Custer of the West (1967)

George Armstrong Custer's love of the heroic traditions of the Calvary and his distaste with the coming of industrialization leads him to his destiny at the Little Big Horn.

Director:

Robert Siodmak

Writers:

Bernard Gordon, Julian Zimet

Stars:

Robert Shaw, Mary Ure, Ty Hardin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Shaw	...	Gen. George Armstrong Custer
Mary Ure	...	Elizabeth Custer
Ty Hardin	...	Maj. Marcus Reno
Jeffrey Hunter	...	Capt. Benteen
Lawrence Tierney	...	Gen. Philip Sheridan
Marc Lawrence	...	Gold Miner
Kieron Moore	...	Chief Dull Knife
Charles Stalmaker	...	Lt. Howells (as Charles Stalnaker)
Robert Hall	...	Sgt. Buckley
Jack Gaskins
Jack Taylor
John Clark	...	Fort Doctor
Fred Kohler Jr.	...	(as Fred Kohler)
Bill Christmas
Luis Rivera	...	Indian Scout

Storyline

The story of U.S. Army commander George Armstrong Custer, a flamboyant hero of the Civil War who later fought and was exterminated with his entire command by warring Sioux and Cheyenne tribes at the battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.

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Plot Keywords:

native american attack | soldier | little big horn | cheyenne indian | u.s. cavalry | 

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Taglines:

Only CINERAMA could take you on a journey so vast - and tell a story so spectacular!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Swedish press at the time of the films TV premiere, the flume ride sequence was filmed in Sweden rather than - as originally considered - Canada. A trip across the Atlantic was too expensive.

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Goofs

United States flags are shown displaying 50 Stars, too many for the number of States at the time.

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Quotes

Capt. Benteen: [riding through the Cheyenne village] Look at them, sir. They've got no fight left in them. We took the whole Cheyenne Nation with 265 men.
Gen. George Armstrong Custer: Pizarro conquered Peru with 167.

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Alternate Versions

The MGM DVD of "Custer of the West" released in 2004 runs 141 minutes. Older editions of the 86 minute version are now out-of-print.

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Connections

Featured in I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

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Soundtracks

MARCHING SONG
Music by Bernardo Segall (as Bernardo Segáll
Lyrics by Will Holt

User Reviews

Brings on the tears

This is actually a sad movie. I will not mention the end for fear of including a "spoiler", but also I cannot imagine that most American viewers would not already know how it ends.

Though I live overseas now I grew up in the United States in the 1960s (in fact, I still retain my U.S. citizenship). Some of the lines in this 1967 movie are, in fact, anachronisms (they were not in the language in the 1860s or 1870s when this movie was set). The phrase that one U.S. soldier was worth (in combat) 10 Indians was a takeoff on the phrase used at that time in the Vietnam War concerning the kill ratio. Also, the term that General Sheridan used, "Bleeding hearts" comes from the 1960s; not the 1860s. The director of this movie was obviously comparing the moral problems we felt with Vietnam with the same problems the U.S. felt during the Indian Wars a century before. I did not know, of course, any Indian War veterans, but I did know two good men who went to Vietnam and did not come back alive.

Also tearful is the real life love you detect between George and Libby Custer that is portrayed by the real life married couple of Robert Shaw and Mary Ure. Six children between them. She died about ten years later from an accidental overdose of alcohol mixed with sleeping pills. He was so heartbroken that he died a few years later literally of a broken heart.

It is still a magnificent film. The western scenes are indigenous to that part of the United States that it is actually a shock to find out they were filmed not in South Dakota, California, Nevada, Kansas,etc. but rather in Spain!!

Details

Country:

UK France Spain USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 November 1967 (UK)

Also Known As:

Custer of the West

Filming Locations:

Colmenar Viejo, Madrid, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinerama Productions Corp., Security Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1