Unlike every other bio pic, this one doesn't waste time by showcasing the character's childhood. When we first meet Patton he's already a two star general commanding forces in North Africa in 1943. The film centers on Patton from 1943-1945, and it shows two sides of the man that could be appreciated by all audiences. One one side you see him as an unconventional, controversial general for those who like to see military men shown as heroes. Simultaneously on the other side Patton also is shown as a maverick who rebels against authority but is a tragic and complex figure who believes he lives in a modern world that has passed him by and this war is his last chance to do something great with his life.
And unlike other WWII films, Patton doesn't take the conventional route of focusing on the US battles in France and Germany. The film primarily takes place in areas you didn't hear about in WWII history class: Morocco, Algeria, Sicily and Greece.
The film is full of scenes I love to watch over and over again. From the scene where Patton tells his cohort Gen Bradley about a battle he fought in 2,000 years ago, to the scene where Patton is addressing his troops to apologize for slapping one of them.
George C Scott and Karl Malden are terrific as Generals Patton and Bradley. One of my favorite scenes is one where after Patton and another officer get into a dispute over battle plans, then Malden says "There's one big difference between me and you, George. I do this job because I was trained to do it, you do it because you love it."
The anecdotes about the creation of the film are also great stories. The screenplay was written by Francis Ford Coppola, who was 26 at the time. Twentieth Century Fox hired him to write a screenplay about Patton and after extensive research he drafted a screenplay which the execs at Fox hated and Coppola was fired from the project. Ironically the opening of the film - which is of Patton standing in front of an enormous American Flag addressing the audience was deemed too strange by the execs. So the project was abandoned.
Later in 1969, Coppola bought a German Steinbeck film editing machine which he rented to Twientieth Century Fox. One day, he got a call from Fox telling him that the machine was not working and asking if he could send a repairman over. He had no repairman, so he took his tools and went himself. While fixing the Steinbeck, he noticed that the film he had been given to test with was a war film. So, he asked the editor as he was leaving, "What film was that?" When the editor answered "Patton", Coppola told the editor, "You know I wrote that film."
Then two years later in 1971 Coppola was working as the director of The Godfather. The shoot wasn't going well and Coppola believed at any moment the studio was going to fire him. But then Patton came along and saved his job. Despite being made without him, they still used most of Coopla's original screenplay. The film went on to win seven Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola. After his Oscar win, Fox was unable to fire Coppola as it would look foolish.
In the opening of the Patton DVD Coppola tells these two stories and then ends with a word of advice for the viewer: "Now, all you young people, bear note that the things that you are fired for are often the things that later in life you are celebrated for."
Jordan Beall is the newest member of the Giant Electric Penguin family.
