Film Notes
     "One of the greatest screen biographies ever produced, this monumental film runs nearly three hours, won seven Academy Awards, and gave George C. Scott the greatest role of his career. It was released in 1970 when protest against the Vietnam War still raged at home and abroad, and many critics and moviegoers struggled to reconcile current events with the movie's glorification of Gen. George S. Patton as a crazy-brave genius of World War II.
     How could a movie so huge in scope and so fascinated by its subject be considered an anti-war film? The simple truth is that it's not. Patton is less about World War II than about the rise and fall of a man whose life was literally defined by war, and who felt lost and lonely without the grand-scale pursuit of an enemy. George C. Scott embodies his role so fully, so convincingly, that we can't help but be drawn to and fascinated by Patton as a man who is simultaneously bound for hell and glory. The film's opening monologue alone is a masterful display of acting and character analysis, and everything that follows is sheer brilliance on the part of Scott and director Franklin J. Schaffner.
     Filmed on an epic scale at literally dozens of European locations, Patton does not embrace war as a noble pursuit, nor does it deny the reality of war as a breeding ground for heroes. Through the awesome achievement of Scott's performance and the film's grand ambition, Patton shows all the complexities of a man who accepted his role in life and (like Scott) played it to the hilt." (Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com)
     General Omar N. Bradley (played by Karl Malden in the film) wrote one the major sources for the screenplay, A Soldier's Story, and served as senior military technical advisor for the film. Luis Martin Pozuelo served as Spanish military technical advisor. Paul D. Harkins and Glover S. Johns, Jr., also served as technical advisors. Tim Considine, who appears as the soldier who gets slapped, played Fred MacMurray's oldest son Mike on the TV sitcom My Three Sons for five years. Producer Frank McCarthy spent 20 years trying to interest someone in the Patton biography before Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck purchased it. McCarthy once described the first screenplay, written by Francis Ford Coppola, as "poetic, marvelous, and rather shapeless." Schaffner won the 1970 Best Director Award from the Director's Guild of America. Scott won the 1970 Best Actor Award from the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the national Society of Film Critics. National Board of Review also named Patton the Best Film of 1970. The film has 94 speaking parts. Estimated budget $13 million. Filmed over an 18-week period in Spain, England, Morocco, Greece, and Los Angeles. Filming completed May 31, 1969. Titles by Pacific Title. Color by DeLuxe. Filmed in 70mm Dimension 150, which produced a projected aspect ratio of 2.21:1. Released in USA January 1970. Released on video May 25, 1989.
     The film was also known as Patton: Lust for Glory, and Patton: Salute to a Rebel. In 1986, George C. Scott played Patton once again in the TV-movie, The Last Days of Patton which covers the period of Patton's life from the end of WWII to his death. The film also featured Eva Marie Saint, Richard Dysart, Murray Hamilton, Ed Lauter, and Kathryn Leigh Scott. Written by Williuam Luce from Ladislas Farago's book, Last Days of Patton. Directed by Delbert Mann. Running time for the video and originally aired version is 146 minutes, while some re-run versions may run 104 minutes.