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Patton

Catalog Number
1005
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Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
Release Year
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VHS | N/A | Slipcase
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Patton (1970)

Additional Information

Additional Information
No Bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.


In 1943 North Africa, George Patton (George C. Scott) assumes command of (and instills some much-needed discipline in) the American forces. Engaged in battle against Germany's Field Marshal Rommel (Karl Michael Vogler), Patton drives back "The Desert Fox" by using the German's own tactics. Promoted to Lieutenant General, Patton is sent to Sicily, where he engages in a personal war of egos with British Field Marshal Montgomery (Michael Bates). Performing brilliantly in Italy, Patton seriously jeopardizes his future with a single slap. While touring an Army hospital, the General comes across a GI (Tim Considine) suffering from nervous fatigue. Incensed by what he considers a slacker, Patton smacks the poor soldier and orders him to get well in a hurry. This incident results in his losing his command-and, by extension, missing out on D-Day. In his final campaign, Patton leads the US 3rd Army through Europe. Unabashedly flamboyant, Patton remains a valuable resource, but ultimately proves too much of a "loose cannon" in comparison to the more level-headed tactics of his old friend Omar Bradley (Karl Malden). Patton won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Scott, an award that he refused


Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, who based their screenplay on the biography Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago and Omar Bradley's memoir A Soldier's Story. The film was shot in 65mm Dimension 150 by cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp, and has a music score by Jerry Goldsmith.
Patton won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The opening monologue, delivered by George C. Scott as General Patton with an enormous American flag behind him, remains an iconic and often quoted image in film. The film was a success and has become an American classic.[3]
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".


Roger Ebert said of George C. Scott, "It is one of those sublime performances in which the personalities of the actor and the character are fulfilled in one another."[13] Online film critic James Berardinelli has called Patton his favorite film of all time[14] and "...to this day one of Hollywood's most compelling biographical war pictures."[15]
According to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's book The Final Days, it was also Richard Nixon's favorite film. He screened it several times at the White House and during a cruise on the Presidential yacht. Before the 1972 Nixon visit to China, then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai specially watched this film in preparation for his meeting with Nixon.


Patton was first released on DVD in 1999 featuring a partial audio commentary by a Patton historian. Then 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.[1] In June 2013 Fox UK released the film on Region B Blu-ray, but, incredibly, used the discredited 2008 transfer.

Release Date: February 4, 1970

Distrib: 20th Century Fox

Boxoffice: $61,749,765 2013: $325,082,600

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