Patton (movie)

Patton (United Kingdom: Patton: Lust for Glory) is a 1970 movie about US. Army General George S. Patton and his role in the Second World War. The movie starred George C. Scott in the title role and it released by 20th Century Fox. It became very popular and won an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1971. A sequel, The Last Days of Patton, appeared in 1986, also starring Scott.

 Beginnings 
George S. Patton's widow was approached not long after her husband died froman automobile accident with an offer to make a Hollywood movie about Patton's life and career. His family did not agree right away, and years passed before it approved a dramatic movie to be made. The movie's screenplay was based on a well-written biography of him, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, and A Soldier's Story, a memoir by General Omar Bradley, who served with Patton.

 Storyline 
The story covers the time from the American defeat at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, in North Africa, in 1943, when Patton was sent to take command; his victories in Africa and Sicily; his time as a "decoy" before D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge; and his last weeks, after the war had ended in 1945.

The movie did not give much time to showing combat and battles but explains Patton's role in several important battles and campaigns. It also shows his character as a person, soldier, and leader. Patton is shown to have made both good choices, such as appointing Omar Bradley to assist him, and bad choices, such as striking soldiers who had showed fear or cowardice and giving his personal opinions to the media that differed widely from what the Allied commanders expected. The movie shows a mix of both bad and good things about Patton.

 Reception 
The movie appeared nearly 25 years after Patton's death. American attitudes toward war, fighting, and the military had changed in many ways. The Vietnam War was happening while the movie was made and shown. The older generation, which had fought in World War II or helped out on the home front, tended to support the war and the draft under which young American men were forced to join the U.S. Army. Younger people, who did not remember World War II or were born after it had ended, were mostly against the Vietnam War in Vietnam. The movie gave older and younger viewers a chance to look back at an American war hero and leader, and it gave them things to think and talk about together.

 References 

 Other websites 

 Review at TV Guide.com
 Filmsite.org review

Category:1970 movies
Category:1970 war movies
Category:1970s biographical movies
Category:1970s epic movies
Category:American biographical movies
Category:1970 American drama movies
Category:American war movies
Category:Best Picture Oscar
Category:1970s English-language movies
Category:Movies set in the 1940s
Category:United States National Film Registry movies
Category:World War II movies
Category:Movies directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Category:Movies composed by Jerry Goldsmith
Category:20th Century Fox movies