`Correct in Every Detail`: General Custer in Hollywood

'Correct in Every Detail': General Custer in Hollywood
Author(s): Paul Andrew Hutton
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Winter, 1991), pp. 28-57
Published by: Montana Historical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4519359 .
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MONTANATHE MAGAZINEOF WESTERNHISTORY
Every Detail'
General Custer
in Hollywood
by Paul Andrew Hutton
At the conclusion of John Ford'sclassic film Fort
Apache (1948), a group of newspaper reporters
questions LieutenantColonel KirbyYork (ohn
Wayne)about his forthcomingcampaignagainst
Geronimo,while also reflecting on the glorious
reputationof his regiment. That glory is chiefly
derivedfromthe last standof the regiment'sprevious commander,LieutenantColonelOwenThursday (Henry Fonda). Colonel York despised
Thursday,who had in reality sacrificed the regiment to racialarrogance,vaingloriouspride, and
woundedvanity.The last stand had in fact been a
near-routin which Thursdayhad playedlittle part
except to initiate disaster. "No man died more
gallantly,"Yorkresponds to a reporter'spraise of
Atleft,WayneMaunderas Custerin a promotional
cartoon,rides into a MonumentValley-likelandscapein Custer(ABC,1967).
WINTER1991
John Wayne as LieutenantColonel York discusses "Thursday'sLastCharge"witha groupof
reportersin FortApache(RKO,1948).
Thursday,his voice sad and drippingwith irony,
"norwon more honor for his regiment."Asked if
he has seen the grand painting of "Thursday's
Charge"now hanging in the nation's capitol, the
colonel answers affirmatively.
"That was a magnificent work," declares an
enthusiastic reporter.'There were these massed
columns of Apaches in their warpaintand feathered bonnets, and here was Thursdayleading his
men in that heroic charge."
"Correctin every detail,"the colonel responds.
29
Montana TheMagazineof WesternHistory
f course, as ColonelYorkandthefilm's
audienceknow only too well, not a single
detailof the paintingwas correct.ButYork
has come to understandthat if the sacrificeof his
regiment is to have any value it must be as myth.
Thatmyth,even if mostlyfalse, can stillprovidean
idealof courageandsacrificethatwillgive the new
regiment(andthe new nation)strength,pride,and
a sense of identity.
DirectorFordandscreenwriterFrankS. Nugent
understoodthatthe importanceof heroes is not to
be foundin the often mundaneor sordidrealityof
their lives, but rather in what society makes of
them. Ford,who based FortApacheloosely on the
Custer story, had no problem in revealing the
incompetence,hypocrisy,andbrutalityof the frontier armyor in displayingthe honor, dignity,and
heroism of the Native Americans twenty years
before it became fashionableto do so.
Some critics, who often castigate Ford as a
chauvinisticcelebrationist,arepuzzledby the conclusionof FortApache.They failto comprehendits
subtlety, which goes, of course, to the heart of
understandingand acceptingour most cherished
nationalmythsforwhatthey actuallyare.Fordhad
no problemwith the ending.
Criticand filmmakerPeter Bogdanovichquestioned Ford about the ending of FortApachein a
1967 interview, rightly pointing out that it foreshadowedthe conclusion of an even darkerFord
portrayalof frontiermyth in The Man WhoShot
LibertyValance(1962):
BOGDANOVICH:
The end of FortApacheanticipates the newspapereditor'sline in LibertyValance, "whenthe legend becomes a fact,printthe
legend."Do you agree with that?
FORD: Yes-because I think it's good for the
country. We've had a lot of people who were
supposedto be greatheroes, andyou knowdamn
well they weren't.But it's good for the countryto
have heroes to look up to. Like Custer-a great
hero. Well, he wasn't. Not that he was a stupid
man-but he did a stupidjob that day.1
Despite Ford'sbelief that myth was "goodfor
the country,"his artisticvision is dedicatedin both
1. PeterBogdanovich,John
Ford(Berkeley:Universityof California Press, 1968),86.
2. WhenJohnFordapproachedFrankNugentto writethe screenplayFordgave Nugenta list of some fiftybooks to readon the Indian
wars. LaterFord sent him to Arizonato get a feel for the landscape.
"WhenI got back,"Nugentrecalled,"Fordasked me if I thoughtI had
enoughresearch.I saidyes. 'Good,'he said,'Nowjustforgeteverything
you'veread,andwe'llstartwritinga movie.'"So muchforthe impactof
scholarshipon film. LindsayAnderson,AboutJohnFord (New York:
McGraw-Hill
Book Co., 1981),77-79.FortApache,like the other two
filmsin Ford'scavalrytrilogy,She Worea YellowRibbon(1949)andRio
Grande(1950),wasbasedon aJamesWarnerBellahshortstory.Bellah
30
Winter 1991
Fort Apacheand The Man WhoShot LibertyValance to the explanationof a truth about the past
thatwas lost to most of his Hollywoodpeers andto
manyhistoriansas well:thatgood men,withnoble
motives, can do evil. His truthfulfiction of the
Custerbattle,FortApache,remainsthe best of over
forty celluloid portrayalsof America'smost flamboyantmilitaryfailure,GeorgeArmstrongCuster.2
The trick,of course,in reviewingthe checkered
cinematiccareer of the enigmaticGeneralCuster
is to find a film that is correctin any detail,much
less one correct in everydetail. Much like John
Wayne's ColonelYork in FortApachewe, as the
audience viewing these films, must search for a
highercorrectnessin themthana mere adherence
to fact-and thatcanprovea dauntingtaskindeed.
Custer's dead troopers had yet to receive a
proper burial before the redoubtableWilliamF.
"BuffaloBill" Cody was amazing eastern audiences withhis TheRedRightHand;orBuffaloBill's
First Scalp for Custer.Now, you had to admire
Cody's grit, for in the summer of 1876 he had
abandonedthe eastern stage (wherehe had been
doing good box-officebusiness since 1872) to rejoin his old regimenton the plains.Everyonefrom
GeneralPhilSheridanon downbelievedthiswould
be the last great Indian war, and Cody was not
aboutto miss it.
Havingheardthe shocking news aboutCuster,
the Fifth Regimentwas scouting the rolling hills
along WarbonnetCreek, Nebraska, on July 17,
1876,when an advancepartyof LittleWolfs Cheyennes, on their way north to join Sitting Bull,
clashed with a smallpartyof soldiersled by Cody.
The long-hairedscout, garbed in one of his stage
costumes of blackvelvet trimmedwith silver buttons and lace, brought down the only casualtyin
the skirmish, an unfortunatelybold Cheyenne
warriorwith the ironic name of Yellow Hair (the
name was in recognitionof a blonde scalp he had
taken). Codypromptlyliftedthe fellow'shair,proclaiming his grisly trophy as "the first scalp for
Custer."The soldiers then chased the Indians
backto the RedCloudAgency in one of the army's
few victories of the GreatSioux War.3
Withinfive weeks Codyleft the army,heading
eastwardwhere the opportunitiesfor glory before
the footlightswere far greaterthan on the plains.
laterwrotethe scriptsfor Ford'stale of the BuffaloSoldiers,Sergeant
Rutledge(1960) and TheMan WhoShot LibertyValance(1962). His
cavalryshortstories,most of themoriginallypublishedin the Saturday
EveningPostin the late-1940s,appearedas JamesWarnerBellah,Reveille (Greenwich,Conn.:FawcettGoldMedal,1962).
3. PaulL.Hedren,FirstScalpforCuster:TheSkirmishat Warbonnet
Creek,Nebraska,July17, 1876 (Glendale:ArthurH. ClarkCo., 1980).
4. WilliamF. Cody, TheLife of Hon. WilliamF. CodyKnownas
BuffaloBill (Lincoln:Universityof NebraskaPress, 1978), 360; Don
Russell,TheLivesand Legendsof BuffaloBill (Norman:Universityof
OklahomaPress, 1960),253-57.
Paul AndrewHutton
The new play,accordingto BuffaloBill,was a fiveact monstrosity"withouthead or tail... a noisy,
rattling,gunpowderentertainment."It was Cody's
most successful play.4
AfterWarbonnetCreekit became increasingly
difficultto tell if artwere imitatinglife orvice versa.
Codyhad dressed the morningof July 17, 1876,in
his Mexicanvaquerostage outfitin anticipationof
a battle with the Indians.He was anxious to later
tell his easternaudiencesthathis colorfulcostume
was authentic, for he wanted to shed the drab
buckskinshe had alwaysworn. Dressed properly
for the parthe venturedforth and boldlykilled an
Indian in a frontier ritual that immediately reaffirmedhis hero status. He then hurried east,
scalp in tow, to exploit this act before audiences
hungryfor a look at a "realWildWest"as fresh as
the morningheadlines, but alreadyanachronistic
to an increasinglyurban,industrialsociety. It was
as if the frontierWest was providingthem with
living,breathingentertainment.Afterhis premier
performanceatWarbonnetCreek (andit certainly
was a more dauntingact than ErrolFlynnor John
Wayneever hadto perform),Codysimplytook the
show on the road in TheRedRightHand, and the
profitswere indeed impressive.
'
x
Then
Cody initiated his famous
Wild West show in 1883 he continued
V/V/
V
his personalidentificationwiththe Custer
story. Sitting Bull toured for a season with the
company,and Custer'sLastStandwas often reenactedas the climaxof the program.As time passed
Codyupdatedthe historical pageants,so that the
last stand rotatedwith scenes from the SpanishAmericanWaror the Boxer Rebellion,but Cody's
first scalp for Custer remained standard fare
throughoutthe show's long run.5
Cody was naturallyattractedto the new mediumof movingpictures.As earlyas 1894his Wild
West companywas filmed by the Edison Kinetoscope for the peepshow circuit. It was financial
disaster,however,thatbroughtCodyinto the film
business. Fred Bonfils and HarryTammen, the
buccaneeringcapitalistswho owned the Denver
Post,forcedCodyintobankruptcyin 1913andthen
used himto form,in collaborationwiththe Essanay
Company,the Colonel W. F. Cody (BuffaloBill)
HistoricalPictures Companyin September1913.
5. The evolutionof Cody'sshowis fullyandablydiscussedin Don
Russell,TheWildWestor,A HistoryoftheWildWestShows(FortWorth:
AmonCarterMuseumof WesternArt,1970).
6. KevinBrownlow,TheWar,theWestandthe
Wilderness
(NewYork:
AlfredA. Knopf,1979),232.
The companywas to filma historicalepic of the
Indianwars using manyof the actualparticipants,
includingCody,retiredLieutenantGeneralNelson
Miles,FrankBaldwin,CharlesKing,DeweyBeard,
Iron Tail, Short Bull, and Running Hawk. The
scenario for Buffalo Bill's Indian Warswas by
CharlesKing, a formerFifth Cavalryofficerwho
had been with Codyat WarbonnetCreekand had
since become a famous novelist. It included the
Battle of Summit Springs, Cody's first scalp for
Custer,the deathof SittingBull,andwas climaxed
witha re-creationof the tragedyatWoundedKnee.
DenverPostreporterCourtneyRyleyCooper,who
wouldlaterghostwritethe autobiographyof Cody's
wife and write a 1923 Custer novel, The Last
Frontier,thatwouldbe twicefilmedby Hollywood,
reported that the picture, thanks to Cody and
GeneralMiles, "washistoricallycorrect in every
detail and that not a featurewas forgotten."6
The government,havingprovidedsix-hundred
cavalrymenfor the film, may have been unhappy
withCody'sdeterminationto portraythe massacre
atWoundedKneetruthfully.CodyandMiles quarreled bitterly during the filming and their long
friendshipcame to a stormyend.
The governmentdelayedrelease of the filmfor
almost a year. When it finallyplayedin New York
and Denver, Cody and several Sioux appearedon
stage to introduceit. The film was rereleased in
1917 after Cody's death but was never widely
distributed."Myobject of desire,"declared Buffalo Bill before his death, "has been to preserve
historyby the aidof the camerawithas manyliving
participantsin the closing Indianwars of North
Americaas could be procured."7
Perhapsin his final forayinto show business, BuffaloBill had, for
once, been too truthful. Ben Black Elk, whose
father was in the film, claimed that the Interior
Departmentbanned it and later destroyed it. No
copy is knownto exist today.
EvenbeforeCody'sfilmwas completedin October 1913,the Custerstoryhad alreadybeen told at
least four times on film.WilliamSelig's 1909onereeler, Custer'sLastStandor OntheLittleBighorn,
used a reenactmentof the battleon the actualsite
by the MontanaNationalGuardas the centerpiece
of its story. More ambitiouswas Thomas Ince's
1912 three-reeler,Custer'sLast Fight. Starringas
well as directed by Francis Ford, the brother of
John Ford,the movie centered on the old tale that
Rain-in-the-Facehad stalked Custer at the Little
Bighorn to avenge his earlier arrest. The film
ranks as one of the few Custer movies to treat
7. Ibid., 228. See also Russell,BuffaloBill, 457-58,and William
Judson,'The Movies,"in BuffaloBill and the WildWest(Pittsburgh:
Universityof PittsburghPress, 1981).
