Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
A critically acclaimed film that won a total of eight 1970 Academy Awards (Including Best Picture) Patton is a riveting portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest military geniuses. One of it's Oscars went to George Patton the only Allied general truly feared by the Nazis. Charismatic and Flamboyant Patton designed his own uniforms sported ivory-handled six-shooters and believed he was a warrior in past lives. He outmanuevered Rommel in Africa and after D-Day led his troops in an unstoppable campaign across Europe. But he was rebellious as well in sight and poignancy his own volatile personailty was one enemy he could never defeat.System Requirements:Running Time: 170 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/CLASSICS Rating: PG UPC: 024543519782 Manufacturer No: 2251978

Amazon.com essential video:
One of the greatest screen biographies ever produced, this monumental film runs nearly three hours, won seven Academy Awards, and gave George C. Scott the greatest role of his career. It was released in 1970 when protest against the Vietnam War still raged at home and abroad, and many critics and moviegoers struggled to reconcile current events with the movie's glorification of Gen. George S. Patton as a crazy-brave genius of World War II.

How could a movie so huge in scope and so fascinated by its subject be considered an anti-war film? The simple truth is that it's not--Patton is less about World War II than about the rise and fall of a man whose life was literally defined by war, and who felt lost and lonely without the grand-scale pursuit of an enemy. George C. Scott embodies his role so fully, so convincingly, that we can't help but be drawn to and fascinated by Patton as a man who is simultaneously bound for hell and glory. The film's opening monologue alone is a masterful display of acting and character analysis, and everything that follows is sheer brilliance on the part of Scott and director Franklin J. Schaffner.

Filmed on an epic scale at literally dozens of European locations, Patton does not embrace war as a noble pursuit, nor does it deny the reality of war as a breeding ground for heroes. Through the awesome achievement of Scott's performance and the film's grand ambition, Patton shows all the complexities of a man who accepted his role in life and (like Scott) played it to the hilt. --Jeff Shannon

Rating : - great movie, AWFUL picture quality
I have to agree with the very few that have called Fox on its despicable job with the picture quality on Patton.

I give the film four stars (in case you were thinking i'm just being mean and unhelpful) and the Blu-ray one. In case you didn't red those others (and there should be MANY more critical reviews of this movie's quality), here it is in a nutshell.

You've been duped.

Oh no it isn't great picture quality. The remaster is AWFUL.

Have you heard of DNR, or Digital Noise Reduction? Film has grain. 70mm film has less noticeable grain due to its large negative size. The thing is, picture detail cannot be separated from the grain and the chemical reaction when the film is exposed.

Because people want to see things looking 'clear' and 'high-def' like HD video and digitally originated cg/3d movies, the studios are 'scrubbing' the pictures electronically to get rid of the grain. They also use a technique called 'edge enhancement' to artificially sharpen the picture by increasing areas of high contrast like edges. So what you get is a halo effect around the edges, and/or LOSS of fine details because when you erase the grain, you erase the high-frequency detail. Detail on chemical film is inseparable. Look at Karl Malden - where are the pores of his skin? HD, and certainly the original 70mm film, is capable of showing this. Now go and look at Patton again. Just atrocious. You've been robbed and don't even know it. Compare it to another 'war' movie, Blackhawk down. THAT's detail and picture quality. Yes Patton is older, but it was shot on 70mm and there should be plenty of detail so you can actually compare the two differently aged films.

Look at Jennifer Connelly's face in Hulk where you can see pores and fine hair, peachfuzz and so on. Then look at something like the Dark City BD, where it's been erased (even though she's younger there!). In Sweeney Todd, the worst thing is they only applied the DNR around the nose and cheeks/under the eyes. See how 'blurred' it looks! They didn't even put grain back over the top to match the rest of the picture - and the most ridiculous thing of all is that in Sweeney Todd Depp and Carter are SUPPOSED to look drawn and tired and lined! It's just ludicrous! And they DON'T do it to other characters! Look at Depp's face in the Pirates movies. THAT'S what you should be seeing, colour grading and tone aside.

I won't even start on how many filmmakers use coarser grain to make the tone/film literally more 'gritty'. On purpose.

DNR is the devil, to be melodramatic about it. I'm not buying Patton on BD until they 'fess up and 'unfix' the thing. HD and Blu-ray are supposed to let you see a film as ACCURATELY to the original as possible. Not this rubbish.