115. Patton (1970)

Stars:  George C. Scott (Gen. George S Patton), Karl Malden (Gen. Omar Bradley), Michael Bates (Field Marshal Montgomery), Karl Michael Vogler (Field Marshal Erwin Rommel)

Director:  Franklin J. Schaffner

Awards / Honors

• 7 Oscar Wins - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (George C. Scott), Best Writing (Original Screenplay - Francis Ford Coppola), Best Art Dircection, Best Film Editing, Best Sound
• 3 Additional Oscar Nominations - Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Music (Orginal Score)
• #89 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list (1997)
• #29 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villians list - Gen. George S Patton, Hero (2003)
• 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".

Genre:  War / Drama

Running Time:  2 Hours, 50 Minutes

Format:  DVD, Blu-ray

Odyssey Rating:  4 1/2 Stars (John - 5 Stars, Beth - 4Stars)

John's Take

I love this movie.  I mean I really, really love it.  I first say this movie on television back when I was around 12-years old or so, and I seen this film a 100 times or more.  At one point in time I could recite the entire opening monologue from memory.  Patton is one of my all-time favorite movies.

This is why the AFI and I now have a little problem.

First, as you can tell if you have been reading any of the entries on our little blog, the American Film Institute as part of their “100 Years...” series, have put together a number of lists of films over the last 13 years; the 100 best American romantic movies (100 Passions), the 100 best American comedies (100 Laughs), etc..  One of these lists, which they published in 2005, was AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes.  My problem?  The powers-that-be at the AFI decided that Patton – a movie just chock full of memorable dialogue – did not warrant a spot upon this list.  What’s up with that?  You mean the movie that gave us –

Patton:  Thirty years from now, when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War II," you won't have to say, "Well... I shoveled shit in Louisiana."

-- doesn’t deserve a spot on a list of great movie quotes?  Blasphemy I say!!

Effectively the AFI are saying that quotes like:

"Hello gorgeous." – Funny Girl

"La-dee-da, la-dee-da." – Annie Hall

"We rob banks." – Bonnie and Clyde

are better than quotes, such as:

Patton:  Now there's another thing I want you to remember.  I don't want to get any messages saying that "we are holding our position."  We're not holding anything.  Let the Hun do that.  We are advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy.  We're going to hold onto him by the nose and we're going to kick him in the ass.  We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose!!!

Really? “…crap through a goose” looses out to “La-dee-da”? Something is wrong here.

Here is what it should say on that list:

#55 – The entire opening monologue – George S Patton – George C. Scott – Patton

Why at the number 55 spot?  Well, it probably deserves to be higher on the list, but the inclusion of "La-dee-da, la-dee-da" on the list (they aren’t even words after all) is so lame that it is just easier to knock Annie Hall off the list and replace it with Patton – at least until they pick a better line from Annie Hall, such as “That sex was the most fun I've ever had without laughing.”  I mean, Annie Hall has great lines too and the line that the AFI thought was the best and most memorable was "La-dee-da, la-dee-da."?  Lame with extra weak-sause.

The second thing that really has me steamed with AFI is the fact that they removed Patton from the 2007 version of the 100 greatest American movies of all time list! Wha, wha, wha…?!?!  Say, it isn’t so!  How come?  I will overlook the fact that it was only #89 on the original 1997 list, I mean sure everything is relative, yada, yada, yada.  But, for the film to get bumped from the list altogether in ’07?  Were these people high?

Patton has everything – acting, writing, beautiful cinematography.  Have you seen the blu-ray version?  It is GORGEOUS!  Sure the movie is a little on the long side but hey a lot happened during World War II.  What movie deserved to be on the list more than Patton did? Swing Time? All the President’s Men? Nashville? All good movies, but none of them deserve to be on the list more than Patton does.

I am very upset about this. I want somebody from the AFI to explain this to me.

Well, even if it didn’t make 2007 list, I say on to you that Patton is one of the American greatest movies of all time! And I would be proud, and it would be my honor to watch this movie with you all… anytime, anywhere.  Patton is a 5-Star general of a movie.

John