Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay for this classic film, and Franklin Schaffner directed it, right after doing The Planet Of The Apes.
It's not really a great film, but I guess arguments can be made. It's not a visual feast, but the writing and acting by George C. Scott is superb.
Scott's role is, in many ways, a reprise of his role as the daffy general in Dr. Strangelove, except that Patton, being real, is a bit more restrained.
My fave moment is when Patton starts quoting lines from a poet, while in North Africa, then declaims himself as the poet, reincarnated from an ancient warrior. It's a great moment because Scott so forcefully presents it, but also because great warriors need to believe in themselves almost to the point of self-delusion, just to do the horrible things they must do to win a war.
As Patton says in the trailer, to paraphrase, wars are only one by making the other nation's dumb bastards die for their country. I'll be rewatching this film in the near future.
Here is the trailer:
