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¨Son of the morning star¨ deals with the exciting life of George Armstrong Custer that comes alive in this made for television movie formed by 2 episodes in an above average mini-series . The story of the stubborn George Custer (Gary Cole) , Crazy Horse and the events prior to the battle of the Little Bighorn (1876) , told from the diverse perspectives of two women , both , the Custer's wife , Libby (Rosanna Arquette) , and a young Indian . And following a parallel as well as opposite story of the life of Native American inspirational hero Crazy Horse (Rodney A. Grant) . This is a pretty good movie , and it calls out for being one of the more accurate films based on this famous role . In addition , appearing known historical characters as President Ulysses S. Grant/Stanley Anderson , General Sherman/George Dickerson , Gen. Philip Sheridan/Dean Stockwell and Indians as Crazy Horse/Rodney A. Grant , Sitting Bull/Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman and Red Cloud/Nick Ramus .

This moving mini-series blends impressive battles , good action scenes , shootouts , go riding , politics , stirring Indian charges and many other things . The film centers about the vain , obstinate , and ambitious general Custer and wife , though takes liberties with historical facts . Headstrong George Armstrong Custer's complex characterization with an unusual point of view is well performed by Gary Cole who gives a nice embodiment of this Western hero . Opposing points of view on the same events by narrators speaking from different perspectives . And developing really two lives that will intertwine and culminate with the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 1876 where Custer was exterminated with his entire command . Exciting final confrontation between Custer army and Indians is spellbound and breathtaking . The motion picture will appeal to biopic enthusiasts and Indian/cavalry western buffs.

The film is a fiction , but based on real events . George Armstrong Custer's career begins when is graduated in the known Military Academy of West Point and after that , he intervened in American Civil War where detaches in battle of Gettysburg . General Sheridan assigns him the command a regiment at Fort Abraham Lincoln . As it follows his Post-Civil War career (1866-1876) on the Great Plains and a recreation of the known ¨Fetterman massacre¨ . In 1869 Custer and his 7th Cavalry carried out the ¨massacre of River Washita¨ where one hundred Indians and their chief Black Kettle were murdered . Problems enhanced when the Commissioner of Indian Affairs directed all Sioux bands to enter reservations by the end of January 1876 or be declared hostile . Many bands of Sioux did not meet this deadline and were attacked by US troops . Crazy Horse and his Oglala people moved north to join forces with Sitting Bull , by the spring of 1876 some 3000 Teton Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors had assembled at Sitting Bull's camp in the valley of the Little Big Horn in Montana . On 25 June 1876 Crazy Horse and other war chiefs led the allied warriors against General Custer and his seventh Cavalry , Custer and all the man under his direct command were killed . This victory , however , brought relentless retaliation from the army and Sioux were scattered . Sitting Bull and his followers fled to Canada and stayed there until July 1881 , when he returned to the US and surrendered at Fort Buford , Montana . After he was placed on a South Dakota reservation , though for a year Sitting Bull went a tour with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and continued to regard himself as chief of his people . Crazy Horse was also detained and subsequently murdered . Finally , Indians were really slaughtered at the ¨Wounded Knee massacre¨.

Other adaptations about this historic character culminating in the thrilling battle of ¨Little Big Horn¨ are the followings : the best ¨They died with the boots on (1941) ¨ with Errol Flynn and directed by Raoul Walsh ; ¨Santa Fe trail¨ by Michael Curtiz with Ronald Reagan as Custer ; ¨Great massacre Sioux¨ by Sidney Salkow with Philip Carey as Custer and Iron Eyes Cody as Crazy Horse ; ¨Little Big Man¨ by Arthur Penn with Richard Mulligan as Custer ; ¨Custer of the west¨ by Robert Siodmak with Robert Shaw , Mary Ure and this TV miniseries by Mike Robe with Gary Cole.

"Son Of The Morning Star" is by all accounts and definitions an epic. With a period backdrop, compelling characters, a cast of thousands and a span of ten years, "Morning Star" fits the mold of almost every made-for-tv-mini series. Yet you can't help but feel it's being confined on the small screen like a belt that's too tight on you. It has the look and feel of a theatrical feature, and would seem so much bigger on the big screen. But Mike Robe's gigantic effort is no movie of the week basic network fodder. It's the post-Civil War story of General George Armstrong Custer, his lovely and loyal wife Libbie, and Custer's Indian equivalent Crazy Horse, and the interesting chain of events that lead the two warriors to the gentle slopes of the Little Big Horn, or, more popularly, Custer's Last Stand. But, as the Indian female narrator Kate Bighead tells us, "it was not [Custer's] last stand...it was ours". The first half of the film seems somewhat confused of its real direction, and it's pretty much the movies only flaw. We meet the characters, soak in the rich setting of the western plains of our country, and are led through such happenings as Custer's court martialing for his harsh treatment on deserters, the training of his 7th cavalry, the somewhat flawed presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, who, apparently, is quite the anti-Custer, and to a lesser extent to all of this, the early days of the Cheyenne warrior Crazy Horse, played by underrated Native American actor Rodney A. Grant (Wind In His Hair from "Dances With Wolves", which is what I believe ultimatly helped greenlight this production). But besides that jumbled storyline, which really isn't all that jumbled, there are first rate acting scenes displayed by Gary Cole as our arrogant blond hero, who seems to really know his stuff when it comes to first person impressions. Rosanna Arquette is just going through the motions, and so is Dean Stockwell as Custer's superior in Washington, General Sheridan. But the real reward for sticking through this movie is the heart-wrenching climax of all movie climaxes, the Battle of Little Big Horn. Custer's actual Last Stand isn't until the final half hour, but boy is it worth the wait. Mike Robe really deserves some, heck, A LOT of credit for this logistical nightmare of a production. He takes us through Custer's final moments with true skill and utter authority. Combined with the poetic and professional lens job done by director of photography Kees Van Oostrum, and a lush orchestral score by Craig Safan, "Son Of The Morning Star" is a real piece of work, and should be considered a genuine cinematic triumph in the annals of western and dramatic film. Kudos, guys.

