Whether Driving His Troops, Slapping 'Spin', Racing Monty or Refusing Oscar, George C.Scott Did Not Play Patton. He BECAME Patton!

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2007)

Our Dad, the late Clem Ryan (1914-74) hadn't been out to a movie in who knows how long. He had agreed to drive his Wife, our Mother Bertha(nee Fuerst) and my brother Bob at the old Highway Theatre at 63rd & Western, here in Chicago. After a lot of coaxing on the part of Ma and my youngest Brother, Dad agreed to go in with them to see the Film. Well he must have liked it, at least a little because a few days later in that same week, Dad went to see it again with other brother, Jim and our sister, Rose Mary! There was something about the film that really reached those World War II Veterans, that they came out in droves to see it, even in multiple viewings, like Pop did. And to think, Dad was an Electricuians Mate, First Class in The Navy! Of course, you don't have to be a World War II to enjoy and appreciate the film. Just about everybody we talked to gave it a favourable nod. It would be truly difficult to not like it, for it was an Epic Tale of a real flesh and blood man, who had lived just a few years before, and a man whom we should be very to have fighting on the Allied side of the Hostilities.
What Director Franklin Schaffner, Producer Frank McCarthy and Associate Producer Frank Caffey did was get together and have a "Frank" discussion about just how to proceed with this project.* Somewhere along the line they decided to make full use of as many veteran character actors available to fill out the cast. Whether or not that this was their plan, they had a large number of highly able Actors, many of which lack that "Movie Star" "Drop Dead" good looks. And, coincidentally, that's how most real people are in Real Life.
Because of this policy, there were many Supporting Players cast in PATTON who had their greatest career roles. Some good examples are Larry Dobkin(Colonel Gaston Bell) and John Ducette(Major General Lucian K. Truscott). Both men had long careers in supporting parts in TV and the Movies, and here got a chance to display their acting skills to their largest venue of exposition.
The filming done in Spain and Morocco gave a truly authentic look to the combat scenes. The production team is said to have made good use of real Soldiers from the Spanish Army to provide the large number of Military extras needed for the staging of the recreated battles.** The use of clips from FOX Movietone News Reels of the day was an excellent touch of authenticity and made for a good bridge for parts of the story.(That voice sure sounded like the real Lowell Thomas, who did narration for Movietone.)
We all know how the War came out, so there is no reason to check the "contains spoilers" box above. No? But all kidding aside, this film, in spite of the huge, epic battle scenes, great numbers of personnel(civilian & military) and the serious situations of War, is still a character driven story. And in no other area is this more apparent than the multifaceted portrait of Patton by Mr. Scott.
George C. Scott, as we all know, was awarded and refused to accept his Oscar for "Best Actor in a Leading Role". We're truly sorry for this, as he apparently was also. He did start attending the Awards ceremonies several years later, but the TV director in charge of the telecast did his best to keep Mr. Scott's countenance off of the home screens as much as possible. The whole episode was such a damn shame! There were some truly fine and original touches put into the screenplay. We found out that the General cursed a lot, but prayed on his knees. He was a tireless and relentless driver of his troops, yet he composed poetry and recited it frequently. His was a hard personality to define and portray.
The opening scene, the now famous Patton Prolog pretty well nails it when it comes to this characterization. The scene is made to give the impression of the General himself, stepping up on the theatre's stage to address his troops and the audience. The voice intonations, not unlike that of a Football Coach's half-time pep talk, made use of both the Queen's English and a lot of slang and even vulgarity.
But it was this scene that was said to have captured the essence of Patton and set the tone as the Movie's "grabber". It was the creation of one Francis Ford Coppola, later director & screen writer of THE GODFATHER. Thank you Mr. Coppola!
* Get it? A "Frank" discussion!
** The men of the Spanish Army portrayed German & Italian Troops, as well as British and American Soldiers. We wonder what old Generalissimo Francisco Franco(1892-1975) felt about that!(Hey, another Frank!)
NOTE: As a side bar and point of interest, we thought it proper to point out the contributions of veteran sound effects man, Murray Spivack on the production. His long career dated back more than 4 decades. He had worked on the original KING KONG(RKO 1933).