31
Montana The Magazine of WesternHistor
Olt
a picture for boys and trirls of
HERE'S
all ages.
A BEAUTIFUL story of love anid sacriice set in scenes of naturial grandeur.
a
E
T
TAIE of the making of a nation. show'\
ing thousands of Indians. plainsmen.
tnited States cavalrymen, wagon traiuns
The dramatic episode of Custer's last
j
^
stand.
Indian warfare-the attack on tht fortt-the repulse. You mist see this p)ittlre.
Feature ShoNwn
Sunday
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Newspaperadvertisementfor the Scarlet West (First National, 1925)
Indiansas vicious savages, leaving no doubt that
the Siouxmust be swept aside to makewayfor the
greater civilizationthat Ford'sCusterrepresents.
SittingBull is portrayedas a cowardwhile Custer
appearsas a wise, experiencedcommander.Ford's
heroic portrayalof Custer set a patternunbroken
in filmuntilhis brothermadeFortApachein 1948.8
LikeFortApache,D. W. Griffith's1912film, The
Massacre,presentedanimpressionisticinterpretation of the Custer fight far removed from the
penchant for historical detail found in the Ince
film.The battleis secondaryto the primarystoryof
a pioneer family moving West and of the heroic
scout who silentlyloves the pioneer'swife. Unlike
the Ince film, the Griffithfilm treats the Indians
heroically.An attractiveIndianfamilyis presented
in parallelto the pioneer family, but their happy
lives are destroyedin a Washita-likemassacreled
by a long-haired,Custer-likecavalryofficer.The
Indianfather escapes, but his wife and child are
8. VincentA. Heier, Jr., "ThomasH. Ince's Custer'sLast Fight:
Reflectionson the Makingof the CusterLegend in Film,"[St. Louis
5 (May 1976),21-26;Brownlow,The War,the
Westerners]Westward,
Westand the Wilderness,
257-60.
32
slain, and he swears dark revenge. When the Indian leads his warriorsagainst the wagon train,
now escorted by the same cavalrytroopers who
hadkilledhis family,the soldiers andsettlers form
a ring aroundthe young pioneer'swife and infant.
Oneby one the whitesperish- gamblerandpriest,
general and scout-falling side by side. When the
young pioneer arrives with a rescue column he
findswife andchild aliveunderthe pile of corpses,
the men having made human shields of themselves.
Custer is identifiableas the leader of the cavalry, but was not named in the film-possibly
because such libertieswere takenwiththe facts of
LittleBighorn,and possibly because the Ince film
was released at the same time. Nevertheless, The
Massacreclearlypresents the essence of the early
Custermyth, both in printand on film:the heroic
self-sacrificeof Custerand his men to protectthe
pioneers and expandcivilization'sborders.
Bison Films,the releasingcompanyforthe Ince
film,alsoreleasedCampaigningWithCusterin1913
and Custer'sLast Scoutin 1915.Successful novels
were the basis of two more Custerfilmsof thatera:
Vitagraph's 1916 four-partserial, Britton of the
Seventh,featuringNed Finleyas Custer,based on
CyrusTownsendBrady's1914novel;andMarshall
Neilan's Bob Hamptonof Placer (1921), starring
DwightCrittendenas Custerandbased on Randall
Parrish's 1910 book. Both films dealt with the
theme of a disgracedofficerwho redeems himself
at the Little Bighorn. This plot device became
commonplacein Custer fiction and films. Custer
appearedbrieflyin CliffordSmith'sWildBill Hickok
(1923), where he persuades William S. Hart as
Wild Bill to strapback on his pistols to bring law
and order to the frontier. Custer made another
cameo in Metropolitan'sTheLastFrontier(1926),
this time assisting Wild Bill and BuffaloBill in a
filmbased on CourtneyRyleyCooper's1923novel.
RKOremade the film as a serial in 1932 with
WilliamDesmond as Custer.9
Several Custerfilms were released to coincide
with the fiftiethanniversaryof the last stand.The
first was J. G. Adophe's 1925 nine-reeler, The
ScarletWest,which used the unusualplotdevice of
an Indian hero. RobertFrazierportrayedCardelanche, the educated son of a Sioux chief who
attemptsto lead his people over to white culture.
9. Dataon silent Custerfilmsis in KennethW. Munden,ed., The
AmericanFilm InstituteCatalogof MotionPicturesProducedin the
UnitedStates:FeatureFilms1921-1930(NewYork:AFI,1971);Edward
Buscombe,ed., The BFICompanionto the Western(New York:Atheneum, 1988);andAllen Eyles, The Western(NewYork:A. S. Barnes,
1975). CampingWithCuster,releasedin 1913,is most likelya variant
releasetitleof CampaigningWithCusterofthe sameyear.Mostcertainly
the 1912film Custer'sLastRaidis the same film as Ince'sCuster'sLast
Fight.The Ince film is one of the few of these films to have survived;
almostall of them have been lost.
Paul AndrewHutton
battle by a participant.He received a standing
ovationfromthe crowdandthen settledin to watch
the great tragedyof his youth distortedinto fancifulentertainmentfora peoplecompletelydivorced
by Clara Dow, but the gulf between them proves
too great and he returns to his own people after from frontiertimes. One wonders if Custer'switheywipe outCuster'scommand.Suchaninvolved dow, Elizabeth,who then lived in New YorkCity,
plotwas not allowedto slow the actionin Anthony could bring herself to visit ColonyTheater.
TheFlamingFrontierprovedto be the last maJ. Xydias' WithGeneralCusterat Little Bighorn,
released the followingyear as part of a series of jor silent film on Custer, although the general
films on Americanhistory by Sunset Pictures.10
brieflyrode againin Tim McCoy'sSpoiler'sof the
Universal's1926film,TheFlamingFrontierwas Westin 1927. After the rash of commemorative
the best publicized of the rash of Custer films, Custerfilms,the storywas neglected for a decade,
billed as "the supreme achievement in western had a brief revival of interest in the years just
epics.""Againthe story involveda disgraced sol- before World War II, then vanished again as a
dierwho wins redemptionat LittleBighorn.Inthis
Hollywoodsubjectuntil 1948.
case the soldier was former pony express rider
By the time filmmakersreturnedto his story,
Bob Langdon, played by Hoot Gibson, who is
Custer'sheroic image was under assault from a
unjustlyexpelled fromWest Point.He quite natu- variety of sources. Most notable of these was
rallyheads West and promptlyfinds employment FredericF. Vande Water'shighly successful 1934
as a scout for Custer, played by Dustin Farnum. biography,Glory-Hunter.
For fifty-eightyears no
Corruptionon the frontierandineptitudein Wash- one had daredto chip awayat the hallowedimage
ington underminethe effortsof the heroic Custer of Custer, created by the popular press in the
to keep peace with the cheated Indianswho are decade afterLittleBighornandthen carefullynurfinallydrivento the warpath.At the last moment, turedby ElizabethCusterin a trilogyof bestselling
Custersends scoutLangdonfor reinforcements, memoirs. Biographies by Frederick Whittaker,
and although he is unable to save the Seventh Frederick Dallenbaugh, and Frazier Hunt were
wildlyhagiographic,while for those whose tastes
Langdondoes defeat the white villain,rescue the
were not literaryin nature the Anheuser-Busch
heroine,andget reinstatedto WestPoint.
Companyhad more than 150,000copies of F. Otto
Becker's Custer'sLastFight distributedas a standard prop of saloon decor. This gaudy print, as
close to both history and art as many turn-of-thecenturyAmericansever got, earnestlyreinforced
the
he
last
stand
was
message of Custer'sheroic sacrifice.Custer's
elaborately
staged
T
with Farnum,who came out of retirement critics, and there were manyboth inside and outto portrayCuster,giving his role the ulti- side the military,held their tongues so long as his
mate hero treatment.One ad for the film simply widow lived. But she outlivedthem all, not dying
ran a portraitof Farnumas Custer over the ban- until 1933.15
Van de Water, well known in eastern literary
ner-"see his sublime courage in The Flaming
Frontier.""
ThecriticfortheNewYorkTimeswas circles as an editor,critic,poet, and novelist,was
however,notingthatFarnum"was heavilyinfluencedin his writingby the debunking
unimpressed,
in one of his lax moods while impersonatingGen- spirit of the 1920s, best exemplified by Lytton
eral Custer."'3
Strachey'spioneeringEminent Victorians(1918).
Whenthe filmpremieredat New York'sColony Manyother writershad followedStrachey'slead,
Theater on April 4, 1926, General Edward S.
andallwere deeplytouchedby the cynicismgrowwas
out of WorldWar I, by a rising spirit of antia
of
He
had
honor.'4
ing
Godfrey
special guest
militarism,by the workof SigmundFreud,andby
distinguished himself as a young lieutenant in
CaptainFrederickBenteen's detachmentat Little
Bighorn,andhis 1892articlein Centurymagazine
15. Forthe evolutionof the Custermythsee PaulA Hutton,"From
Frustratedin his efforts,he leaves the Sioux and
acceptsa commissioninthecavalry.Hesoonfalls
inlovewiththepostcommander's
played
daughter,
hadoftenbeenpraisedas the best accountof the
10. Munden,ed., AmericanFilm InstituteCatalog,284, 420, 687;
IndianapolisStar,December20, 1925.
11. IndianapolisStar,September26, 1926.
12. Ibid.,September23, 1926.
13. New YorkTimes,April11, 1926.
14. Ibid.,April5, 1926. Despite the epic qualitiesand enormous
budget of TheFlamingFrontierno copy of the film is knownto exist
today.
LittleBig Hornto LittleBig Man:The ChangingImageof a Western
HeroinPopularCulture,"
Western
HistoricalQuarterly,
7 (January1976),
LastStand:TheAnatomyofanAmerican
1945;BrianW. Dippie,Custer's
Myth(Missoula:Universityof Montana,1976);RobertM.Utley,Custer
andtheGreatControversy:
TheOriginandDevelopment
ofa Legend(Los
Angeles:WesternlorePress, 1962);BruceA. Rosenberg,Custerandthe
Epic of Defeat(UniversityPark:PennsylvaniaUniversityPress, 1974);
Kent Ladd Steckmesser, The WesternHero in Historyand Legend
(Norman:Universityof OklahomaPress, 1965);and EdwardTabor
HeroinAmerica:A Historyof
Linenthal,ChangingImagesoftheWarrior
PopularSymbolism(NewYork:EdwinMellenPress, 1982).
33
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a new emphasis on social forces at the expense of
the previous celebrationof the individual.Many
heroes besides Custerwere reinterpretedto suit
the times, butwhile otherreputationssurvivedthe
attacks,Custer'sdid not.
ew
books have had so immediateand
dramatican impacton both historicalinterpretationandthe popularmindas didVande
Water's Glory-Hunter.The biography is simply
the most influentialbook ever writtenon Custer.
Van de Water created a compelling portraitof a
man consumed by ambition, driven by demons
of his own creation, and finally destroyed by his
own hubris. Gone foreverwas the marblehero of
the past.
Withina few years the glory hunterinterpretationbecamethe standardportrayalof Custerin the
popularpress andfiction.It set the tone for novels
such as Harry Sinclair Drago's Montana Road
(1935), Ernest Haycox's Bugles in the Afternoon
(1944), Will Henry'sNo Survivors(1950), Frank
Gruber'sBugles West (1954), Thomas Berger's
LittleBigMan (1964),andLewisB. Patten'sTheRed
Sabbath(1968).16
Films were changing as well, and at first it
seemed as if Hollywoodmight follow the cynical
lead of the literaryelites. Adaptingto the revolutionarychanges wroughtby the coming of sound,
filmssuch as TheDawnPatrol(1930)andAllQuiet
on theWesternFront(1930)exposedthe insanityof
war;while LittleCaeser(1930), ThePublicEnemy
(1931),andScarface(1931)condemnedthe power
of the underworldwhile linking it to societal indifferenceto poverty.Meanwhile,TheFrontPage
(1931),Iam a FugitiveFroma ChainGang(1932),
and TheDarkHorse (1932) made it clear that corruptionwas not confinedto the mobsters.
As social commentariessuch films, combined
as they were with a more daring approach to
sexualityandviolence, enragedconservativesegments of the Americanpublic.These groupsfound
theirvoice withthe 1933formationof the Legionof
Decency.WillHays,whohadbeen appointedtwelve
years earlierby the majorfilmcompaniesto insure
the decency of Hollywood'sproduct,now found a
powerfulally in the Legion. His job had proved
futileuntilthe church-backedLegiongave him the
cloutto cleanup Hollywood.Gonewas the sex and
violence,buta successfulattackwas also launched
F
16. ForCusterfictionsee BrianW.Dippie,"JackCrabbandthe Sole
Survivorsof Custer'sLastStand,"Western
AmericanLiterature,4 (Fall
1969),189-202.
