LOCATIONS SHOTS OF FILMING: KARL MALDEN AS GEN. OMAR BRADLEY: GEORGE C. SCOTT AS PATTON: DIRECTOR FRANKLIN SCHAFFNER: VARIOUS BEHIND SCENES SHOTS: TANKS ROLLING ALONG: TANK CRASHES INTO LORRY.




Initials LD/VS/JF/OS



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Background: GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL AND EXPLOSIVE FIGURES OF WORLD WAR II, COMES TO LIVE AGAIN IN THE FILM "PATTON" BEING SHOT IN SPAIN WITH GEORGE C. SCOTT IN THE TITLE ROLE. SPAIN WAS CHOSEN FOR TWO MAIN REASONS - FIRST, THAT THE NORTHERN AREAS ACCURATELY RESEMBLE FRANCE AND GERMANY; AND ALMERIA IN THE SOUTH, LOOKS LIKE TUNISIA AND SICILY; SECONDLY, SPAIN IS THE ONLY COUNTRY WHERE TANKS AND OTHER WEAPONS OF THE KIND USED BY THE AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR II ARE STILL IN OPERATIONAL CONDITIONS WHILE THE SPANISH ARMY IS WILLING AND ABLE TO CONDUCT THE MILITARY MANOEUVRES OF PATTON, THE MASTER TACTICIAN.

GENERAL GEORGE PATTON WAS AS FAMOUS FOR HIS COLOURFUL INVECTIVE AND SWAGGERING USE OF OUTSIZED SYMBOLS OF RANK AND DECORATION AND IVORY-HANDLED PISTOLS, AS HE WAS FOR HIS MILITARY GENIUS. PRODUCER FRANK MCCARTHY, WHO KNEW PATTON DURING THE WAR, HAS BEEN TRYING TO MAKE THIS FILM FOR 17 YEARS - BUT FIRST PATTON'S WIDOW (HE DIED IN 1945) AND THEN HIS CHILDREN FOUGHT FOR YEARS TO STOP THE FILM BEING MADE.

GENERAL OMAR BRADLEY, PATTON'S WARTIME COMMANDER - WHO IS HIMSELF PLAYED BY KARL MALDEN IN THE FILM - IS SERVING AS MILITARY ADVISER ON THE FILM.

IN 1942 GENERAL PATTON WAS GIVEN COMMAND OF THE FIRST U.S. TASK FORCE TO ENTER THE WAR; LANDING IN SICILY ALONGSIDE BRITAIN'S FIELD-MARSHAL BERNARD MONTGOMERY. IN SICILY, OCCURRED THE FAMOUS INCIDENT WHERE GENERAL PATTON SLAPPED TWO AMERICAN PRIVATES WHO WERE SUFFERING FROM SHELLSHOCK - FOR THIS HE WAS PUBLICLY REBUKED AND CAUSED A FURORE IN THE U.S.A. HIS ACTIONS AND SPEECHES GOT HIM INTO TROUBLE AGAIN AND AGAIN. ALTHOUGH HE DID NOT TAKE PART IN THE D-DAY LANDINGS, HE WAS GIVEN COMMAND OF THE THIRD ARMY IN 1944. AFTER A DARING DASH ACROSS FRANCE, HE MET HITLER'S LAST-DITCH FORCES IN THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE IN THE ARDENNES FOREST OF EAST BELGIUM AND, IN A BRILLIANT MANOEUVRE, RELIEVED THE TRAPPED ALLIED FORCES IN BASTOGNE.

HE DIED IN A CAR CRASH ON THE FRANKFURT-MANNHEIM HIGHWAY IN 1945.