The Five Best George C. Scott Performances

1. Patton (1970) - Judith Crist, then a critic at New York magazine, called Scott's portrayal of General George S. Patton, Jr. "one of the great performances of all time." It's hard to argue even though the film as a whole doesn't resonate today as strongly as it once did. Still, his opening speech on a stage in front of a huge American flag is an iconic moment in 1970s cinema. Scott famously refused his Oscar for Best Actor in 1970. Actually, he tried to refuse the nomination, just as he did for Best Supporting Actor for The Hustler in 1961. Scott played Patton again in the 1986 made-for-TV movie The Last Days of Patton.

2. The Flim-Flam Man (1967) - George C. Scott was 40 when he played elderly, gray-haired con artist Mordecai Jones. It could have easily become a gimmick, but Scott's performance is so masterful that one quickly forgets the age difference between actor and character. His make-up is adequate, but it's Scott's voice and physical gestures that allow him to transform into an old man. He owns the character, balancing Mordecai's enthusiasm over successfully pulling off a con with his paternal friendship with a young Army deserter. He boasts of holding the degree M.B.S., C.S., D.D. in one scene (that's for "Master of Back-Stabbing, Cork-Screwing and Dirty-Dealing"). Then, in another, he reflects, with a tinge of remorse, about how he became bitter toward the human race.

3. They Might Be Giants (1971) - In this cult favorite, George C. Scott plays Justin Playfair, a former judge who imagines himself to be Sherlock Holmes in contemporary New York. Joanne Woodward plays his psychiatrist, Dr. Watson. While the film is only partially successful, it provides a showcase for the mesmerizing Scott, who effortlessly transitions back and forth from the confused Justin to the supremely confident Holmes. In the film's most touching scene, a tired Holmes reads the biography of Justin Playfair, a once influential judge who retired from the bench and lost his wife the previous year (thus explaining why Justin became Holmes).

4. Anatomy of a Murder (1959) - Scott has a field day as an ambitious, theatrical prosecutor in a high-profile murder case in one of the best (if not the best) trial films. In her memoir, actress Colleen Dewhurst stated that it was "the part that would explode him in the public eye." Scott, who had earned good notices for his stage and television work, was originally offered the small role of the bartender. However, he lobbied to play the prosecuting attorney and earned his first Academy Award nomination.

5. Hardcore (1979) - It's too bad that writer-director Paul Schrader's dark drama isn't better known. Scott plays a conservative father from the midwest who learns that his missing daughter is involved in the adult film business. He goes to L.A. to find her and bring her home. Scott gives an emotionally-charged performance as a morally rigid man thrust into a seamy underworld. However, it's his scenes with Season Hubley, playing a streetwalker who helps him, that bring out the complexities in his character.

Honorable mentions:  The Hustler, The List of Adrian Messenger, Dr. Strangelove, and The Changeling.

George C. Scott Is the Flim-Flam Man

George C. Scott and Michael Sarrazin.

George C. Scott had a pretty impressive career in the 1960s with Dr. Strangelove, The Hustler, and The List of Adrian Messenger. If you stretch things a bit, you could also count Patton in 1970 and Anatomy of a Murder in 1959. Lost amid these excellent films, though, is one of his finest performances: his portrayal of Mordecai Jones in The Flim-Flam Man (1967).

Army deserter Curley Treadaway (Michael Sarrazin) first encounters the elderly con artist when Mordecai is hurled from a moving train in the rural South. The two men become unlikely partners with Curley serving as the shill for Mordecai's various con games. While Curley has ethical misgivings, his new partner ensures him that he only takes advantage of greedy people.

That's not entirely true, as shown when they "borrow" a red convertible from a nice family whose attractive daughter Bonnie Lee (Sue Lyon) catches Curley's eye. During a police pursuit, the car is destroyed--along with much of a small Carolina town. Curley sneaks back to apologize to Bonnie Lee and discovers they share a mutual attraction. He continues his secret romance with Bonnie Lee while working scams with Mordecai--but she wants Curley to turn himself into the police.

What I haven't mentioned is that George C. Scott was 40 when he played the elderly, gray-haired con artist. It could have easily become a gimmick, but Scott's performance is so masterful that one quickly forgets the age difference between actor and character. His make-up is adequate (though Mordecai's gray hair never moves), but it's Scott's voice and physical gestures that allow him to transform into an old man.

He owns the character, balancing Mordecai's enthusiasm over successfully pulling off a con with his paternal friendship with Curley. He boasts of holding the degree M.B.S., C.S., D.D. in one scene (that's for "Master of Back-Stabbing, Cork-Screwing and Dirty-Dealing"). Then, in another, he reflects, with a tinge of remorse, about how he became bitter toward the human race.

Michael Sarrazin and Sue Lyon.

Michael Sarrazin, in his feature film debut, is appealing as the naive Curley. The rest of the cast is peppered with marvelous veteran character actors, such as: Harry Morgan (the sheriff), Jack Albertson (Bonnie Lee's father), Alice Ghostley (her mother), Albert Salmi (the deputy), and Strother Martin and Slim Pickens as two greedy victims of Mordecai's cons.

Filmed in eastern Kentucky, The Flim-Flam Man is the rare Hollywood film that captures the atmosphere of rural Southern towns and backroads. It's all there on the screen from the signs on the barns to the fields of corn, the trains, the moonshiner's still in the woods, and a small town A&P.

Curley and Mordecai swindle Slim Pickens' tobacco farmer.

I'm not sure why The Flim-Flam Man is little more than a footnote in George C. Scott's filmography. It's well directed by Irvin Kershner (The Empires Strikes Back) and features another perfect Jerry Goldsmith score. Most importantly, it's a great opportunity to see one of the best actors of his generation at the peak of his acting prowess. Scott made some pretty humdrum movies later in his career--but this one is among his best.