Le Grand Chef

I really like western movies but always wonder why directors don't try to be a little more realistic. I was very much surprised that some Indians had bright purple and day-glow feathers in their headwear. Now that seemed a little unnatural. And then there was the guy who got shot in the back with an arrow. Fortunately, for him, he had a big block of wood under his shirt. Unfortunately, it showed up really well in the film. Another interesting item is that when a group of riders are galloping along somewhere in the West and the lead rider decides to stop, he holds his right hand up in the air. This is to signal the riders behind him to stop too. Apparently without doing this hand gesture, all the riders would crash into him. And in classic 1950s cowboy Hollywood fashion, getting hit by one bullet will kill you, and often causes no bleeding. Of course there's the always popular one shot that takes down two or three riders. I could go on but you get the idea. If film makers would just try a little harder, their movies would be easier to enjoy and more difficult to pick apart. I'm not even mentioning the obvious since all the other reviewers have: all the lead rolls were played by white actors, not native Americans, ie Indians.

Typical for its time, this is a well-intentioned biography of (as it states) "one of America's greatest generals". Real Indians appear in the background, and, like they were in Ford films, they are great scene-stealers. Victor Mature, Ray Danton, and Suzan Ball are quite good. Better-than-average script, but the action scenes are only fair (it was not an expensive movie, and it seems that the violence, especially in Custer's last stand, is underplayed to accentuate War as a necessity and not a pleasure). Good Remingtonesque photography, filmed in the Black Hills.

I don't know how faithful it is to the true story of Crazy Horse, but it is not an anti Indian western, on the contrary. Victor Mature is rather convincing in the lead role, but not as convincing as Jeff Candler in BROKEN ARROW. George Sherman was a good western film director and he did his best at Universal Pictures LAST OF THE FAST GUNS for instance. Splendid natural settings, landscapes galore and action scenes too. Awesome atmosphere helped by an adequate score. It remains classic though, do not expect unusual lines.

This is the story of Crazy Horse, who from a very young age was expected to go onto great things for his people. Taking in his youth and finally onto his accent as military leader, Chief Crazy Horse tells things from the Indian point of view.

This is a good and reliable Western picture, though sadly not using Indian actors to ram home the fact it's telling things from the Indian side of the vista, it's none the less unharmed by Victor Mature (Crazy Horse) and the rest of the white man cast. It's difficult for myself to personally gauge just what the makers were aiming for, was it honest portrayals? Or did they hope to make a stirring picture about a man proclaimed as a true great American General? Because they really don't achieve either of those things. But as I have said in my heading, this film doesn't waste one's time, it is a very interesting story, and technically it has its treats (filming in the actual Black Hills location a definite bonus for the story), yet ultimately I came away thinking that we could still do with a rousing epic to fully capture this man's biography.

Because ultimately it's a story well worth telling and a story worth telling with grace and elegance. 5/10

This fine western traces the life of the Sioux warrior, from the time when he received his vision as a boy, his battles against red and white enemies, and finishes with his betrayal and murder by a fellow Lakota. Victor Mature is good as the Lakota warrior who is one of the most tragic figures in western history. The film examines the petty disputes among the Indians who could not present a unified front in the face of white westward expansion, especially the rush to the Black Hills in search of gold. The film shows two of Crazy Horse's famous battles, the Fetterman and Rosebud engagements to good effect but the Custer fight gets only a brief mention and is glossed over almost as an afterthought. The widescreen CinemaScope is excellent and bathes the beautiful landscapes of the Black Hills and the Badlands with beautiful color. The music by Frank Skinner is a dramatic and heroic accompaniment to a fine film that pays tribute to a great American.