Son of the Morning Star

Everyone seems to have an opinion on this subject, but the fact is that none of us were there when it happened. Many of us think we know the truth more than others because we are historians, teachers or history buffs. We can research it to death as I have throughout my life and read all the books. (see "Where Custer Fell" by James S. Brust). But we can't go back in time to 1876 and watch it unfold before our eyes and see what really transpired. So if you think Custer was a hero or idiot or goat during the LBH battle...well no one knows for sure. Reno and Benteen did not know what wrong either and they WERE there.

One story said that the Last Stand battle itself took about as much time as it takes for someone to eat lunch.

"Son of the Morning Star" is the best movie version yet of the battle. At least it looks like the Greasy Grass plains of Montana and not in the desert area of Monument Valley!!! Custer was not fighting southwest Indians like the Apaches either (see earlier film versions) So at least this film attempts to be accurate in some ways.

Is Oliver Stone going to make his version or is that a tossed script?

Where is the DVD?!!!!!! My VCR broke and I don't plan on replacing it. This movie I can watch numerous times, so again, WHERE IS THE DVD???!!!!

¨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.

If somewhat long, this epic "western" tells the story of Custer´s last defeat and tries to show what kind of man he was. Cole gives a stunning performance and the film is made interesting when seen thru "2 pairs of eyes", the wife of Custer seeing it from a white point of view and the Indian girl telling the truth about a black chapter of America´s history

Definitely worth watching!

A very good bio-pic as it closely follows the facts. Based upon the Book "Son of the Morningstar" by Evan S. Connell (1984). Gary Cole does a good job in a drama role as opposed to the many comedy roles he's done more recently. The bleakness of the plains and the futility of the events leading up to the Little Bighorn drag the movie down in its tone at times, but then this is a Last Stand saga. It presents the Native American Point of View and presents Custer's demise as a combination of his own folly and bad decisions by the US government.

More time could have been spent on Custer's life up to and during the Civil War, he was at Appomattox, received Lee's flag of surrender and was present at the signing of the surrender (and rode away with the table General Lee signed the surrender on!). He remains the US Army's youngest general to date. The movie rather focuses on Custer's life as an Indian fighter.

Noted historian Stephen Ambrose (who wrote "Crazy Horse and Custer") supported the possibility that Custer may have fathered a child out of wedlock with an Indian woman, a point covered in the movie and a major plot element. Robert Utley, former superintendent of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, noted a letter in his book "Cavalier in Buckskin" by one of Custer's own officers that asserted such a relationship existed (Capt. Benteen, one of Custer's officers at the Little Bighorn). This is still a debatable point and Custer may have been sterile as a result of acquiring a STD during his West Point Days, according to some historians.

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!!!