Jerry Goldsmith's score for Franklin J. Schaffner's Patton, 1970, is one of the great scores in cinema history. It is one of Goldsmith's premier compositions and one of the most recognizable ever written.
The 20th Century-Fox production won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. It was also nominated for Goldsmith's score, but lost to Francis Lai's Love Story.
The complete score (plus the re-recording issued on LP) is available on a 2-CD set from Intrada (MAF 7110). The score was previously available on the FSM label backed with the Flight of the Phoenix (Vol. 2, No. 2)
"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."- Wikipedia
Always a pleasure being reminded of the first viewing and the Carthage scene. When those triplets hit, so help me I was in JG's TZ glory and it cracks me up just thinking about it right now. This is what happens when you're growing up at the same time his career is taking off. And now I'm tripping out replaying the Bastogne build-up in the mind's eye and ear. Great stuff from a true composer for film.
Though “Patton” was not my introduction to Jerry Goldsmith (that honor belongs to “QB VII”) I remember listening to the rerecording that my brother got and when I purchased the F.S.M. Silver Age edition and later the version that had both the original soundtrack and the rerecording I was even more impressed. This should have won the Oscar for Best Score.
I once performed the entire speech in a college class decked out in my Dad’s WW2 dress uniform. I think that’s what it was. Made no attempt to ape Scott but it was impossible not to think of him. Heh heh a decent portion is still memorized.
You don't get a lot of opportunities to experience Goldsmith's music working with a great FILM. Patton is just superb on almost every level, one of the greatest screenplays ever written, and as I've said before, that last scene is possibly the finest combination of music and dialogue in the history of the movies.
I saw it coming on and paused it so my son could watch the opening speech. That’s all I was going to watch (I own the blu ray and my intent was to get him interested so we could watch it later). We watched it, beloved the speech and when I tried to turn the movie off he asked me why I was doing that. We sat and watched the whole film. Great father son bonding. I showed him the biography I have on Patton called Patton: A genius of war and told him how I had met his son and the author at a writers symposium when I was in college. Got to eat dinner with his so. Who was a cavalry commander in Vietnam and ended up a Major General himself. Great guy. My son actually listened to my story despite being 14 and uninterested in most things. Good night.
I once performed the entire speech in a college class decked out in my Dad’s WW2 dress uniform. I think that’s what it was. Made no attempt to ape Scott but it was impossible not to think of him. Heh heh a decent portion is still memorized.
I saw it coming on and paused it so my son could watch the opening speech. That’s all I was going to watch (I own the blu ray and my intent was to get him interested so we could watch it later). We watched it, beloved the speech and when I tried to turn the movie off he asked me why I was doing that. We sat and watched the whole film. Great father son bonding. I showed him the biography I have on Patton called Patton: A genius of war and told him how I had met his son and the author at a writers symposium when I was in college. Got to eat dinner with his so. Who was a cavalry commander in Vietnam and ended up a Major General himself. Great guy. My son actually listened to my story despite being 14 and uninterested in most things. Good night.
Nice! Have you watched "Field of Dreams" with him???
I once performed the entire speech in a college class decked out in my Dad’s WW2 dress uniform. I think that’s what it was. Made no attempt to ape Scott but it was impossible not to think of him. Heh heh a decent portion is still memorized.
I always thought Goldsmith's loss to Francis Lai for "Love Story" was an absolute miscarriage of justice in the his history of Oscars when it came to Best Score.
I always thought Goldsmith's loss to Francis Lai for "Love Story" was an absolute miscarriage of justice in the his history of Oscars when it came to Best Score.
I think it was chosen because Love Story sold a lot of sheet music, recordings both instrumental and vocal not to mention a lot of radio play.
I always thought Goldsmith's loss to Francis Lai for "Love Story" was an absolute miscarriage of justice in the his history of Oscars when it came to Best Score.
I think it was chosen because Love Story sold a lot of sheet music, recordings both instrumental and vocal not to mention a lot of radio play.
Henry Mancini's cover version of the main theme which hit the Billboard Top 40 singles chart was probably another reason.
