Patton, one of the most critically acclaimed films of the 1970s, opened with George C. Scott as United States General George S. Patton, addressing the audience in front of a giant American flag. His speech combined inspiration with profanity: "Now I want you to remember, that no bastard ever won a war by giving his life for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

George C. Scott in a scene from Patton.

Based on Omar Bradley's memoirs, Patton presented an un-flinching look at the volatile general during the European battles of World War II. General Patton was given to poetic, occasionally vulgar evocations of the duty of soldiers in the heat of battle, claiming that he had been a warrior during past lives ("The Carthaginians were proud and brave but they couldn't hold. They were massacred. Arab women stripped...