Today’s movie is a biographical western with scenes that happen on June
25. I hope you will watch this movie tonight and enjoy it.
THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON
George Armstrong Custer makes a flamboyant entrance to West Point and
almost gets expelled his first day, only escaping that fate due to a
technicality. He racks up a terrible disciplinary record, but meets Libby Bacon
at the school. Custer graduates early, due to the need for officers in the
Civil War. However, he sits around in Washington until a chance encounter with
Gen. Scott, commander of the army gets him an appointment with the 2nd
Cavalry. At First Manassas, he
disregards orders and captures a crucial bridge. He is wounded and after his
recovery goes to visit Libby. However, he makes a terrible impression on her
father and is thrown out of the house. Custer is accidentally promoted to
Brigadier General during the Gettysburg campaign. He leads the Michigan cavalry
in a defeat of J.E.B. Stuart that contributes to the north’s victory and makes him
a hero. This overcomes the opposition of Libby’s father and the couple are
married. After the war Custer suffers from boredom with civilian life and Libby
uses her influence to get him assigned to the 7th Cavalry. Custer finds Sharpe, an old foe of his from
his West Point days is running a bar at the fort, causing drunkenness in the
ranks, as well as selling arms to the Indians. Custer ends both practices and
restores the unit’s esprit de corp.
However, Sharpe gives each of the troopers a bottle of liquor right
before a parade, embarrassing Custer who in anger strikes another old foe
Commissioner Taipe, who is working in league with Sharpe. Custer is court-martialed, while Sharpe and
Taipe start a rumor of gold in the Black Hills, causing thousands of whites to
enter the Black Hills in violation of a treaty with the Sioux, leading to war.
Custer gets his command restored. He leads the regiment after the Sioux and
even though outnumbered ten to one attacks in order to save Gen. Terry’s
infantry from being massacred. In spite of a brave fight on June 25,
1876 [2:07:39 to 2:15:47] we see Custer and his men annihilated in the battle
of the Little Bighorn by the Sioux.
Custer is remembered as a hero.
One of the classic western movies. Interesting on several points. First
it is very unusual for the time in that Crazy Horse is presented as a character
we are meant to identify with and have sympathy for. Secondly, many of the
incidents in Custer’s career and personal life are completely fabricated. If
you look at it as entertainment and not history, it’s actually a very exciting
and watchable movie.
The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life
of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indian Wars by Thom Hatch
(Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2002) at pages 179-186 and the movie at
2:08:20 give the date of the battle
Producer - Hal B. Wallis and Robert Fellows
Screenplay - Æneas MacKenzie and Wally Kline
Director - Raoul Walsh
Runtime - 2 hours 20
minutes
Released – November 21, 1941
Starring –
Errol Flynn as George Armstrong Custer
Olivia de Havilland as Elizabeth Custer
Arthur Kennedy as Ned Sharp
Charley Grapewin as California Joe
Gene Lockhart as Samuel Bacon
Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.
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