MovieChat Forums > Little Big Man (1970) Discussion > Custer's Last Stand

Custer's Last Stand

posted 17 years ago by jo811
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Just wondering if anyone can recomend or tell me if Custers last Stand has been portrayed in any other movies or decent tv programs, and are there any modern depictions of the battle

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] tgoc 17 years ago

There was also a made-for-tv film some years ago, fictional of course, called "The Trial of Custer" or something to that effect, which was based on the imagining that Custer had survived the battle and was being court-marshaled for the loss of his regiment. It went into the details of the action fairly thoroughly. In reality, we will never know exactly how the "last stand" played out. There were no survivors to tell us about it, sadly.

TGOC

[–] nd12strngs 17 years ago

There have been few programs dealing with Custer in the last few decades, due at least in part to the realization that while the conquest of the American Indians was neccessary and inevitable, it was also a very messy process.

"Son of the Morning Star" (1991) depicts the battle on a fairly small scale with a lot of close up shots of men riding horses and shooting guns, and dismounted men shooting guns. While it does seem to be able to portray the activities of individual soldiers and Indians, it does not manage to give an overall sense of unity to the battle.

"The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer" (1977) is a court room drama made with a very limited budget. The accounts of the battle are almost entirely presented as testimony from the trial.

Both of these television programs were based on books bearing the same names. This may reflect a prejudice on my part, but I thought that the books were better. I believe that "Son of the Morning Star" is still in print. "The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer" is not. Both books are worth the time and expense of finding and reading.

As far as documentary programs, PBS has a series called "The American Experience", which I think is one of the finest series of programs ever made for television. They did a one hour segment on Custer and a seperate segment on Elizabeth Custer.

The History Channel ran a series about the American West hosted by Kenny Rogers. They must have done at least one episode on Custer.

The A&E network did a series called "Biography" that included an episode on Custer.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] [email protected] 17 years ago

There's also Robert Shaw as Custer in 'Custer Of The West' and a very glamourised version with Errol Flynn as Custer in 'They Died With Their Boots On'

My great grandfather was killed at the Little Big Horn.....he wasn't at the battle..he was camping in the next field and went over to tell them to keep the noise down! badda-BING!

[–] chrismahon2005 17 years ago

To the guy who said "son of the morning star" was small scale,and did not give the overall picture,just wanted to say hes talking rubbish,it had hundreds of extras,and shows how the 7th cav and custer,turned down support,turned down gattling guns,then split the small forces into 3 or 4 different units,cant beleive its not out onDVD,the battle scenes and over all story is stunning,ive still got my double box version on video,and still have my old video under the bed,just so if i ever want to see it i can,i hardly have any otehr videos left,wish it would come out on dvd

[–] ensilo 16 years ago

As chrismahon2005 wrote. Little Big Horn is a classic example of dividing your force in the face of a superior enemy. Worked for Lee at Chanslersville, didn't work for Custer.

[–] foster1234 11 years ago

I don't recall him turning down a bunch of support, but turning down the Gatling guns was a wise and proper decision for a cavalry commander.

The design for Gatling guns approved bt the army was one on a artillery carriage. Had Custer taken them, they would have been disabled in a few days due to broken axels. The ground he traveled over was not as smooth as it looked, he would never had made his objectives. Cavalry is supposed to be mobile.

As to splitting his forces, well these was standard Army doctrine when attacking a village 1 group to attack head on, dismounted, 1 group to scatter the pony herd 1 group with the pack train and extra ammo to be used as a reserve as needed. It had worked successfully before at the *beep* and other battles

You don't have to stand tall, but you have to stand up!

er

[–] colin-ayres-1 17 years ago

LoL ... nice one!

[–] nutsberryfarm 12 years ago

good ones.

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