Son Of The Morning Star is a made for TV movie that's directed by Mike Robe, with the teleplay adapted by Melissa Mathison from the novel of the same name written by Evan S. Connell. It stars Gary Cole (George Armstrong Custer), Rosanna Arquette (Libby Custer), Stanley Anderson (Ulysses S. Grant), George Dickerson (Gen. Sherman), Rodney A. Grant (Crazy Horse), Terry O'Quinn (Gen. Alfred Terry), David Strathairn (Capt. William F. Benteen), Dean Stockwell (Gen. Philip Sheridan) & Sheldon Peters Wolfchild (Bloody Knife).

Buffy Sainte-Marie narrates as Kate Bighead and location work is at Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Billings, Montana & Buffalo Gap, South Dakota (Kees Van Oostrum the cinematographer) and the music is by Craig Safan. The story tells of George Custer & Crazy Horse and the events prior to, and encompassing, the battle of the Little Bighorn. It's told from the different perspectives of two women, Libby Custer & Kate Bighead.

The name Custer and The Battle Of Little Big Horn has become one of the most famous stories of American/Indian history. Numerous books, films and TV shows have taken it as a source for entertainment or historical teachings. Of the many screen adaptations, Son Of The Morning Star is arguably the most fascinating due to its two pronged approach and willingness to explore all the principal characters from both sides of the War. At only three hours in length it's inevitable that not everything is covered, but when judged as a whole the makers here have evidently achieved remarkable results and kept it well balanced. It covers a ten year period that starts in 1866 when Custer was commander at Fort Riley in Kansas; and culminates with the famous battle that occurred in June of 1876.

There's some sloppy editing and not all the cast deliver convincingly in their respective portrayals. But everyone and everything about the piece is professional. Be it with the dissection of Custer the man (brave, arrogant, foolish & driven), or showing the Indian's as a complex race-to intelligently letting us into the government and political aspects of the period; Robe's movie is always narratively strong. The action is very well staged and the scenery (in spite of not yet having the DVD remastering it deserves) is very pleasing on the eye. We may never get the complete story in film form, or even one that will be budgeted to the extent of shaking Hollywood to its foundations. But this will do nicely and it's hoped that more people will not only get to see it, but also to hopefully appreciate its attention to detail. 8/10

I generally find Gary Cole rather uninteresting as an actor. But he does a good job in edgy roles, like Jeffrey MacDonald in "Fatal Vision" and George A. Custer in "Son of the Morningstar." The movie has its flaws. It takes too long to get going and I found the Indian narrative tiresome.

But it provides the most accurate Hollywood depiction of the events leading up to Custer's last battle and of the battle itself. Cole portrays Custer as a driven man, but not the madman of "Little Big Man" or the saint of "They died with Their Boots On." And it accurately captures the scenery of the Little Big Horn, not the bizarre desert setting of "Custer of the West." Most details, some not so well known, are handled accurately. Custer's men did not have sabers with them (little did Errol Flynn know). Custer refused gatling guns because they were too cumbersome to haul over the hilly areas the cavalry was expected to cover quickly. Custer couldn't see the Indian village from a distance when it was pointed out to him by his scouts. Custer hastily made his plan of battle after being informed Indians had taken some lost supplies and, thus, discovered his whereabouts. All of this comes out in the movie, so that we don't just get the standard Hollywood Custer-as-egotistical-glory-seeker story. The real story was far more involved than most people realize, and this film portrays most of those events. The film also shows that Custer's Last Stand was a combination of orderly resistance and chaos, as Indian witnesses contended.

The film also does a good job with some of the other characters; Crazy Horse, Tom Custer, Major Reno, Captain Benteen and Captain Weir. Where the film misses out, in my opinion, is its failure to adequately depict the events involving Reno and Benteen during the battle. The film does an excellent job with Reno's charge, dismount and retreat to the bluffs, and with Weir's attempt to rescue Custer. But it should have gone further. The film has Weir's company merely returning to the reinforced bluffs. What we don't see is that Reno and Benteen actually mounted a slow moving trek following Weir's path, and all were forced to retreat to their original position where they fought valiantly into the night, while some soldiers who were left behind in Reno's retreat rejoined them after some harrowing moments hiding from the Indians. This portion of the battle has never been accurately portrayed on film (although "The Glory Guys" does a reasonably good job of it). And Morningstar squanders a great deal of time on far less interesting scenes instead of devoting time to this portion of the fight.

So, while far from perfect, this is very much the best Custer movie ever made and highly recommended to anyone who wants to learn more about what really happened. I keep hoping that one more major Custer movie will get made and finally get it all right.

To All Son Of The morning star fans"

this is a great war movie especially one made exclusively for TV. It needs to be released on DVD soon!!!!!! What needs to be done to have this film released on DVD? Very few films have capture the historic facts of this time period while also creating a very exciting film. We all really want this movie released on DVD! what's the problem? is Republic pictures still a viable entity? Is there someone we can contact to encourage them to release this film on DVD? What about the actors and actresses that were in this production possibly they could use their influence to persuade the producers to release this movie on DVD are there any plans from Hollywood to create different movies from the same time period? That would be exciting and something to look forward to.We hope it gets released very soon!!!