36
Winter 1991
againstthe cynical irreverenceand negativetone
of the social commentaryfilms. Censorship triumphedso that the slum problemsthat produced
the gangsters were replaced by the agonies of
youngAndyHardyas he learnedthe socialgraces,
and the corruptionsendemic in politicallife were
drownedout by the spiritedsongs and high-stepping dancers of Busby Berkeley musicals. The
only truly serious topics touched upon were in
celluloid versions of classic literature,and even
they were cleaned up. Thus was the American
cinemamade safe for every shelteredtwelve-yearold in the country.17
In such a stiflingatmosphereno filmwas about
to attacka nationalhero like Custer.Furthermore,
the very forces in the late twenties that had led to
the social commentaryfilmshad also left the western in disreputeas simple-mindedentertainment
for the masses. Withthe 1929stock marketcrash
the studios retrenched and proved unwilling to
finance films of the magnitiudenecessary to tell
Custer'sstory.This trendwas exacerbatedby the
coming of sound, for the bulky and expensive
sound equipment made outdoor action dramas
more difficultand costly to film.
Prestige westerns continued to be made
throughoutthe 1930s, with Cimarronin 1931becoming the only western to date to win the Academy Awardfor Best Picture,but they were limited
to only one or two a year. Instead the genre was
dominatedby the budget, or B, western. Led by
Republic Studio, many independent production
companies now rushed to fill the entertainment
gap createdby the desertionof the westernby the
majors. Stories became increasingly simpleminded and action-oriented, with the singing
cowboy emerging as a Hollywood staple. Gone
was the starkwestern realismpioneeredby silent
star WilliamS. Hart.In its place came the entertaining froth of Ken Maynard,Buck Jones, Hoot
Gibson,andGeneAutry.Not untilthe commercial
and criticalsuccess of John Ford's Stagecoachin
1939, which also rescued John Wayne from the
Republic Bs, was interest in serious, prestige
westerns renewed.18
Custer thus turned up in only five films in the
decade, with three of them low-budgetserials for
the Saturday-matineecrowd:RKO's1932 remake
of The Last Frontierwith William Desmond as
17. RobertSklar,Movie-MadeAmerica:A
CulturalHistoryofAmericanMovies(NewYork:RandomHouse,1975),173-94.So powerfuland
so attentiveto detaildid the censorshipgroupsbecome, thatby 1943
they could pressureProducersReleasingCorporationto change the
nameof the maincharacterof the highly successfulBillythe Kidfilm
series from the historicalBilly Bonneyto the fictional Billy Carson.
Thus, matinee-crowdmoppetswere rescued fromthe glorificationof
westernoutlaws.PaulAndrewHutton,"DreamscapeDesperado,"New
MexicoMagazine,68 (une 1990),44-57.
Paul AndrewHutton
Custer;the fifteen-episodeCuster'sLast Stand in
1936with FrankMcGlynn,Jr.,as a ratherelderlylooking Custer (the serial was cut and rereleased
as a feature a decade later);and the 1939Johnny
Mack Brownvehicle The OregonTrail, with Roy
Barcroftas Custer.ClayClementhad a cameo as
Custerin TheWorldChanges(1933),a darktale of
the rise of a meat-packingmagnate starringPaul
Muni.Custer appearsonly long enough to inform
Muni'sisolatedDakotafamilythatthe CivilWaris
at last over,butthey neverknew it started.Finally,
Custeris featuredin the splashiestepic westernof
the decade, Cecil B. DeMille's 1937celebrationof
ManifestDestiny, ThePlainsman.
DeMille'sfilmonce againbroughtCuster(John
Miljan)togetherwithWildBill (GaryCooper)and
BuffaloBill (ames Ellison),this time with a glamorous CalamityJane (JeanArthur)thrown in for
good measure, in a wild tale remarkablefor its
fidelity to minute historical detail (the statue on
Custer's desk is correct) and its absolute disregardforthe broadoutlinesof the historicalrecord.
Custerappearsas something of a domineering
father figure to the other characters-scolding,
rescuing, ordering. The last stand is briefly depicted in a dream sequence narratedby Anthony
Quinn as an Indianwarriorcapturedby Hickok
andCody.Rarelyhas the usuallysubtleconnection
betweennineteenth-century
artworkandtwentiethcenturyfilm been so blatantlydisplayedas in the
tableauvivant of the AlfredWaud drawingfrom
Whittaker'sbiographythatcomposesthe laststand
sequence in the film.Whenan Indianbulletfinally
pierces his ever-so-nobleheart, Custer clutches
onto the flag he has gallantlydefendedandslowly
sinksfromview.The uncharitablycorrectcriticfor
the New YorkTimes,a paperwhichhad long since
committed itself to the debunked Custer of the
Van de Water camp, noted that "Custerrated no
more than he received:a brieffadeout."19
Custer was back twice in 1940. First in the
personof PaulKellyin MGM'sWyoming,a lightbut
entertainingWallace Beery oater filmed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Beery plays his patented
good-badman role, helping Custer clean up a
crooked town in a film best remembered as the
18. Twoinvaluableguidesto the westerngenreareBuscombe,ed.,
BFICompanionto the Western,
andPhilHardy,TheWestern(NewYork:
WilliamMorrowand Co., 1983).Highlyopinionatedbut delightful,is
BrianGarfield,WesternFilms:A CompleteGuide(New York:Rawson
Associates,1982),while an equallypersonalbut more anecdotaloverviewis in JonTuska,TheFilmingof the West(GardenCity,NewYork:
Doubleday,1976).The standardhistoryremainsGeorgeN. Feninand
WilliamK Everson,TheWestern:
FromSilentstotheSeventies(NewYork:
GrossmanPublishers,1973), while two useful anthologiesare Jack
Nachbar,ed.,FocusontheWestern(EnglewoodCliffs,NJ.:Prentice-Hall,
1974) and RichardW. Etulain,ed., "WesternFilms:A BriefHistory,"
Journalof the West,22 (October1983).
19. New YorkTimes,January17, 1937.
initial teaming of the affable star with Marjorie
Main. More impressive was Warner Brothers'
Santa Fe Trail, directed by Michael Curtizand
purportingto tell the storyof howyoungJebStuart
(ErrolFlynn)andGeorgeCuster(RonaldReagan)
frustrateJohn Brownin Kansasthen capturehim
at HarpersFerry.RaymondMassey'sportrayalof
Brownas a mad OldTestamentprophetsteals the
show, despite the film'spro-southernposture.
Not the least of the film'sinaccuracieswas that
the real Custer was but sixteen at the time of
Brown'sKansasraids.The RobertBucknerscript
also had Reagan'sCusteras thoughtfuland introspective,given to furrowinghis browand actually
thinkingthat slaveryjust might be wrong-none
of which characteristicswas in keeping with the
real Custer. Even Reagan,who had just finished
his role as George Gipp in Knute Rockne-All
American,noticed that the plot was not following
his childhoodhistorylessons."IdiscoveredI would
again be playing a biographicalrole," he noted,
"butwith less attentionto the truth this time."20
The New York Times, later to be at odds with
Reaganso often, was in complete agreementthis
time:"Foranyonewho has the slightest regardfor
the spirit-not to mentionthe facts-of American
But
history,it will proveexceedingly annoying."21
while SantaFe Trailmay have flunkedas history,
it got an "A"as rousing entertainment.
T
here was no slackening ofCuster's
celluloid appearancesin 1941. As the nation warilyconfronteda world consumed
by war,andhesitatinglypreparedforits owninevitable entry into conflagration,militaryheroes became quite popular again. Alfred Green's Badlands of Dakota for Universal featured Addison
Richards as Custer in yet another horse opera
reuniting him with Wild Bill (RichardDix) and
CalamityJane (Frances Farmer). Robert Stack,
then a young contractactor appearingin only his
fourth film, remembered it as "one of the most
forgettablewesterns ever made."22
20. Michael E. Welsh, "WesternFilm, RonaldReagan,and the
WesternMetaphor,"
inArchieP. McDonald,ed., ShootingStars:Heroes
and Heroinesof WesternFilm (Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress,
1987),153.SeealsoTonyThomas,TheFilmsofRonaldReagan
(Secaucus,
NewJersey:CitadelPress,1980),109-14;RonaldReaganwithRichardG.
Hubler,Where'sthe Restof Me? (NewYork:Duell, Sloanand Pearce,
1965),95-96;andRonaldW. Reagan,"LookingBackat SantaFe Trail,"
GreasyGrass,6 (May1990),2-5.
21. New YorkTimes,December21, 1940.
22. RobertStack and MarkEvans,StraightShooting(New York:
Macmillan,1980),63.
37
IDERING
ERROL
AT YOU
OLIVIA
1~~~~~~~~EB
i
a^^^PQB^^~~~~~~~~~LSI
1~~U
Few lobbycards said it all
as well as the one abovefor
TheyDied withtheirBoots
On (WarnerBrothers,
1941),while CrazyHorse
(AnthonyQuinn)at right
,rabsthe SeventhCavalry's
ruidonin the finalcharge at
LittleBighornin the same
film.Below,WildBill
Hickok (GaryCooper)
argueswith Custer (ohn
Miljan)in ThePlainsman
(Paramount, 1937) whether
T
Allreproductions
courtesyPaulAndrewHutton
unlessnotedotherwise.
I.
the arrowis mightierthan
the quill.
'
i
-i
JX
C
D
Cladin buckskins,Custer,
above,takes aim at Little
Bighornin AlfredWaud's
illustration, Custer'sLast
Stand,fromFrederick
Whittaker's1876biographyof
Custer,while at right,John
Miljan as Custer in The
Plainsman (Paramount, 1937)
creates a living tableau of the
Wauddrawing.
said
I
L
--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7
RonaldReagan,above,smiles his
~~~~~~~~~~~-1
familiarsmile as George Custer,but
ErrolFlynn'sJeb Stuartgives the orders
in Santa Fe Trail (WarnerBrothers,
1940).Aboveright,with good wishes
fromGeneralsSherman(Warner
Richmond), Terry (Kenneth Harlan),
and Custer (RoyBarcroft),pioneer
scouts JeffScott (JohnMackBrown)
andDeadwood(FuzzyKnight)agree to
help quell outlawraidsin OregonTrail
(Universal,
1939).Atright,Custer(Paul
Kelly)confrontsJoseph Calleiaas the
villainin Wyoming(MGM,1940).
familiarsmilea oElizabeth
ErrolFlynn
1940).AboverigDied
.
scene
with
r
Oliviade
Havillandas
Custer
and
!as Custerfroma
They in
their
On
~~~~~~~~~~Boots
(Warner
Brothers,
1941)
~MontanaThe Magazine
of Western HistoryWinter
Two powerfulHollywoodtycoons clashed early
in 1941 over Custerfilms. Both Jack Warnerand
Sam Goldwyn developed prestige westerns on
Custer,andthen arguedbitterlyoverjust who had
priorityrights to the story. Custerbelongs to the
public domain, of course, so neither possessed
exclusive "rights,"but Warner triumphed and
Goldwyneventuallygave up on his film. He had
envisioned SeventhCavalryas a sure-firebox-office winnerto followthe success of his 1940hit The
Westernerwith GaryCooperandWalterBrennan.
Goldwyn planned to reunite these two stars in
SeventhCavalry,with Brennan (who had won an
AcademyAwardfor his Judge RoyBean portrayal
in TheWesterner)as a villainousCusterand Cooper as a CaptainBenteen-likeofficer.
It was WarnerBrothers' TheyDied with their
Boots On that went into production.The title was
from Thomas Ripley's 1935 popular history of
western gunfighters, a property purchased by
Warnersbut never developed.It was a majorfilm
forWarners,with $1,357,000eventuallybudgeted
for the production.MichaelCurtiz,the directorof
swashbucklingadventurefilms such as Captain
Blood, The Chargeof the LightBrigade,and The
AdventuresofRobinHood,was scheduledto direct
the film but was replaced by RaoulWalsh once
ErrolFlynnwas cast as the lead. Flynnand Curtiz
had clashed on previousfilms andwouldnot work
together again.Walsh,also a masterof the adventure film, with such classics as WhatPrice Glory?
and High Sierra to his credit, was just as importantlya great drinkingbuddy of Flynn.23
The originalscript by WallyKline and Aeneas
Mackenzieclearly was influencedby the Van de
Waterbiography,butthe studiodecidedto rewrite
the scriptto betterfitthe Flynnpersona.Associate
producerRobertFellowsproperlycharacterizedit
as a "fairytale, with no attempt at adherence to
historicalfact."Still, screenwriterLenoreCoffee,
calledin to punch-upthe romanticscenes between
George and Elizabeth, was horrified by "really
shocking inaccuracies"in the script. She was ignored, and, despite her majorcontributionto the
finalscript,denied screen credit.24WarnerBrothers had firmlydecided to treat GeneralCusterin
the same swashbucklingmanner in which they
had handledRobinHood in 1938.The tenor of the
times influencedthe decision. "Inpreparingthis
23. RudyBehlmer,Inside WarnerBros. (1935-1951) (New York:
Viking,1985),173-74.
