Patton

Since I first saw the film Patton when I was in Jr. High, I have always liked it.  But I recently saw it on DVD, and was reminded that Francis Ford Coppola mostly wrote the screenplay (with Edmund North), hardly someone I would associate with such a film.  Francis wound up giving the commentary on the DVD.

He explained how he wrote the screenplay early in his career, and tried to bring out the real Patton's mystical side after reading several biographies about him - so he could make the film appeal to both a conservative military audience, as well as a youthful anti-war audience.  He says this midway approach got him fired as the screenwriter (as well as his opening with Patton in full dress in front of a huge American flag).  Other screenwriters were hired, but they turned out unsatisfactory.  Finally, someone remembered that "the kid" had written a screenplay.  They found it mostly satisfactory, and sent it to Edmund North to clean it up, though he mostly kept a large portion of what Coppola had originally written.

Since Francis is a director, but not on this film, he describes how he didn't know how the filming of the film actually occurred.  However, what is better, he describes what he was thinking as the various scenes in the film pass by (except for those he didn't write).  He obviously found the real person of Patton deeply fascinating, and this comes across in the film.

Anyway, I highly recommend watching the film on DVD and hearing his commentary.