The figure of George Armstrong Custer still inspires controversy even today. Just what drove him, ambition, hubris, whatever is still being debated today. I don't think anyone has really gotten a handle on his character in any film.
This one however gives it a good try. Robert Shaw and Mary Ure play the General and his wife and she's important in the story. She outlived him by about 50 years, dying in the early Thirties. She was the custodian of the Custer legacy.
Also important in the story are General Phil Sheridan of whom Custer was a protégé of sorts. Sheridan is played here by Lawrence Tierney and he's also an interesting figure. As are Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen, his second and third in command played by Ty Hardin and Jeffrey Hunter. Even amateur military historians still debate about how Custer split his force in three with these other two taking significant portions of the 7th Cavalry. It was only the men who are under Custer's direct command who were annihilated at the Little Big Horn.
No one is saying that this is the ultimate Custer interpretation, but it beats Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland in They Died With Their Boots On.
This one however gives it a good try. Robert Shaw and Mary Ure play the General and his wife and she's important in the story. She outlived him by about 50 years, dying in the early Thirties. She was the custodian of the Custer legacy.
Also important in the story are General Phil Sheridan of whom Custer was a protégé of sorts. Sheridan is played here by Lawrence Tierney and he's also an interesting figure. As are Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen, his second and third in command played by Ty Hardin and Jeffrey Hunter. Even amateur military historians still debate about how Custer split his force in three with these other two taking significant portions of the 7th Cavalry. It was only the men who are under Custer's direct command who were annihilated at the Little Big Horn.
No one is saying that this is the ultimate Custer interpretation, but it beats Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland in They Died With Their Boots On.