24. TonyThomas,RudyBehlmer,andCliffordMcCarty,TheFilms
ofErrolFlynn(NewYork:CitadelPress,1969),106-11.See alsoKingsley
Michael Curtiz,Raoul Walsh,
Canham,The HollywoodProfessionals:
Errol
HenryHathaway(NewYork:A.S. Barnes,1973),andPeterValenti,
Flynn:A Bio-Bibliography
(Westport:GreenwoodPress, 1984),30-31,
72-73.
25. Behlmer,Inside WarnerBros.,175-78;John E. O'Connor,The
Indian:Stereotypes
inFilms(Trenton:
New
Hollywood
ofNativeAmericans
JerseyStateMuseum,1980),42.
40
1991
scenario,"screenwriterMackenzie assured producer Hal Wallis, "allpossible considerationwas
given the constructionof a storywhichwouldhave
the best effectuponpublicmoralein these present
days of nationalcrisis."25 While Lifemagazinelamentedthatthe film"glorifiesa rashgeneral,"and
the New York Times accused "writers in
warbonnets"of scalping history, the only critics
that Warner Brothers cared about lined up in
drovesto see TheyDied withtheirBootsOn.It was
a huge success at the box-office.26
The impressive action sequences in the film
were particularlydifficultto shoot. Because of the
excessive numberof injuriesto horses caused by
the use of the "RunningW"inWarners'TheCharge
of theLightBrigade(1936)the AmericanHumane
Association had successfully sued the studio to
stop the cruel practice.27To the increased difficulty in portrayinghorse falls were added new
Screen Extras' Guild rules preventing directors
from hiring only experienced riders. Many old
cowboyshad driftedintothe employof the studios
in the silent era and for years they formed a reliable cadre of cheap talent for riding scenes in
westerns.Walshandotherdirectorshadbeen able
to hire specific cowboys for actionscenes in their
films, but the new union rules changed all that.28
In the opening days of filming the cavalry
charges, more than eighty of the inexperienced
riderswere injured.Three men were killed.As the
buses carryingthe extras left the studio for the
LaskyRanchin Agoura,where the battle scenes
were shot, they were followed by an ambulance.
One day AnthonyQuinnhired a hearse to follow
the ambulance,which panicked the extras and
sent them scurryingbackto the studio.Eventually
Walsh got the experiencedriders he wanted.29
The film follows Custer from West Point to
LittleBighorn,andonly in the openingsequences
is the harder edge of the original script still evident.ButCuster'svainbuffooneryandrashness in
the West Point and CivilWar sections of the film
quickly give way to thoughtfulheroism once he
reaches the frontier.
26. Life,11 (December8,1941), 75-78;NewYorkTimes,November
30, 1941.
27. Fine wires were attachedto leg bandson a horse'sfrontlegs,
withthe otherends tiedto logs buriedin the ground.Slackbetweenthe
horseandlog alloweda stronggallopbeforethe horse'sfrontlegs were
suddenlyjerkedfromunderhim. Dramaticscenes of horses plunging
forwardor turningsomersaultswerethe result.Neitherhorse norrider
hadto be trainedfor such stunts.Manyhorses werekilledin the fallor
had to be destroyedbecause of brokenlegs. AnthonyAmaral,Movie
Horses:TheirTreatment
andTraining(Indianapolis:
Bobbs-Merrill,
1967),
9-20.
28. Amongthe old westernerswho gravitatedto Hollywoodwere
Wyatt Earp, CharlieSiringo,Al Jennings, EmmettDalton, and Bill
Tilghman.Formoreon the cowboyswho providedthe essentialcadre
ofroughridersforthemoviessee DiannaSerra
Posse:
Cary,TheHollywood
The Storyof the GallantBand of HorsemenWhoMadeMovieHistory
(Boston:HoughtonMifflin,1975).
Paul AndrewHutton
Flynnbroughthis usual charmand elan to the
Custerrole, of course, and was ably supportedby
Olivia de Havilland,who had been teamed with
him seven times before, as ElizabethCuster.This
is the only film to deal with the relationshipof the
Custersat great length, with the scriptdisplaying
a great reliance on Elizabeth'sbooks as source
material.30
StanleyRidges played RomulusTaipe,
the villainoussoldier turnedpolitician,who is obviously based on Grant'svenal Secretaryof War,
William W. Belknap. John Litel portrayed Custer'smentor,GeneralPhilSheridan,while Charley
Grapewinwas along for comedy relief as a crusty
CaliforniaJoe. G. P. Huntley portrayedCuster's
Britishadjutant,who is calledLieutenantButlerin
the film, although named Cooke in the original
script.The characteris obviouslybasedon Custer's
true adjutant,WilliamW. Cooke,who was a Canadianknownas "Queen'sOwn,"the same nickname
given to the Butler characterin the film. Having
faced recent lawsuits over historical films, the
studios often changed the names of real characters to avoidpossible litigation.
The film is one of the few westerns to make the
importantconnection between the CivilWar and
national expansion. After the Gettysburg sequence, where the inexplicableplot device of an
accidental promotion thrusts Custer into high
commandso thathe can save the Unionby turning
back the rebel cavalry,the war is told through a
series of effective montages. The new national
hero returnshome to Michiganto wed Elizabeth
and settle into civilianlife. He is approachedby
Taipe to lend his name to a shady stock deal but
angrilyrejects the offer,proclaiming:"I'llgamble
with anything,my money, my swordand even my
life. Butthere's one thing I won'tgamblewith,and
that is my good name!"
Recalledto activeservicethroughthe influence
of his wife, he quicklyorganizesthe Seventh Cavalryfroma bandof misfitsandoutcastsintoa crack
regiment that breaks the power of the hostile
tribes. Custer pledges to CrazyHorse (Anthony
Quinn) that in exchange for peace he will guard
the sacred Black Hills from white intrusion. In
another bow to western art, the scene between
FlynnandQuinnis basedon CharlesSchreyvogel's
paintingCuster'sDemand.
This interferes with the railroad-building
scheme of Taipe and his accomplice,Ned Sharp
(ArthurKennedy),andtheyconspireto haveCuster
29. RichardSchickel, TheMen WhoMade the Movies(New York:
Atheneum,1975),47-48;BusterWiles,MyDays WithErrolFlynn:The
of a Stuntman(SantaMonica:RoundtablePublishing,
Autobiography
1988),97-100;andWilliamR. Meyer,TheMakingof theGreatWesterns
(NewRochelle,NewYork:ArlingtonHouse, 1979),108-21.
30.TonyThomas,TheFilmsof Oliviade Havilland(Secaucus,New
Jersey:Citadel,1983),181-87.
recalled to Washingtonwhile they plantfalse rumors of gold in the Black Hills. Custer'sattempts
to expose their conspiracy before Congress is
ruled as hearsay,admissableonly as a dying declaration.Frustrated,Custer is finallyable to convince PresidentGrant(JosephCrehan)to restore
him to his command.Realizingthat the Seventh
Cavalrywill have to be sacrificedto give General
Sheridanmore time to mobilize troops to defeat
the enragedandbetrayedIndians,Custermarches
towardLittleBighorn.
The night before the battle Custer writes a
letter exposing Taipe which, as a dying declaration, will be admissableas evidence. He asks his
adjutantto carryit backto the fort,explainingthat
he does not wish a foreigner sacrificedin such a
"dirtydeal"as the comingbattle.Butlerindignantly
refuses, reminding Custer that the only real
Americanspresent are in the LittleBighornvalley
waitingfor the Seventh.
Custerthen knowinglyleads the Seventh Cavalryto its doom.Andwhat a glorious doom it isenacted against a powerful Max Steiner soundtrackcountering"GarryOwen"againsta rythmic,
ragged Indiantheme. With his troopers all dead
aroundhim,his pistolsempty,his longhairdancing
in the westernbreeze, Custerdrawshis saberand
falls from a shot from Crazy Horse's rifle as a
charge of mountedwarriorsrides over him.
The finalvictory,of course, belongs to Custer.
ElizabethandSheridanuse his finalletterto force
Taipe's resignationand to receive a pledge from
Grantto return the Black Hills to the Sioux. As
Sheridancomforts Elizabethwith the assurance
that her husband "wonhis last battle-after all,"
Custerand his regimentmarchoff into a celluloid
sunset to the strainsof "GarryOwen."
f only historical realitycouldhavebeen
so sublime.Novelist and screenwriterGeorge
MacDonald Fraser, in his marvelous book
TheHollywoodHistoryofthe World,dismisses They
Died with their Boots On as "typicalHollywood
dream-rubbishof the worst kind," a viewpoint
echoed by other critics at the time the film was
released and ever since.31
31. GeorgeMacDonaldFraser,TheHollywood
Historyof theWorld:
From One Million YearsB.C.to ApoclypseNow (New York:William
Morrow,1988),200.Fraseris the authorof severalscreenplaysas well
as the successfulFlashmanseries of novels.Thatseries includesone of
the best availableCusternovels,FlashmanandtheRedskins(NewYork:
AlfredA.Knopf,1982).Twoothercriticaldiscussionsofthe relationship
ofwesternfilmsto westernhistoryareJonTuska,TheAmericanWestin
Film: CriticalApproaches
to the Western(Westport:GreenwoodPress,
1985),andWayneMichaelSarf,GodBlessYou,BuffaloBill:A Layman's
GuidetoHistoryandtheWestern
Film(Rutherford,
NewJersey:Fairleigh
DickinsonUniversityPress, 1983).
41
Winter 1991
Montana TheMagazineof WesternHistory
filmare
The historicalerrorsin this particular
legion:Custerwas not promotedto generalby
he
mistake;hewasnotacivilianaftertheCivilWar;
wasmorethanwillingto engageinshadybusiness
dealsreflectiveoftheGildedAgeinwhichhelived;
he did not organizethe Seventhin Dakota,but
ratherin Kansas;he didnotprotecttheBlackHills
butratheropenedthemup;he wasnotthe enemy
of the railroadcapitalistsbuttheirbest friendon
the northernplains;he was not a defenderof
Indianrights;he did not knowinglysacrificehis
regimentatLittleBighornto saveothers;Custer's
hairwascut shortat the timeof the battleandhe
didnotcarrya saber,nordidanyof his men;the
Siouxwere not protectedin their rightsto the
BlackHillsas a resultof his sacrifice;andon and
on andon.Butwhois trulysurprisedby that?Itis
simplyridiculousto expectfilmsto be trueto the
factsof history.Theyareworksof fiction.If, by
chance,theyuse a storyto tell us a greatertruth
aboutourselvesandourpastthentheyhavesucdiverceededas art.If theygive us a momentary
then
heart,
our
at
or
tug
smile
us
sion andmake
atwhattheyaretheyhavesucceededadmirably
popularentertainment.
TheyDied with theirBoots On is wonderfulenreflectiveofour
tertainment-arousingadventure
dreamsofhowwe wishourpastmighthavebeen.
But there is a veneer of truth Custerwas a
dashing,romanticsoldier;he and Elizabethdid
the Siouxwerea terhavea storybookmarriage;
people;andthelaststandwasindeed
riblywronged
theresultofeventssetinmotionbyvenalcapitalists
andinept,corruptpoliticians.Perhapsthe film's
greatestartistictriumphis incuttingtotheessence
of the Americanlove affairwithCuster thatthe
soldierwasthe best his nationhad
golden-haired
to offeras thepeople'ssacnficeto somehowatone
fortheghastlytreatmentoftheNativeAmericans.
