Le Massacre des Sioux

This supposed piece of western Americana is perhaps the worst ever depiction of the events leading up to the fight at Little Big Horn. Fine, possibly even great actors forced to participate in a film that defies all logic and historical fact. I cannot think of another western that even comes close to its mediocrity. Philip Carey and Joseph Cotton at least know how to ride a horse, while the supposed hero, Darren McGavin looks more like a new recruit rather than a veteran cavalryman. I can understand the director wanting to make a film that shows the mistreatment of the Native Americans, but this film fails to generate any emotion except disgust for the terrible acting. Even the uniforms and equipment are wrong.

Historically, the real Captain was Benteen but in this movie he is called Captain Benton. I was hearing that said and to verify, I put the movie into mute sound and turned on the closed captions and it was indeed spelled Benton. I suspect this was due to the difficulty of the audience hearing the correct sound as other characters, i.e. Custer, Tom and Custer, George are kept with the correct names and also Major Reno. The Rosebud River is north and east of the Little Bighorn and was actually where one of the two Generals, either Crook or Terry, was defeated prior to the engagement at Little Big Horn. The battle of Little Bighorn was June 25, 1876 and some writers have speculated that Custer expected to ride in to Philadelphia for the national convention on the heels of his victory. A good biography is "Son of the Morning Star" by Evan S. Carlson. I have to agree that the movie is so bad that it is fun and somehow worth watching but, in perspective, a great film, "They Died with their Boots on" shares the same guilt with its lack of historical accuracy and I love "Boots" so it's the movie that counts in these cases, not the facts.

I write this having read two damning criticism of a film which was strong enough for me to watch the whole way through. Living in the age of televised war games where tens of thousands of warriors can be immediately created remember that just 271 members of the Seventh Cavalry died at the Battle of the Big Horn. Presumably equally divided into three bands of ninety for reasons which I have yet to fathom although the politicking glory hunting which drove Custer to get there first was perhaps the driving theme of this film which must have cost its producers a fortune as it was clearly shot mainly in uninhabitable shrub land and certainly not in the gold bearing rocks of Dakota. And was it closer to the truth than so many other attempts ? it suspect so as luck - sorry Gluck - the screenwriter - would have it ? So apart from Sitting Bull speaking perfect English and the redemption of Joseph Cotton from drunken hater of almost everything to a credit to the US Army I have little complaint with what was a slight thought provoking 90 Minutes.

They say a leopard doesn't change it's spots, and people don't change overnight, however in this trite little '60s western they do just that. The story is flawed, the acting is bad, and history is played with fast and loose, and what remains is not worthy of viewing.

Hollywood got it wrong once again in retelling the tale of George Armstrong Custer and the battle he lost to the Sioux at the Little Big Horn. Pity that such a good cast was wasted on a mediocre western.

The film centers around the three commanders that led troops at the battle. Custer is played by Philip Carey and Major Marcus Reno is played by Joseph Cotten and Captain Frederick Benton (Benteen) was played by Darren McGavin.

It's come down in legend that Major Reno was an alcoholic and for most of this film he's just that. A southerner who enlisted in the army after the Civil War ended, Reno feels he's not getting his just due. He despises Benton for paying court to his daughter. Reno was never a southerner and he never had a daughter. His abrupt change of character including sobering up never happened in real life and was not believable here.

Nor was Carey changing from a decent soul with a decent regard for the rights of the Sioux to a bloodthirsty ambitious figure who wants to score a big military victory over the Sioux for political ambitions. It has come down to us in legend that Custer was angling for the Democratic nomination in 1876. As Custer was a hero from the Civil War, the Democrats who stigmatized as the party of secession could not be painted that with a Union general heading their ticket for once. They actually did do that with Winfield Scott Hancock in the next election in 1880 and almost won.

Bad script and mediocre direction characterize The Great Sioux Massacre. On the plus side the battle scenes are nicely staged. Historians might want to view the film to count the errors.