chose the right actor. Karl Malden's Bradley is neatly observed and the German players are good, but Scott's performance rightly dwarfs all the rest."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Online film critic James Berardinelli has called Patton his favorite film of all time<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and "to this day one of Hollywood's most compelling biographical war pictures."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's book The Final Days, it was Richard Nixon's favorite film. Nixon first viewed Patton with his family at a private screening in the White House Family Theater on April 5, 1970. Nixon became obsessed with the film, repeatedly watching it with Henry Kissinger over the next month. He screened it several times at the White House and during a cruise on the presidential yacht Template:USS in the Potomac River. Kissinger sarcastically wrote of Nixon's insistence that he see the film on the cruise: "It was the second time he had so honored me. Inspiring as the film no doubt was, I managed to escape for an hour in the middle of it to prepare for the next day’s NSC meeting."<ref>Robenalt, James D. (2015). January 1973: Watergate, Roe v. Wade, Vietnam, and the Month that Changed America Forever. Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.</ref>

Review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported that Patton had a 90% approval rating based on 52 reviews, with an average score of 8.4/10. Its critical consensus reads, "George C. Scott's sympathetic, unflinching portrayal of the titular general in this sprawling epic is as definitive as any performance in the history of American biopics."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Accolades

In 1971, the film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards at the 1971 ceremony, winning seven awards (including Best Picture). George C. Scott also won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but he declined it, citing a dislike of the voting process and the concept of acting competitions. He was the first actor to do so. The film's producer, Frank McCarthy, accepted the award on Scott's behalf.<ref name="Oscars1971">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="NY Times">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Best Picture statuette is on display at the George C. Marshall Museum at the Virginia Military Institute, courtesy of Frank McCarthy.

Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Picture Frank McCarthy Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Best Director Franklin J. Schaffner Template:Won
Best Actor George C. ScottTemplate:Efn Template:Won
Best Story and Screenplay – Based on Factual Material
or Material Not Previously Published or Produced 		Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North Template:Won
Best Art Direction Art Direction: Urie McCleary and Gil Parrondo;
Set Decoration: Antonio Mateos and Pierre-Louis Thévenet 		Template:Won
Best Cinematography Fred J. Koenekamp Template:Nom
Best Film Editing Hugh S. Fowler Template:Won
Best Original Score Jerry Goldsmith Template:Nom
Best Sound Douglas Williams and Don Bassman Template:Won
Best Special Visual Effects Alex Weldon Template:Nom
American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Feature Film Hugh S. Fowler Template:Won
British Academy Film Awards Best Actor in a Leading Role George C. Scott Template:Nom <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Best Soundtrack Don Hall, Douglas O. Williams, and Don J. Bassman Template:Nom
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Franklin J. Schaffner Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Drama Template:Nom <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama George C. Scott Template:Won
Best Director – Motion Picture Franklin J. Schaffner Template:Nom
Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing – Feature Film Template:Won
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Film Template:WonTemplate:Efn <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Best Actor George C. Scott Template:Won
Laurel Awards Best Picture Template:Won
Top Male Dramatic Performance George C. Scott Template:Won
Top Male Supporting Performance Karl Malden Template:Nom
Top Cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp Template:Won
Top Composer Jerry Goldsmith Template:Won
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Best Film Template:Won
Best Actor George C. Scott Template:Won
National Film Preservation Board National Film Registry Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actor George C. Scott Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Online Film & Television Association Awards Film Hall of Fame: Productions Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Drama – Written Directly for the Screen Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

American Film Institute Lists

Sequel

A made-for-television sequel, The Last Days of Patton, was produced in 1986. Scott reprised his title role. The film was based on Patton's final weeks after being mortally injured in a car accident, with flashbacks of Patton's life.

See also

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Notes

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References

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Bibliography

  • In 2005, Patton's wife's "Button Box" manuscript was finally released by his family, with the posthumous release of Ruth Ellen Patton Totten's book, The Button Box: A Daughter's Loving Memoir of Mrs. George S. Patton. Template:Cite news
  • Template:Cite book Suid's book contains an extended discussion of the production of Patton and of public and critical response to the film, the discussion occupies most of the chapter, "13. John Wayne, The Green Berets, and Other Heroes."

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