Vine Deloria,Jr., hammeredhome the same
messageagainin the titleto his 1970bestseller:
Therewere dramaticchangesin the western
filmgenreduringthe waryears.The majorfilmmakerstendedto producefewerprestigewesterns, lavishingbudgetsinsteadon escapistfare
(thiswas .theheydayof the MGMmusical)or on
filmsconcernedwiththewareffort.Theindependents,of course,continuedto crankoutformula
westernsat a prodigiousrate,with RoyRogers
overtakingGeneAutryin 1943as the topwestern
star.Severalof the prestigewestmoney-making
the trendtoernsthatweremadeforeshadowed
filmsthatfollowed
wardsocialandpsychological
the war.MostnotableamongthesewereWilliam
Wellman'sThe Ox-BowIncident (1942)with its
bleakvisionof the frontier'smoralcode;Howard
Hughes'TheOutlaw(1943)andKingVidor'sDuel
with
in the Sun (1946)withtheirpreoccupation
eroticism;and RaoulWalsh'sPursued (1947),
western.32
perhapsthe firstFreudian-inspired
Thile none of these themesis explicitin the firstpost-warCusterfilm,
v John Ford'sFort Apache (1948), it is
neverthelessclearthatmuchoftheglossyveneer
that surroundedCuster'simagein the past had
been wornaway.Whilehigh courageand selfsacrificeare majorthemesin Ford'sfilm,just as
they were in TheyDied with their Boots On, this
timeCusterwasnotto be the hero.
as suchbyfilmcriticsatthetime,
Unrecognized
tellingof the Custer
FortApacheis a fictionalized
storywiththe localeshiftedto the Southwestto
Valley.By
makeuse of Ford'sbelovedMonument
changingthe historicalsettingto the starkmoral
his
Valley,byfictionalizing
universeofMonument
theshackles
storyline,andbyfreeinghimselffrom
of historicaldetail,Fordsavedhimselffromthe
kindof factualcriticismleveledattheWalshfilm
andallowedhis artisticvisionfullrein.The result
is a masterpieceof this peculiarlyAmericanart
thatcomescloserthananyotherCusterfilm
form
CusterDied For YourSins.
the great contradictionsof the
explaining
November
to
late
in
release
film's
the
By chance,
life,death,andlegend.33
1941coincidedwithArnericanentryinto World protagonist's
WarII.AsthepeoplereeledfromthenewsofPearl
33. Few filmmakershavebeen as discussedas Ford,arguablythe
theycouldclearly
WakeIsland,andBataan,
Harbor,
greatest directorin the historyof film. For studies that considerFort
ofCusterand Apache
identifywiththeheroicself-sacrifice
in some detailsee Tag Gallagher,JohnFord:TheMan andHis
the Seventh Cavalry.The greedy capitalists, Films(Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress,1986);Anderson,About
FilmsofJohnFord(NewYork:Citadel
Ford;J.A.Place,TheWestern
crookedpoliticians,andgallantsoldiersof They John
(Bloomington:
Press,1974);AndrewSarris,TheJohnFordMovieMystery
Died with theirBoots On madepedect sense to a Indiana University Press, 1975); Joseph McBride and Michael
Ford(NewYork:DaCapoPress, 1975);JohnBaxter,
peoplemarchingoutof economicdepressionand Wilmington,John
TheCinemaofJohnFord(NewYork:A. S. Barnes,1971);PeterStowell,
intowar.
JohnFord (Boston:Twayne,1986);andtwo more biographicalworks,
32. Buscombe,ed., BFI Companion to the Western,42-45,426-28.For
more on the postwarwesternsee PhilipFrench,Westerns (NewYork:
OxfordUniversityPress, 197D;andJimKitses,Horizons West:Anthony
Mann, Budd Buetticher, Sam Peckinpah: Studies ofAuthorship Within the
Western (Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress, 1969).
42
X
l
t
v
V
Ford(NewYork:DialPress, 1979);andDanFord,
AndrewSinclair,John
Pappy:TheLifeofJohnFord (EnglewoodCliffs,New Jersey:PrenticeHall,1979). Ford'simpressivebodyof cinematicworkon the American
frontierexperienceandon Americanhistoryin general,obviouslyhad
a dramaticimpacton the nation'scollectiveimaginationconcerningits
past. His workis well worthstudyas art, as culturalartifact,and as a
lesson on popularhistory.
Paul AndrewHutton
"Alegend is more interesting than the actual
facts,"Fordonce said in commentingon Custer.34
In FortApachehe does not celebratethat legend,
but rather explains it. Henry Fonda's Lieutenant
Colonel OwenThursdayis a textbook soldier bitter over his postwarreductionin rank from general and anxious to escape from his new frontier
assignment by some glorious deed. His rigidity
antagonizeshis subordinates,and none more so
thanJohnWayne'sCaptainKirbyYork.Whenthe
corruptpractices of Indianagent Silas Meacham
(GrantWithers)force Cochise (MiguelInclan)to
bolt the reservation,Thursday sees his chance.
ThroughYork'seffortsthe Apachesarepersuaded
to returnfromMexico to meet withThursday.But
the colonel disregardsYork'spromisesto Cochise
and preparesto attack. Protesting this duplicity,
York is accused of cowardice by Thursday and
orderedto the rear to protectthe pack train.The
troops then follow Thursday into Cochise's ambush,withthe colonelunhorsedearlyinthe charge.
The wounded Thursday ignores York's offer of
escape and rejoinshis doomed command.
Thursday's tragic flaw, like that of the real
Custer,is that he is unableto restrainan individualityborderingon megalomania.A martinetwhen
it comes to enforcingmilitaryregulations,he cannot himself abide by the rules of his community,
the cavalry.His every action is directed by personal desires, not communityneeds or moralvalues. His contemptforritualis madeapparentin his
reluctanceto fulfill his duty by dancing with the
sergeant-major'swife at the NCOBall, and by his
refusal to engage in courtly discussion with
Cochise. In the end he disregards better advice
and leads his men into a deadly trap. ('"Theyoutnumberus four to one. Do we talk or fight?"asks
Yorkjust before the battle. "Youseem easily impressed by numbers, Captain,"Thursday responds.) His soldiers follow Thursday because
they are solidly members of the community-he
leads them into slaughter because he is not. Yet
Thursday,for all his faults, is a leader, and so he
ignores escape and rejoinshis command.35
The Indiansremaintangentialto the maintheme
of Fort Apache. Cochise is presented as a wise
leaderwho wishes to avoidwarwhile his Apaches
are an honorable, cheated people. Unlike other
celluloidlast standswhere the men die spreadout
as individuals,in FortApachethe littlebandof soldiers forms a tight knot. Thursday stands with
34. Sinclair,JohnFord,142.
35. Formoreon FortApachesee RussellCampbell,"FortApache,"
The VelvetLightTrap,17 (Winter1977),8-12; WilliamT. Pilkington,
"FortApache(1948),"in WilliamT. Pilkingtonand Don Graham,eds.,
Western
Movies(Albuquerque:
Universityof New MexicoPress, 1979),
TheWestThatNeverWas(Secaucus,NewJersey:
4049;andTonyThomas,
CitadelPress, 1989),104-11.
them, finallya member of the communityhe disdained. A distant rumble of hooves builds to a
crescendo as the Apachessuddenlyburstonto the
scene, ride over the soldiers, and just as quickly
vanish into the swirlingdust. Their appearanceis
only fleeting as they claimtheirvictoryand affirm
both Thursday'sdishonorand his heroism.36
The Indianvictoryin FortApacheis turnedinto
a spiritualvictoryfor the defeatedsoldiers,just as
Custer'sLastStandachieveda poweras legend far
greaterthananyvictoryCustermight havewon at
Little Bighorn. Just as John Wayne's York reaffirmsthe importanceof Thursday'ssacrifice at
the conclusion of FortApache,so did soldiers of
Custer's generation protect his reputation.General WilliamT. Shermannoted in an 1876 letter
that Custerhad made several tacticalmistakes at
Little Bighorn, "but his gallant fight and death
spread the mantle of oblivion over such trivial
errors."37
Similarviewswere expressedby Captain
FrederickBenteen, who had commandeda wing
of the Seventh at Little Bighorn and who might
well havebeen the modelforthe Yorkcharacterin
FortApache.Observingthat Custerhad been enshrinedwith a monumentat West Point,Benteen
noted that despite his own contemptfor the dead
man,Custer'sexamplewas good forthe cadets:"if
it makes better soldiers andmen of them, why the
necessity of knocking the paste eye out of their
idol?"38
Sherman,Benteen,andmanyothersin the
army participatedin a quiet coverup of Custer's
folly so that the armyand the nationmight have a
glowing myth. Although Ford exposed the truth
behindthe Custermythin FortApachehe was not
attacking it. On the contrary,he reaffirmedits
usefulness.
ord made no apologiesfor his treat-
ment of the Indians in his films. He was
hardly a romantic in his approach to the
Indian wars, often comparing the plight of the
Indiansto thatof the Irish."Let'sface it,"Fordtold
Peter Bogdanovich, "we've treated them very
badly-it's a blot on our shield;we've cheated and
robbed, killed, murdered,massacred and everything else, but they kill one white man and, God,
out come the troops."39
36. In the originalJames WarnerBellah short story, Thursday
arrives on the stricken battlefieldafter the massacre and commits
suicide.JamesWarnerBellah,"Massacre,"
SaturdayEveningPost,219
(February27, 1947),18-19,140-46.
37. RobertM. Utley, ed., "Shermanon Custerat LittleBig Horn,"
LittleBig HornAssociatesNewsletter,9 (October1975),9.
38. W. A. Graham,TheCusterMyth:A SourceBookof Custeriana
(Harrisburg:
StackpoleBooks, 1953),325.
39. Bogdanovich,John
Ford,104.
43
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while Capt.York dohn Wayne), Capt. Collingwood
(George O'Brien), and Sgt.-MajorO'Rourke(Ward
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(Walt Disney Productions, 1958), Bugles in
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Brothers,1952), Little
Big Horn (Charles
Marquis Warren,
1951),and SittingBull
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Montana The Magazineof WesternHistory
Still,Fordapproachedthe plight of the Indians
with a balancedperspective.'The Indiansarevery
dear to my heart,"Ford declared.'There is truth
in the accusation that the Indian has not been
paintedwith justice in the Western, but that is a
false generalization.The Indian did not like the
white man, and he was no diplomat.We were
enemies and we fought each other. The struggle
againstthe Indianwas fundamentalin the history
of the FarWest."40
f the major Custer films before Fort
Apache,only the Ince and DeMillefea-
tureshaddealtinsultinglywiththe Indians,
whileTheMassacre,TheScarletWest,andTheyDied
with their Boots On had all treated them sympathetically.Hollywoodtended to followthe general
dichotomyof Americanliteraturethat alternated
between images of the Indian as nature'snobleman and as debased savage. While westerns had
long been populatedby noble red men (often as
trustyside-kicks),crookedIndianagents,whiskey
traders,andvarioustypes of Indianhaters,the vast
majorityof films in the genre treatedthe nativesas
part of a harsh environmentthat was to be conquered. Few films attemptedto developthe basic
humanityof Indiancharactersadequately.41
The 1950 box-officesuccess of Delmer Daves'
BrokenArrowforever altered the Hollywoodapproachto Indians,however,andresultedin a long
string of films with Indianheroes (invariablyportrayed by whites).42The western was simply following a trend toward social commentary that
began immediatelyfollowing World War II with
films like Lost Weekend(1945), The Best Yearsof
OurLives (1946),and TheSnakePit (1948).Films
concernedwith racialjustice were especiallypopular, as evidenced by Gentleman'sAgreement
(1948),HomeoftheBrave(1949),Pinky(1949),and
No Way Out (1950). While such message films
40. Sinclair,JohnFord,149.
41. For the image of Indiansin film see GretchenM. Batailleand
CharlesL.P. Silet,eds., ThePretendIndians:ImagesofNativeAmericans
in theMovies(Ames:IowaStateUniversityPress, 1980);and RalphE.
Friarand NatashaA. Friar,The OnlyGoodIndian .. TheHollywood
Gospel(New York:DramaBook Specialists,1972). For the broader
contextsee BrianW. Dippie,TheVanishingAmerican:WhiteAttitudes
and U.S.IndianPolicy(Middletown:
WesleyanUniversityPress, 1982);
RobertF.Berkhofer,Jr.,TheWhiteMan'sIndian:ImagesoftheAmerican
IndianfromColumbus
to thePresent(NewYork:AlfredA. Knopf,1978);
A StudyoftheIndianand
RoyHarveyPearce,SavagismandCivilization:
theAmericanMind (Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsPress, 1965);Raymond
WilliamStedman,Shadowsof theIndian:Stereotypes
in AmericanCulture(Norman:UniversityofOklahomaPress,1982);andRichardSlotkin,
Regeneration
oftheAmericanFrontier,
ThroughViolence:TheMythology
1600-1860(Middletown:
WesleyanUniversityPress, 1973).
