Which director made the 1970 historical war film Patton?

Franklin J. Schaffner directed the 1970 historical war film Patton.

The film presents the career of U.S. Army General George S. Patton during the Second World War, focusing on his battlefield successes, forceful personality and repeated conflicts with military and political superiors. Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North wrote the screenplay.

George C. Scott played Patton and won the Academy Award for Best Actor, although he declined the award. The film also won Best Picture, Best Director and several other Oscars at the 43rd Academy Awards.

The opening scene, in which Patton addresses troops before a huge American flag, is one of the film’s most recognizable images. Patton combines historical events with dramatic compression, so it should not be treated as a scene-by-scene documentary biography.