Stars: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Bates, Edward Binns, Karl Michael Vogler, Michael Strong, Lawrence Dobkin, John Doucette, Morgan Paull

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

Summary: Academy Award-winning character study of one of America's greatest World War II Generals.

PATTON is a three-dimensional bronze bust of World War II field general George S. Patton (George C. Scott) who wrote poetry, fired pistols at strafing fighter planes, and loved America with a lofty and historical zeal. Tracing his personal rivalries with such generals as Rommel and Montgomery, his problematic treatment of his own men, and his nearly runaway contempt for diplomacy, the film triumphs as an enduring portrait of a complex and larger-than-life figure. PATTON was recipient of 10 Academy Award Nominations and winner of eight, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor--Scott, Best (Adapted) Screenplay--Francis Ford Coppola/Edmund H. North. The special edition features a behind-the-scenes feature, production stills, and a running audio commentary on the production.

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This 1998 testosterone-saturated blow-'em-up from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys) continued Hollywood's millennium-fuelled fascination with the destruction of our planet. There's no arguing that the successful duo understand what mainstream audiences want in their blockbuster movies--loads of loud, eye-popping special effects, rapid-fire pacing, and patriotic flag waving. Bay's protagonists--the eight crude, lewd, oversexed (but, of course, lovable) oil drillers summoned to save the world from a Texas-sized meteor hurling toward the earth--are not flawless heroes, but common men with whom all can relate. In this huge Western-in-space soap opera, they're American cowboys turned astronauts. Sci-fi buffs will appreciate Bay's fetishising of technology, even though it's apparent he doesn't understand it as anything more than flashing lights and shiny gadgets. Smartly, the duo also try to lure the art-house crowd, raiding the local indie acting stable to populate the film with guys like Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Owen Wilson, and Michael Duncan, all adding needed touches of humour andcharisma.

When Bay applies his sledgehammer aesthetics to the action portions of the film, it's mindless fun; it's only when Armageddontackles humanity that it becomes truly offensive. Not since Mississippi Burninghave racial and cultural stereotypes been substituted for characters so blatantly--African Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Scottish, Samoans, Muslims, French ... if it's not white and American, Bay simplifies it. Or, make that white male America; the film features only three notable female characters--four if you count the meteor, who's constantly referred to as a "bitch that needs drillin'". Sadly, she's a hell of a lot more developed and unpredictable than all the other women characters combined. Sure, Bay's film creates some tension and contains some visceral moments, but if he can't create any redeemable characters outside of those in space, what's the point of saving the planet? --Dave McCoy

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1969
Release Date:	July 5, 2004
Runtime:	162 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	01005 V D V D
Keywords:	War, Patton
Genre:	War