As a film unto itself, "They Died With Their Boots On" rolls right along in the mainstream of Errol Flynn's action movies for Warner Brothers. It's effectively directed, handsomely mounted, and attractively shot, although it really would have benefited from glorious Technicolor. They could have called in Natalie Kalmus who would have been happy to see her name in the credits once again for having done nothing but becoming the widow of Mr. Kalmus.
Flynn is his reckless self. He was only 30-ish when this was shot but in some scenes the effects of self indulgence were already becoming apparent. It hardly interfered with his handsomeness or the sense a viewer has that Flynn was not taking himself or his career too seriously, even in the serious scenes.
Olivia DeHavilland is beautiful and a little fragile but her acting stops short of being cloying. She and Flynn evidently got on well together. Curiously, the real Libby Bacon somewhat resembled DeHavilland in her early photographs. But she didn't age as well as some of the rest of us and became plumply matronly, raising the question of whether Custer, out of desperation, committed suicide by Indian.
No need to go through the story again, I don't suppose. Custer distinguishes himself in the Civil War, finds himself out West, and is killed along with 200 or so of his troopers atop Custer Ridge at the Little Bighorn River. Mannasas in Virginia apparently was fought among California's tawny hills under the blazing sun, just as the Battle of the Little Big Horn was. A pleasant environment. Max Steiner's score is based on "Garry Owen" except for a touching romantic theme used with Flynn and De Havilland.
Actually there were three simultaneous and independent battles of the Little Bighorn. One of them, Major Reno's, took place partly IN the Little Bighorn River. One of the reasons Reno never reached Custer in time is that his horses were completely fagged out. In movies like this, horses are always treated like machines, like cars that never run out of gas.
As for the Indians, the ones attacked by Custer are described as coming from all kinds of tribes but they were really from one group, the Sioux, who were divided into several nomadic, territorial bands -- the Minneconju, the Oglala, the Hunkpapa. They lived together for some months in larger settlements, then split up into small bands of 50 or so for the rest of the year. There were no Blackfeet present. There were only seven Cheyenne involved in the battle. One was named Two Moons. I lived with the Cheyenne at Lame Deer and Two Moons' descendants are still quietly proud of his participation.
And as far as that goes, the Visitor's Center at Custer Battlefield National Monument swarms with Indians. They appear not to view Custer as a hero. In 1988, on the anniversary, they installed a small, angry wrought-iron plaque commemorating the many Indians killed during the fight, placing it at the foot of the phallic monument to Custer's men -- under the eyes of armed National Park Service personnel. Nobody hears much about Indian resentment because they tend to be restrained and have no particular talent for media-grabbing practices, but the wounds still run a little deep.
Anyway, forgetting the historical realities and looking only at the fictional illusory ones, what you're left with is a rousing film about a guy who was a bit foolish in his youth but who grew up to be a Mensch.
Flynn is his reckless self. He was only 30-ish when this was shot but in some scenes the effects of self indulgence were already becoming apparent. It hardly interfered with his handsomeness or the sense a viewer has that Flynn was not taking himself or his career too seriously, even in the serious scenes.
Olivia DeHavilland is beautiful and a little fragile but her acting stops short of being cloying. She and Flynn evidently got on well together. Curiously, the real Libby Bacon somewhat resembled DeHavilland in her early photographs. But she didn't age as well as some of the rest of us and became plumply matronly, raising the question of whether Custer, out of desperation, committed suicide by Indian.
No need to go through the story again, I don't suppose. Custer distinguishes himself in the Civil War, finds himself out West, and is killed along with 200 or so of his troopers atop Custer Ridge at the Little Bighorn River. Mannasas in Virginia apparently was fought among California's tawny hills under the blazing sun, just as the Battle of the Little Big Horn was. A pleasant environment. Max Steiner's score is based on "Garry Owen" except for a touching romantic theme used with Flynn and De Havilland.
Actually there were three simultaneous and independent battles of the Little Bighorn. One of them, Major Reno's, took place partly IN the Little Bighorn River. One of the reasons Reno never reached Custer in time is that his horses were completely fagged out. In movies like this, horses are always treated like machines, like cars that never run out of gas.
As for the Indians, the ones attacked by Custer are described as coming from all kinds of tribes but they were really from one group, the Sioux, who were divided into several nomadic, territorial bands -- the Minneconju, the Oglala, the Hunkpapa. They lived together for some months in larger settlements, then split up into small bands of 50 or so for the rest of the year. There were no Blackfeet present. There were only seven Cheyenne involved in the battle. One was named Two Moons. I lived with the Cheyenne at Lame Deer and Two Moons' descendants are still quietly proud of his participation.
And as far as that goes, the Visitor's Center at Custer Battlefield National Monument swarms with Indians. They appear not to view Custer as a hero. In 1988, on the anniversary, they installed a small, angry wrought-iron plaque commemorating the many Indians killed during the fight, placing it at the foot of the phallic monument to Custer's men -- under the eyes of armed National Park Service personnel. Nobody hears much about Indian resentment because they tend to be restrained and have no particular talent for media-grabbing practices, but the wounds still run a little deep.
Anyway, forgetting the historical realities and looking only at the fictional illusory ones, what you're left with is a rousing film about a guy who was a bit foolish in his youth but who grew up to be a Mensch.