text: Patton is a 1970 American epic biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott as Patton and Karl Malden as General Omar Bradley, and was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, who based their screenplay on Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago and Bradley's memoir, A Soldier's Story.
  Patton won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Scott also won the Best Actor for his performance, though he declined the award. The opening monologue, delivered by Scott as General Patton with an enormous American flag behind him, remains an iconic and often quoted image in film. In 2003, Patton was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". The Academy Film Archive also preserved Patton in 2003.
  Plot
  In its very first combat encounter with the German Afrika Korps at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, the II Corps is defeated by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. General George S. Patton is placed in command of II Corps and immediately begins instilling his authority amongst his untested and poorly disciplined troops. Alongside the poor condition of American soldiers in the II Corps, Patton also identifies how his British counterpart, General Bernard Montgomery, is constantly monopolising the allied effort to suit his own needs.