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Custer of the WestRating:
Release Date: 25 May, 2004 Retail Price: $14.94 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.95! Cast: Complete Cast (9 total) |
Custer of the West Reviews
My least favorite Custer movie
Most people will agree that the great Robert Shaw was terribly miscast here, but he's not the biggest problem with this movie. It was made in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War, two years before Arthur Penn's "Little Big Man," which vilified Custer by portraying him as the symbol of everything that was wrong with America in 1970 as well as 1870. Up to that point, Custer was almost invariably portrayed as a tragic hero, with the exception of John Ford's thinly veiled Custer movie "Fort Apache," where Henry Fonda plays "Colonel Owen Thursday." But "Custer of the West" was caught in the cultural crossfire of the sixties and doesn't know which way to go. Was Custer a good guy or a bad guy? You're never really sure whther to like Shaw or not. This movie kinds of teeters on that question. In some ways it resembles a traditional cavalry movie that would have been made in the fifties, but those kind of movies were less and less culturally relevant by 1968. Add to this the fact that there are no likeable characters in this movie, with the possible exception of Robert Ryan. The battle scenes aren't terribly convincing, and the scene where Custer sees a play lampooning him borders on the surreal. I've never been able to figure this movie out, and I have to say it is my least favorite Custer movie. But I do like Robert Shaw and I'll watch it for that reason if no other. I would recommend the 1991 TV miniseries "Son of the Morning Star" as the most accurate, fair and intelligent of Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
MGM DVD Not Up To Par
I bought this movie because I indulge myself in Custeriana. As history it is highly flawed as I suspected it would be. As in most Custer movies this one manages to capture some facets of a highly complicated life and personality. For contrast, I think that
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