Line #24 Trivia/Patton


1	* ActorSharedBackground: Just like his character Lucian Truscott, the late John Doucette served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
2	* BackedByThePentagon: Sort of. Nearly half the budget was spent on soldiers and equipment rented from the Spanish army.
3	* CaliforniaDoubling: Most of the film was shot in Spain. One scene, which depicts Patton driving up to an ancient city that is implied to be Carthage, was shot in the ancient Roman city of Volubilis, Morocco. The early scene, where Patton and Muhammed V are reviewing Moroccan troops including the Goumiers, was shot at the Royal Palace in Rabat. One unannounced battle scene was shot the night before, which raised fears in the Royal Palace neighborhood of a coup d'état. One paratrooper was electrocuted in power lines, but none of this battle footage appears in the film. The scene at the dedication of the welcome centre in Knutsford, Cheshire, England, was filmed at the actual site. The scenes set in Africa and Sicily were shot in the south of Spain (Almeria ), while the winter scenes in Belgium were shot near Segovia (to which the production crew rushed when they were informed that snow had fallen).
4	* CompletelyDifferentTitle: The film was released in Britain as ''Patton: Lust for Glory''.
5	* CreatorBacklash: Creator/GeorgeCScott felt he hadn't really captured the full character of George S. Patton. He would apologize to director Franklin J. Schaffner on the set for not fully realizing the complexity of the man.
6	* DawsonCasting: Creator/KarlMalden was 15 years older than Creator/GeorgeCScott. In reality Gen. Omar Bradley was seven years younger than George S. Patton (although Bradley did look a bit older than he really was).
7	* FakeAmerican: Canadian actor Stephen Young plays the American Chester B. Hansen.
8	* FakeAustralian: Englishman John Barrie plays the Australian Sir Arthur Coningham.
9	* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: The movie took ''seventeen years'' from inception to release. [[http://www.amazon.com/Making-Patton-Classic-Journey-Silver/dp/0700618627 An entire book's]] been written about ''Patton'''s tortured pre-production: studio turf feuds, budget concerns, battles over script and casting, and resistance from Patton's family delayed the film's production again and again.
10	* UnderageCasting: Karl-Michael Vogler was eight years younger than Rommel was during the Tunisia campaign.
11	* WagTheDirector: Initially, Creator/GeorgeCScott refused to film the famous speech in front of the American flag when he learned that the speech was going to come at the opening of the film. He felt that if they put that scene at the beginning, then the rest of his performance would not live up to that scene. So director Franklin J. Schaffner lied to Scott and told him that the scene would be put at the end of the film.
12	** According to Creator/KarlMalden, Scott caused a shooting delay by immersing himself in a ping-pong tournament against a world-champion table-tennis player. Scott (who was in full costume and makeup) kept losing to the champ; yet he was determined to win at least one set, even if they had to stand there playing the entire night. Actually sounds like something Patton might have done.
13	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
14	** Creator/RodSteiger was offered the lead role, but turned it down because he thought that the film glorified war. He later cited this as the worst mistake of his career.
15	** At one point, Creator/RobertMitchum was offered the lead role. He turned it down and even suggested Creator/GeorgeCScott would be a better choice for the role.
16	** Creator/JohnWayne eagerly sought the lead role, but was turned down by producer Frank [=McCarthy=].
17	** Creator/BurtLancaster turned down the lead role due to his anti-war beliefs.
18	** Creator/LeeMarvin turned down the lead role. Creator/TellySavalas was also considered.
19	** Creator/JohnHuston declined to direct the film. Creator/WilliamWyler agreed to direct, and had even done some preliminary production work on the film, also planning his retirement at conclusion of production, but differed with Creator/GeorgeCScott over the script, instead leaving this production, in favor of ''Film/TheLiberationOfLBJones'', which instead became Wyler's planned final film as director.
20	** Creator/JamesStewart was considered for the role of General Omar N. Bradley.
21	* WorkingTitle: ''Patton: Salute to a Rebel''.

Context Trivia / Patton