46
Winter 1991
quicklyvanishedin the early1950sas racebecame
a more devisive nationalissue, the trend toward
racial-justicewesterns continuedthroughoutthe
decade. Because Indian people were neither a
visible nor politically organized minority at the
time, and because the "Indianproblem"had alreadybeen settled by conquest, little controversy
resulted from such films.43
It was only naturalfor Hollywoodto demythicize Custer,everthe symbolofthe Indianwarsand
the cavalry,and use him as an evil counterto the
new Indian heroes. As such, the moviemakers
finallygot to the point their literarycousins had
reached in the 1930s. With rather monotonous
regularityCusterwas portrayedin both films and
novels throughoutthe 1950s and 1960s as a vain
racistin search of personalglory at the expense of
innocent,usuallyquitepeace-loving,natives.This
new Custerimagewas so all-pervasiveby 1971that
Life magazine labeled the Custer BattlefieldNational Monument in Montana "a sore from
America'spast"and suggested its elimination.44
The Custerfilms of the 1950s aidedin dramaticallyalteringpublicperceptionsofthe Indianwars.
The first three Custer films of the decade, however, were quite traditional.Both Warpath(1951)
and Buglesin theAfternoon(1952) used the Little
Bighornbattle as a convenientbackdropfor conventionalrevenge sagas. Custerwas not an important character in either film. James Millican in
WarpathportrayedCuster as arrogantand contemptuousof his Indianfoe, while ShebWooleyin
Bugles in the Afternoongave no hint of Custer's
personalcharacteristics(even though Custerwas
a central, and negative, characterin the Ernest
Haycox novel upon which the film was based).
Little Big Horn (1951), despite the clever use of
Otto Becker's barroom print as an advertising
motif, did not portray Custer or his last battle.
Instead, the film, produced by Charles Marquis
Warren,western novelist turned scriptwriterand
director,is a varianton the horrormovie in which
everymemberof the cast stupidlygoes one-by-one
down into the basement. In this case it is a squad
of soldiers, led by feuding officers LloydBridges
andJohnIreland,who ride offto warnCusteronly
to meet horriblefates one-by-one.
John Ford returnedto Custertwice in this period.She Worea YellowRibbon(1949)begins with
a SeventhCavalryguidonwhippingin the wind as
42. SomeexamplesincludeBattleatApachePass (1952),Hiawatha
(1952),Conquestof Cochise(1953),Apache(1954),Taza,Sonof Cochise
(1954),BrokenLance(1954),WhiteFeather(1955),TheIndianFighter
(1955),andTheSavage(1953)which,althoughbasedonL.L.Foreman's
1942Custernovel,TheRenegade,alteredthe storyanddroppedCuster
fromthe film.
43. Sklar,Movie-Made
America,279-80.
44. AlvinJosephy,"TheCusterMyth,"Life,71 (uly 2, 1971),55.
Paul AndrewHutton
ahead with her role despite havingjust had a leg
amputatedbecause of cancer.She died soon after
the film was completed.
Columbia'sSeventhCavalry,released the next
year, was based on a Glendon Swarthoutstory
about a cavalryofficer accused of cowardicefor
missing LittleBighorn but who redeems himself
by leadinga suicidemissionto buryCuster'sdead.
RandolphScott plays the officer who constantly
defendsCuster'sreputationagainstthe aspersions
cast by MajorMarcus Reno and others. Such a
defense of Custerwas alreadya Hollywoodrarity.
Custer,as portrayedby BrittLomand,was particularlysadisticandracistin WaltDisney's Tonka
(1958).Lomandplayedthe villainin the successful
DisneyZorrotelevisionseries, andhe broughtthe
same gracefulsnarlto his Custerrole.
Based on DavidAppel'snovel, Comanche,the
film purportedto tell the story of the only cavalry
mount to survive Custer's Last Stand and of the
young Indianboy who cared for him. Sal Mineo
playedthe Siouxyouth,WhiteBull,whose love for
the stallion,Tonka, causes his banishmentwhen
he frees the horse to preventits mistreatmentby a
rival brave. The horse eventually becomes the
mount of CaptainMyles Keogh (Philip Carey),
who previouslyappearedas a particularlyvibrant
memory in Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
Custer'smaniacalhatredof the Indiansbrings on
war, and at Little Bighorn the kindly and heroic
Keogh is killed by White Bull's rival. When the
Indian attempts to scalp the fallen officer he is
trampledto death by the enraged horse. White
Bull fights with the Sioux in the battle and is
terriblywounded.Foundon the battlefieldwithhis
horse, they are both nursed back to health by the
soldiers. The army seems to hold no grudges in
this Disney version of history, for the horse becomes the mascotof the cavalrywithWhiteBullas
his uniformedstable attendant.
The battle in Tonka is among the best ever
filmed, with the terrain fairly correct and troop
movementsfollowingthe sketchy details that are
available.Custer does not even get his standard
gallantdeath scene, being shot early in the battle
razy Horse is given credit for wiping as he huddles behind a dead horse. Of the Custer
out the Seventhin the 1955 film, Chief films to date only Tonkaand LittleBig Man have
CrazyHorse,althoughthe battle is not de- deviatedfromthe stereotypicallast stand image.
picted. Victor Mature, terribly miscast as the
PhilipCarey,who portrayedCaptainKeogh in
Sioux
does
the
can.
The
best
he
warrior,
mystical
Tonka,was promotedto the role of Custerin The
FranklinCoen and GeraldAdams script was at
Great Sioux Massacre.This 1965 Columbiafilm
least fairly faithful to history. More interesting also markeda returnto familiarterritoryfor directodayis the behind-the-scenestragedythataccom- tor Sidney Salkow,who had directedSittingBull.
paniedthe makingof the film.Twenty-three-year- Also starringin the film was Cherokeeactor Iron
old SusanBall,who playsCrazyHorse'swife,went Eyes Cody, another alumnus from Sitting Bull,
where he hadportrayedCrazyHorse. Codybegan
45. New YorkTimes,November28, 1954.
his career in pictures in 1912 in Griffith'sThe
a voice-overnarratorinformsthe audience:"Custer is dead. And aroundthe bloody guidon of the
immortal Seventh Cavalrylie two hundred and
twelve officers and men."That fact dictates the
action that follows in this splendid technicolor
western scriptedby FrankNugent and Laurence
Stallings and based on the James WarnerBellah
short story,'"WarParty."In Ford's The Searchers
(1956),againscriptedby Nugent, the aftermathof
a Washita-likemassacreis depicted.Custer'scavalry is seen herding captivewomen and children
throughthe snow into an armypost, while "Garry
Owen"plays on the soundtrack.In a scene cut
from the final release print,John Wayne as antihero Ethan EdwardsconfrontsPeter Ortizas an
arrogantCusteraboutthe massacre.Onlya publicity still andthe originalscriptremainto remindus
of Custer's fleeting appearance in the single
greatest western ever made.
In Sitting Bull (1954) a glory hunting, racist
Custer played by Douglas Kennedy manages to
frustratethe effortsof Dale Robertsonas an army
officerandJ. CarrollNaish as an incrediblynoble
SittingBullto preventwar.The SidneySalkowand
JackDeWittscriptthen has Custerdisobeyinghis
orders in a headlong rush to destroy the Sioux.
Afterthe last standPresidentGrantcomes west to
save Robertson from a firing squad and make
peace with Sitting Bull. This history rewritewas
too much for the New YorkTimesfilm critic,who
noted that "Grantwas an optimisttowardIndians,
but he wasn't an absolute fool: and that is apparentlywhatsome scriptwriterstake the poorpublic
to be."45Naish, an Irish-Americanwho had portrayedGeneralPhilSheridaninRio Grandein 1950
and was to play GeneralSantaAnna in Last Commandin1955,seemed to be everycastingdirector's
favoritehistoricalcharacter.This was his second
outingas SittingBull,havingplayedthe role in the
1950 musical,Annie Get YourGun.
47
Re#gs
#"
jt*.--I
'ii
:
All photographs courtesy Paul Andrew
Hutton unless noted otherwise.
.Glory
e
s
;
a
L
l
AndrewDugganas
the Custer-like
GeneralFrederick
McCabe,right,
gives the command
tomarch in TheGuys(United
Artists,1965).
,
.:-,
.
Castof the short-lived
1967televisionseries,
Custer,upperleft, shows,
kneeling:Slim Pickens
as CaliforniaJoe and
Michael Dante as Crazy
.
.
T_
Horse; standing: Peter
Palmeras Sgt. James
Bustard,RobertF.
Simonas Gen.Alfred
Terry,WayneMaunder
as Custer,and Grant
Woods as Capt.Myles
Keogh (ABC,1967).
Below left, Richard
Mulligan'sCuster
assumes a stance of
mock-heroicsin Little
Big Man (CinemaCenter
Films, 1970).
., .
,N
t
RichardMulligan'sderangedCusterprepares
to execute DustinHoffman'sJack Crabbat
LittleBighorn.Paddingin his back indicates
arrowsare coming. (LittleBig Man, Cinema
CenterFilms, 1970)
48
A
Custerlunges with
t
upraised
X
sword
* andpistol
barrel
-*
in hand
40at left
9
t
w
,
M
J
2 4<1
_
t W
S
-
n
j
F3_
in detailfromOttoBecker'sturn-of-the-century
lithograph,
Custer's
LastFight.JamesMillican,
aboveright,strikesa similarposein a
publicityshotforWarpath(Paramount,
1951).
BarryAtwateras Custerplanshis
strategy,disregardingthe adviceof
scout CheyenneBodie (Clint
Walker),aboveleft, in the 1961"Gold,
Gloryand Custer,"a two-partepisode
of the televisionseries, Cheyenne
(ABC,1961).Aboveright,Leslie
Nielsen (left),long before achieving
stardomin DavidandJerryZucker's
comediesAirplaneandNakedGun,
portrayedCusterin ThePlainsman
(Universal,1966).Below right,Robert
Shawfinds himself surroundedin
Custerof the West(Cinerama
ReleasingCorp.,ABC,1968).
I
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49
Montana The Magazineof WesternHistory
Winter 1991
The western had thrived during the 1950s,
Massacre,and later appearedin The Plainsman,
and
Fort
with
their
Boots
Died
On,
Apache, reachinga newmaturityandattractingHollywood's
They
in
Custer
films.46 toptalents.Majorstarsappearedregularlyin presfor
a
record
appearances
certainly
film
the
Custer
by sympathizing tige westerns throughout the decade, with the
begins
Carey's
with the plight of the Indians,but his head is soon
genre accounting for nearly 30 percent of the
turnedby the blandishmentsof a connivingpoliti- major studios' total feature production.Yet, just
cian.Believingthata greatvictoryoverthe Indians as for the Sioux at LittleBighorn,at the western's
willbe his ticket to the WhiteHouse, Custerdisre- moment of greatest triumphthe seeds of doom
gards the advice of MajorReno (oseph Cotton) were alreadysown.48
andCaptainBenteen (DarrenMcGavin)andleads
Early television was desperate for programthe Seventh to its doom. The most interesting ming, and old budget westerns filled the bill. Features starringTim McCoy,Hoot Gibson,and Bob
aspectof the battleis the ludicrousjuxtapositionof
borrowed
from
Steele became standardfarewhile serials such as
of
mountain
shots
scenery
long
filmed
Custer'sLast Standfrom 1936fit particularlywell
Sonoran
desert
Bull
with
closeups
Sitting
into television time slots. It was William Boyd,
nearTucson.
Also released in 1965 was ArnoldLaven'sThe however,who provedjust how lucrativetelevision
could be. He stopped making HopalongCassidy
Glory Guys. Sam Peckinpah's script, based on
films in 1948 and promptlylicensed the rights to
HoffmanBirney's1956novel, TheDice of God,has
something of the raw realism and violent action his sixty-six films to television. By 1950 Boyd
oversawa Hoppyindustryestimatedat$200million
thathe wouldbringto the western as a directorby
decade's end, but for the most part the film re- as the incrediblesuccess of his televisionwesterns
mains a pedestrianretelling of the LittleBighorn promoted a wide array of merchandising.Gene
Autry went over to television in 1950, followed
story. Andrew Duggan's General McCabe is yet
another Indian-hatingracist blinded by personal soon after by Roy Rogers. Their products, and a
host of other television westerns, employed the
ambitionwho finallygets just what he deserves.
The most impressiveCusterfilm of this period conventions of the B-westernand aimed for the
was never made. Wendell Mayes wrote a marvel- same juvenile audience.The impacton the small
ous scriptfor Twentieth-CenturyFox, titled 'The
independentproductioncompanieswas devastatDay Custer Fell," and Fred Zinnemann,of High ing. Althoughthey had enjoyeda boom by selling
Noon fame, was set to direct it. RichardZanuck their productsto television in the late-1940s,they
approachedCharltonHeston to take the Custer were nowconsumedby the very mediumthey had
nurtured.In 1958, the greatest of the indepenpartbut Heston declined, saying, "Idon'tsee how
film
who
can
make
a
serious
about
a
man
dents, Republic,went under.
you
seems to have been not only egocentric, but
muddleheaded.He was neitheraverygood soldier
nor a very valuableman."47
The eighteen-milliondollar project eventuallycollapsed as a result of
the financialdebaclethatcrippledFox in the wake
of the studio'sproductionof Cleopatra.
