No one expects too much from documentaries these last few years, but sometimes they just need to be called out for their absurdity. The Custer episode of Legends & Lies: the Real West, well qualifies for this treatment, for it is nearly all lies.
This is not to say that General George Custer wasn't a controversial figure with many personal flaws. There is plenty of material on that. So it's a wonder that this documentary, narrated by Kelsey Grammar and featuring several prominent historians, felt a need to tell lie after lie about it's subject.
Not to get crazy, but it shows Custer ordering Major Elliot to pursue fleeing Indians at the Washita battle. Never happened. It shows Captain Benteen warning Custer not to split his troops at the Little Big Horn. Never happened. It tells of Custer's expedition to Montana without ever hinting that General Alfred Terry was in command, not Custer. The list goes on. One factual error after another.
I am reluctant to blame the historians. I once had a conversation with historian Paul Hutton, who is featured in this documentary. I asked him why he claimed Custer wanted a victory at the Little Big Horn so he could run for president, when he knows that isn't true (this was a different program, Robert Redford's The West). Paul told me he didn't say that, but the film editors had recut his interview to deliberately give the opposite impression of what he actually said. Is it possible that happened here?
The production values of this show are fine. Horses. Soldiers. Uniforms. Action scenes. Wide open spaces. It has a good look. Though I doubt the reenactors who put so much of their time and energy into recreating history appreciate their work being turned into a sham.
The West, the Wild West, the Frontier, or whatever someone wants to call it, is full of fascinating stories. And many of them are well documented, particularly the battle at the Little Big Horn. There is really no reason to invent false narratives as this show as done.
