George C. Scott died at the age of 71. To ex-President Ronald Reagan and most of the rest of us, he will always be General Patton. Mr. Scott won his only Oscar for Patton (1970).
His larger than life portrayal of the great general defined the man and the time forever.
The film won six other Oscars, including best movie. It was famously aired in the Reagan White House many times.
Mr. Scott appeared in over 30 more movies in the years that followed. Most of them are imminently forgettable.
His career choices were not well thought out; he seemed determined to squander his time and considerable talent on things like Exorcist 3 and Angus. His distinctive gravel voice and piercing stare were largely wasted after his first few films.
George C. Scott’s first big break came in The Hustler (1961). This is a wonderful movie about pool hustlers and hangers-on.
While it is dominated by Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason (as the legendary Minnesota Fats), Mr. Scott’s role is important to the story and he manages to hold his own against all that star power.
Mr. Scott is the manic head of the Joint Chiefs in Stanley Kramer’s marvelous Dr. Strangelove (1964). His advice to the president is unfailingly ridiculous and hilarious.
This classic film also features Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove, Keenan Wynn as Bat Guano (!) and Chill Wills as a cowboy bomber pilot. This film is a must-see.
Mr. Scott seems somewhat miscast at the beginning of The Flim-Flam Man (1967), with the corny makeup, haircut and clothes. But he gradually and completely wins us over to this portrait of a man who lives to con others and is usually really good at it.
A great deal of the fun is in Mr. Scott’s explanations of the various scams to his unwitting apprentice, Michael Sarazin.
As a disappointed and disturbed doctor, George C. Scott adds a note of sanity in Arthur Hiller’s frantic, darkly humorous The Hospital (1971).
This madcap, disturbing film has only gained in validity with the passage of time as a glaring indictment of the health care establishment.
One of the earliest Scott appearances is as the prosecuting attorney in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), a crackerjack courtroom drama also starring James Stewart, Lee Remick and Ben Gazzara. Mr. Scott was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Hugh Griffith for Ben Hur.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. None are really suitable for children under 12.
Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.
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