Talt Disney broke with the major
Leslie Nielsen had a cameo as Custer in the
filmstudiosin 1954andbegan producing
1966Universalremakeof ThePlainsman,whilethe
? v programsfor the fledgling ABCnetwork.
LittleBighornwas used as a preludeto the action His Disneylandtelevision programrevolutionized
in Red Tomahawk,released by Paramountthat the neophyte mediumwith a three-partseries on
same year. The latterhas the distinctionof being
the life of Davy Crockett. By the time the last
the last of a series of A. C. Lyles' B-westerns, episode of the trilogyaired on February23, 1955,
markingthe finalgasp of that particularfilmtype. a nationalcrazeof unprecedentedproportionswas
Despite this rash of Custer films, the western underway.Soon every moppet in Americahad a
genre was reachingthe end of the celluloidtrail,at coonskin cap and every networka stable of horse
least temporarily.
operas. These new television westerns, like the
Davy Crockett programs, emphasized high productionvalues and aimedfor an audiencebeyond
the kindergartencrowd. In the fall of 1955 ABC
46. IronEyes Codyand CollinPerry,IronEyes:MyLifeas a HollywoodIndian (NewYork:EverestHouse, 1982).
47. CharltonHeston,
1956-1976(NewYork:
TheActor'sLife:Journals
E. P. Dalton,1976);WendellMayes,TheDay CusterFell (unpublished
screenplay,1964).
48. JohnH.Lenihan,Showdown:
ModernAmerica
in the
Confronting
Western
Film(Urbana:
UniversityofIllinoisPress,1980);andBuscombe,
ed., BFI Companionto the Western,45-48.
50
49. J. FredMacDonald,WhoShottheSheriff?TheRiseandFallofthe
TelevisionWestern(New York:Praeger, 1987), 15-85;Paul Andrew
in MichaelA.
Hutton,"DavyCrockett:AnExpositionon HeroWorship,"
Lofaroand Joe Cummings,eds., Crockettat TwoHundred:New Perspectiveson theMan and theMyth(Knoxville:Universityof Tennessee
Press, 1989),20-41.
Paul AndrewHutton
The new westerns reflectedthis growingdisenchantment with both the present and the past.
Heroism and self-sacrificegave way to greed and
self-interestin filmslikeHombre(1967)andMcCabe
and Mrs. Miller (1971).Those who could not adjust to an increasingly corrupt society were destroyed by it, as in BillyJack (1971), TheLifeand
by 1959.49
Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), and Tom Horn
The overexposurecaused by television, a loss
of faithin old conventions,andthe deathor retire- (1980). Racism continued as a majortheme, but
ment of major stars all contributed to a stark the triumphofjusticethathadmarkedthe endings
decline of the western in the 1960s. While 130 of BrokenArrow and CheyenneAutumn, was rewestern feature films had been released in 1950, placedwith tragedy,as in Tell ThemWillieBoy is
Here(1969),orgenocide, as in SoldierBlue(1970).
and sixty-eight in 1955, only twenty-eightwere
released in 1960, down to twenty-twoby 1965. Finally,westernheroes were regularlydebunked:
Muchofwhatwasmadesimplyparodiedthe genre, Wyatt Earp in Hour of the Gun (1967) and Doc
such as Cat Ballou in 1965 or WaterholeNo. 3 in
(1971);Jesse James in The GreatNorthfield,Minnesota Raid (1971) and The Long Riders (1980);
1967,or playedoffthe new conventionsofviolence
importedwiththe Italianwesterns of SergioLeone BuffaloBill Cody in BuffaloBill and the Indians
and others. Other filmmakersbecame obsessed
(1976);Billythe KidinDirtyLittleBilly (1972);and
with the death of the frontier,usuallytinged with Pat Garrettin Pat Garrettand Billy theKid (1973).
a romanticnostalgiafor whatwas lost. LonelyAre Custer made perfect grist for the mill of the celthe Brave (1962), TheMan WhoShotLibertyVal- luloid debunker.
ABCTelevision, in attempting to exploit the
ance(1962),RidetheHighCountry(1962),andButch
the
all
used
fixation of the 1960s, presented a heroic
and
Sundance
Kid
this
(1969)
youth
Cassidy
theme, but it was Sam Peckinpah'sviolent 1969 Custerin a 1967 series starringWayneMaunder.
masterpiece The WildBunchthat most fully real- Titled Custer,the program'sadvertisingemphaized its potential.The westerns that followed The sized that its hero was "long-haired,headstrong,
WildBunch became so focused on the closing of
flamboyant,and a maverick."Despite the haircut,
the West that they helped close out the western.50 America'syouth did not warm to the program,
The dark tragedy and explicit violence of the
while Indiangroupsgot ratherheatedlyoutraged.
westerns of the late sixties and early seventies The National Congress of the American Indian
demandedequal time to respondto the premiere
clearly reflected the times in which they were
made. While the decade began with a burst of
episode, declaringthat"glamorizingCusteris like
the
of
and
with
election
bright promise
glamorizingBilly the Kid"because he "endorsed
optimism
John F. Kennedy and the unveiling of his "New a policy of genocide and massacredvillage after
Frontier"assault on povertyand racism,it ended villageof Indians."51
Newsweekcriticizedthe show,
with dark alienation dominating a nation torn pointing out that Custer was not a suitable hero
asunder by domestic unrest and foreign war. Po- because he "wascourt-martialedtwice, once left
liticalassassination,continuingracism,andresult- his men to die, discardeda son squired through
Indian wenching, and had a reputationfor cruant black militancy,the self-servingdeception of
the people by two presidential administrations, elty."52
Itwas disinterest,however,thatfinishedoff
and above all the frustratingand divisiveVietnam Custerin midseason-the ratings were abysmal.
War all tore at the social fabric and undercut Long-hairedmaverickor not, a heroic Custerwas
nationalidentity.The ecology movementled to a
a tough sell in the sixties.
new view of wilderness conquerorsas ecological
Televisionhadoftendealtwiththe Custerstory,
most especially during the 1950s western craze.
exploiters.Indiancivilrightsorganizationsrose to
Custer had proven the basis of particularlycomprominence,pointingout that their ancestorshad
lived in harmonywiththe land.Manynow came to
pelling episodes of The TwilightZone, Cheyenne,
view Indiancultureas a more rational,naturalway
Gunsmoke,Time Tunnel,and Branded.But after
of life. No group was more effected by these new ABC'sdebacle with Custer the general lost his
views than the young, who were, of course, also
popularitywith producers. When he did appear
the main patronsof motionpictures.
again, in the 1977 NBCHallmarkHall of Fame
launchedHugh O'Brienin TheLifeand Legendof
WyattEarp. CBScounteredwith James Arness in
Gunsmoke,andthe TVadultwesternwas born.By
the 1958-1959season six of the top seven programs on television were westerns, with fortyeight westernseries gallopingacross the airwaves
50. Forthe filmsof this periodsee Nachbar,ed., Focuson the Western,101-28;French,Westerns,
135-67;Hardy,TheWestern,
274-363;Tuska,
Filmingof the West,559-84;and Buscombe,ed., BFICompanionto the
Western,48-54.
51. FriarandFriar,OnlyGoodIndian,274-75.
52. Newsweek,70 (August7,1967),51;NewYorkTimes,September
TVGuide
7,1967;P.M.Clepper,"He'sOurGeorge,"
(September23,1967),
32-34.In an effortto recoupsome of their losses, the producerscombinedseveralepisodesof the televisionshow andreleasedit in Europe
as a feature,titledTheLegendof Custer.
51
s
w\s
i
i8
'
t
.
w
Ez
.
TIs
X
a
The men of FortApacheawaitthe finalonslaughtin Fort
Apache'sversionof the last stand (RKO,1948).
F^Fsi
:'s
x
B&
RobertShawas Custerloadshis lastbulletand
yells the chargein CusteroftheWest(Cinerama
Releasing,ABC,Inc., 1968).
\S,Xo
-
yu
r
--R
t
John Miljanas Custer,above,is the last to
fallin ThePlainsman(Paramount,1937),
while a smallcadre,below,fights to the last
in TheScarletWest(FirstNational,1925),
and Custeris overrun,lower right,in The
FlamingFrontier(Universal1926).
AllphotographscourtesyPaulAndrewHutton.
ErrolFlynnas Custeris the lastto die in TheyDied
withtheirBootsOn (WarnerBrothers,1941).
-ii
s_,5
^
/
;*tz
\
_
52
-
>
t
A
_*
,
_
9 x>
< H*o
JL
--
Paul AndrewHutton
teleplay of 'The Court-Martialof George Armstrong Custer,"it would be as a near-ravinglunatic. James Olsen's unhinged Custer was derived
fromDouglasC.Jones'bestsellingfantasynovelin
whichCusteris the onlysurvivorofLittleBighorn.53
Two trends of the dying western genre-the
European western and the end-of-the-frontier
western-were combined with the gimmickryof
cineramain Custerof the West(1968). Filmed in
Spainand starringEnglish actor RobertShaw as
the title character,the film made a sincere if misguided effortto deal with the complexitiesof frontier expansion and the Indian wars. Custer is a
hell-for-leathersoldier who loves a fight for the
sake of a fight,butwho findsthe one-sidedwarfare
with the Indianstroubling.He is even more worriedby the onrushingindustrialrevolutionandthe
impersonalimpactit will have on combat.'Trains,
steel, guns that kill by thousands-our kind of
fighting is done,"he tells visiting Indians.In destroyingthe Indiansthis Custeris also destroying
the only warriorsleft who are just like himself.
Shaw postures, broods, and agonizes until he finally rushes purposefullyto his doom at Little
Bighorn.Custeris the lastmanaliveon the stricken
field, and the Indians pull back to allow him to
leave. Unwillingto face life in a corrupt,changing
world,Custerplacesa single bulletin his pistoland
shouts the charge.
Custerof the Westwas a bust at the box office,
andcriticalreviewsattackedits semi-positiveview
of its protagonist.CharlesReno,a grandnephewof
Major Marcus Reno, sued the film's producers,
claiming his ancestor was slandered by Ty Hardin's portrayalof him in the film. The New York
StateSupremeCourtdismissedthe case in Custer's
only victoryduringthe sixties.54
The 1960s also witnessed a revitalizationof
interestin the plight of the AmericanIndian,both
past and present. Ironically, much of this new
sensitivity to past injusticewas a direct result of
the VietnamWar.The Indianwas often used as a
vehicle by literaryartists to attackAmericaninvolvement in Vietnam. Arthur Kopit's critically
acclaimedplay,Indians (filmedin 1976by Robert
Altmanas BuffaloBill and theIndians) and Ralph
Nelson's SoldierBlue (1970) use an Indianwars
theme to attack the Vietnam War. Indian civil
rights groups became increasinglyactive during
53. PaulA. Hutton,"Custer'sLastStand:Background,"TVGuide
(November26,1977),39-42.See alsoJohnP. Langellier,"MovieMassacre:The CusterMythin MotionPicturesandTelevision,11 Research
Review:TheJournalof theLittleBig HornAssociates,3 June 1989),2031. Custerappearedagainin the 1979televisionmovieTheLegendofthe
GoldenGun,whereKeirDulleaportrayedhimas a GeneralMacArthur
clonecompletewithsunglassesandpipe.Anothertelevisionmovie,The
LegendofWalksFar Womanin 1982,featuresthe LittleBighornbutdoes
not portrayCuster.
this period,encouragedby the nationalreception
ofVineDeloria'sbestsellingmanifesto,CusterDied
For YourSins,in 1969.Indiantopicsbecameallthe
rage among eastern publishers, especially after
the enormous success of Dee Brown'sBury My
Heart at WoundedKneein 1971.
rthur Penn's 1970film,LittleBig Man,
fit perfectly into its times, provingto be
the second-highestgrossing movie of the
Based
on Thomas Berger's deeply ironic
year.
novel, the film follows the travailof Jack Crabb
(DustinHoffman)as he aimlesslymoves backand
forth between the worlds of the Indians and the
whites. Crabbgraduallycomes to recognize the
purityof the simplerCheyenneway overthe decadence of the white world.The leaderof the whites
is, of course, Custer-bloodthirsty, opportunistic,
arrogant,and finallystarkravingmad.
Director Penn and screenwriter Calder
Willingham made no pretense at objectivity.
