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The movie has one of the most memorable opening scenes in Hollywood history. George C . Scott emerges as Patton and gives a remarkable speech in front of a huge banner of the Stars and Stripes. The opening scene was written by Francis Ford Coppola and was not intended to be in the final cut of the movie but the director had second thoughts and luckily left it in. The speech of Patton was a unique blend of patriotism, nobility and crudities. However, Patton never gave such a speech. Yet it would be wrong to state that the speech was just a fabrication. Coppola cleverly took quotes from Patton’s speeches and interviews with reports and combined them in a brilliant way.<ref>Cousins, p. 214</ref> The words in the speech are Patton’s apart from some lines used by the screenwriter to integrate the quotes into a coherent speech. The result was one of the most outstanding introductions in movie history but strictly speaking the American general never gave such a speech.