Penn used his film as a vehicle to attackthe arrogant, wrong-headedbrandof leadershipthat prolonged the fightingin Vietnamratherthanadmita
mistake.Custer,Pennfelt, was "soinfatuatedwith
his capacity to win, so racially assured that he
belonged to a superiorbreed,"thathe led his men
into a hopeless battle, and thus made the perfect
historicalmetaphor."AlthoughI am focusing on
history," Penn explained in a press release, "I
believe that the film is contemporarybecause ...
history does repeatitself."55
The detailed, and fairly accurate,depiction of
Custer's attack on Black Kettle's village on the
Washitais used as anobviousparallelto the MyLai
Massacre, even to the casting of orientalactress
Amy Eccles as Crabb'sIndianwife killed in the
slaughter.Soundbytes as if fromthe Vietnam-era
six-o'clocknews appear,as when Custer defends
the Washitamassacre to a shocked subordinate:
'This is a legal action, lieutenant.The men are
under strict orders not to shoot the womenunless, of course, they refuse to surrender.History will confirmthe largermoralright is ours."
At LittleBighorn Custeris trappedby his own
arrogance,ignoringevidence of a trapratherthan
"changea Custer decision."The battle is a rout,
54. New YorkTimes,October2, 1968,March18, 1960.
55. GeraldAstar,"TheGoodGuysWearWarPaint,"Look,34 (December1, 1970),60;LittleBig Man (CinemaCenterFilmsPressbook,
1971),4. See alsoJohnW.Turner,"LittleBig Man(1970),"in Pilkington
andGraham,eds., WesternMovies,109-21.
53
Montana The Magazine of WesternHistory
with no lines of defense or order. Custer,entirely
unhinged,wandersaboutrantinguntilstruckdown
by arrowsjust before he can kill Crabb.This time
there is to be no glory, no heroism,no redemptive
sacrifice-just a well-deservedand ignoble death.
This harshlyideologicalportrait,while containing some elements of truth, is ultimately even
more wildly inaccuratethan TheyDied with their
BootsOn.RichardMulligan'sCusteris a preening
buffoonwho cannot be taken seriously. He is all
conceit and bluster, failing entirely as menacing
devilor as a particularlydangerousopponent.The
sense ofironythatmarkedThomasBerger'snovel,
where Custer is always larger than life, is gone
entirely from the film version. Finally,the great
Indianvictory at Little Bighorn is trivialized,for
there canbe no honorin defeatingsuch a cowardly
band of soldiers led by such a complete idiot.
LittleBigMan is a disturbingtragedyclothedin
the conventionsof broadfarce. It fed on the conventions of the westerngenre, holdingthem up to
ridiculeandsometimesturningthemupsidedown.
Custer,thatmost famousof allfrontierwarriorsthe hero, the martyr,the sacrificeof his race-was
now exposed as a clown dressed up in a soldier
suit.LittleBig Man strucka responsivechordwith
audiences and for two decades had the finalword
on GeneralCusterand his celebratedlast stand.
Winter 1991
western,was cancelledin 1975.John Forddied in
1973,HowardHawksin 1977,JohnWaynein 1979,
RaoulWalshin 1981,and Sam Peckinpahin 1984.
No one stepped forwardto take their places. By
1980 only six westerns were released by the studios. Finally,in 1980,the coupdegracewas applied
to the genre by the collapse of United Artists
studio afterthe criticaland commercialfailureof
Michael Cimino'sHeaven'sGate.
Custer'scelluloid career rose and fell with the
fortunes of the western film. He persisted as a
heroicfigureon filmfarlongerthanhe didin print,
but in all cases he proved a remarkablyresilient
and flexible historical figure. From a symbol of
heroic self-sacrificein the winning of the West,
Custer graduallyevolved into a symbol of white
arroganceandbrutalityin the conquestandexploitation of the West. As the popularperceptionof
the military,the environment,the Indians,andthe
West changed, a new Custer myth emerged in
place of the old. But always,the fascinationwith
this dashing if misguided soldier held firm-at
least so long as the western film prospered.
These Custer films have been like glass windows-sometimes opening up a pathway to an
understandingof the past, as in FortApache-and
other times staying shut to mirrorthe times in
whichthey were made,as with TheyDiedwiththeir
BootsOnandLittleBig Man.We can neverhope to
discernthe facts of historyfromthem,butthe best
of them can effect a truthfulfiction well worth
contemplationandperhapstell us somethingabout
ourselves.
The video cassette revolutionof the 1980s has
given a new life to many of these old features.
finished
with
have
Majorfilmssuch as ThePlainsman,TheyDied with
ollywood may
Custer after Little Big Man, but he re- their Books On, Fort Apache,and Little Big Man
turnedin the 1974Frenchfilm Touchepas are all now easily accessible on videotape. Even
la Femmeblanche.MarcelloMastroianni'sCuster minortitles, such as LittleBig Horn,Buglesin the
was a "milksopbraggartanddandyinfatuatedwith Afternoon,and SeventhCavalry,are reaching enhis own success." The last stand was filmed in a
tirelynew audiencesas a result of video sales and
Paris excavation pit with Vietnamese refugees
rental outlets. This, of course, has remarkably
increasedthe audienceandinfluenceofolderfilms,
playingthe Sioux.DirectorMarcoFerrerifoundit
"laughable"that "the conquerors are eventually so that the impactof a film will no longer be tied
wiped out too. That'swhat happenedat LittleBig
only to the generationof its release period.Errol
Horn and what will happen tomorrow, I hope,
Flynn's Custer can now compete with Richard
But
Ferreri's
Marxist
vision
of
Little
everywhere."
Mulligan'sCuster for the hearts and minds of a
Bighornwas neverreleased in the UnitedStates.56 vast video audience, both now and far into the
future.
Hollywood appeared to be finished with the
Custerstory, andperhapswith the western genre
56. BrianW. Dippie,"PopcornandIndians:Custeron the Screen,"
as well.Anew, darkervision of the pasthad settled
Cultures,2 (no. 1, 1974),162-63.Custerreturnedto the screenin a 1976
on a torn and dividednation.Guiltand self-doubt spoofof earlyHollywood,WonTonTontheDog WhoSavedHollywood,
where Ron Leibmanplays the actor Rudy Montague,who portrays
had replacedprideandoptimism.The westerns of
Custerin the film withinthe film;the overblown1981western, The
the 1970s reflected this nationalmalaise, finally Legend
of theLoneRanger,whereLincolnTatehada cameoas a rather
foolish Custer;and in the 1984 comedy, Teachers,in which Richard
cannibalizingthemselves andparodyingthe genre
Mulliganreprisedhis Custerrole while portrayingan escapedmental
out of existence. At the same time, the old masters patient
who dressedupas historicalcharacters.Bythe 1980sHollywood
left the scene. Gunsmoke,the last great television viewedthe Custerstoryonlyas comicrelief.
54
The real George A. and Elizabeth Custer in their study at Fort Lincoln,DakotaTerritory, 1873
Fi
~
_~Painted
Rosanna Arquette as
The
Elizabeth
real George
A,
Custer
Indians
prepared for battle
(Fourphotos from Son of the
MorningStar [ABC,19911)
Gary Cole as Custer barks orders as his troops attempt
to form a battle line.
_
Gary Cole's Custer takes aim.
Winter 1991
Montana The Magazineof WesternHistory
We mayalso assume thatHollywoodis not done
with General Custer either. The enormous success of LonesomeDoveon television,coupledwith
the recenttriumphof KevinCostner'sDanceswith
Wolvesatthe movietheaters,has heraldedto many
the return of the western. These two features
approachedour western heritage from decidedly
differentpoints of view, but both.dealtwith their
subjects on a grand scale, treatingtheir material
seriously and recreating a compelling past for
their audiences.
A t the same time therehas been a re-
super stardomand the mini-seriesfinallyfound a
home at ABC.It will air on February3 and 4 with
GaryCole as Custer, RosannaArquetteas Elizabeth, Dean Stockwell as Sheridan, and Rodney
Grant(whois alsofeaturedinDancesWithWolves)
as CrazyHorse.
Indian war buffs will be enthralled by the
program'scarefulattentionto historicaldetail.Its
remarkablefidelityto the historicalrecordmarks
it as by far the most accurate version of Little
Bighornever filmed.It will be as drama,however,
that the mini-serieswill have to win over a mass
television audience. If the program proves successful it mayyet salvage Custer'ssullied popular
reputation.Thatwill onlybe fitting,since for eight
decades film has been the leadingfactorin determining the popularperception of this endlessly
fascinatingfrontiersoldier.
Whateverthe impactof SonoftheMorningStar,
we canbe certainthatcreativeartistswillcontinue
to interpretand reinterpretthe Custer story. It is
too powerful a tale to be long ignored. Custer,
dying again,and again,and againwill continueto
provideaudienceswithlessons aboutthe past,the
present, and the future. But, of course, he never
really died. Ultimately,that bold young warrior
achievedhis greatest ambition-immortality. A
markablerevivalofinterestinCuster.Evan
S. Connell'sfree-wheelingexplorationof
Custer and his singular, epic moment at Little
Bighorn,SonoftheMorningStar,was the surprise
bestseller of 1984. Timelisted it as one of the top
books of the decade.Connell'sportraitof Custeras
a brave, experienced, but driven soldier full of
compelling contradictionsdid much to rehabilitate his reputation.That was followed in 1988 by
RobertM. Utley'sdefinitivebiography,Cavalierin
Buckskin:GeorgeArmstrongCusterand the Western MilitaryFrontier,which gave an even more
PAULANDREWHUTTONis associateprofessorof
positive portraitof its protagonist.
intheUniversity
ofNewMexico,Albuquerque,
history
Son of the Morning Star was promptlydevelto this magazine,andauthorof
frequentcontributor
oped as a television mini-series.Scriptedby Mel- numerousworkson westernhistoryandpopularculissa Mathison (who wrote E. T.), the production ture,including
hisprize-winning,
PhilSheridan
andHis
initiallyhadKevinCostnersignedto portrayCuster. Army(1985).His TheCusterReaderwillbe published
NBC,not feeling that Costner was a big enough latethisyear,andhe is currently
writingamajorbiographyof DavyCrockett.
star, passed on the project. Costner went on to
Movies ConcerningCuster
The following theatrical films have concerned Custer or his last battle. Some of the
silents, however, may be variant titles of the
same film:
Custer'sLast Stand [On The LittleBig Horn]
(1909); Custer'sLast Fight [For the Honorof the
Seventh]and also Custer'sLast Raid (1912);The
Massacre(1912);TheBig HornMassacre(1913);
Campingwith Custer(1913); Campaigningwith
Custer(1913);Custer'sLast Scout (1915);Britton
of the Seventh (1916); Bob Hampton of Placer
(1921);WildBill Hickok(1923);TheScarletWest
(1925); The Flaming Frontier (1926); The Last
Frontier(1926);WithGeneralCusterat the Little
Big Horn (1926);Spoilersof the West(1927);The
Last Frontier(1932);The WorldChanges(1933);
56
Custer'sLast Stand (1936, serial re-released as
feature in 1947); The Plainsman (1937); The OregonTrail(1939);Wyoming(1940);SantaFe Trail
(1940);BadlandsofDakota(1941);TheyDiedwith
theirBootsOn(1941);FortApache(1948);SheWore
a YellowRibbon(1949);Warpath(1951);LittleBig
Horn (1951);Bugles in theAfternoon(1952);SittingBull (1954);ChiefCrazyHorse(1955);Seventh
Cavalry (1956); Tonka (1958); The Canadians
(1961); The Great Sioux Massacre (1965); The
GloryGuys(1965);DueSergentidelGeneraleCuster
(1965); Red Tomahawk(1966); The Plainsman
(1966);TheLegendof Custer(1967);Custerof the
West(1968);LittleBig Man (1970);Touchepas la
FemmeBlanche(1974);WonTonTontheDog Who
Saved Hollywood(1976); The Legendof the Lone
Ranger(1981);and Teachers(1984).
The
Many
Faces
M
Custer
|
RonaldReaganin
Santa Fe Trail
(Warner Broth-
_
?
.
gS
g
xw~~
GaryColein
g
Son ofthe
ono Star
t
Morning
(ABC, 99)
ers, 1940)
...
HenryFondaat rightas Custerlike characterOwenThursdayin
FortAbache(RKO,1948)
i-
A'
TherealGeorgeArmstongCuster,
aboveleft,poses for CivilWarphotographerMathewBradyin 1865,
whileJohn Miljanat right strikes
the same pose for ThePlainsman
(Paramount,
1937).
y
AndrewDuggan,below, as
Custer-likecharacter,General
McCabe,in GloryGuys(United"
Artists,1965)
"
BrittLomandin Tonka(WaltDisney
Productions,1958)
RI
_:..,
'
JamesOlsenin
TheCourt
MartialofGeorge
Armstrong
Custer
(NBC,1977)
_
I
'.i
'A,
8 jl
.
?
'"S
BarryAtwaterin
Cheyenne(ABC,1961)
7j ErrolFlynnin"TheyDied
w ith their Boots On
Ll. . (WarnerBrothers,1941)
=
;
'
-.
i
Joe Morrosin Time Tunnel
(ABC,1966)
57