OCT 18: Custer Movies: Take Two

“They Died With Their Boots On” was a Warner Brothers picture directed by Raoul Walsh and starred Errol Flynn as George Armstrong Custer. It was released in November 1941 and ran a hefty 2 hours, 20 minutes.

Kate Cameron of The Daily News laid it on thick with this opening paragraph:

“Warner Brothers have made a big, pretentious production of the life of George Armstrong Custer, who distinguished himself as a cavalry officer in the Civil War and later, in 1876, led a cavalry troop into a trap which the Sioux Indians laid for them in the Black Hills and which has been celebrated in song as story as Custer’s Last Stand.” (Editor’s note: There was no trap. Custer ignored his scouts and plowed headlong into a gathering of several thousand Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe warriors.)

In another passage, she claimed, “Custer led a portion of his regiment into the valley of the Little Big Horn and to certain death. He saved Gen. Terry’s forces, but he and his party were killed to the last man.” (Editor’s note: No he didn’t, and yes they were.)

Either Ms. Cameron missed history class in high school the day they covered Custer, or she relied on the studio’s overly dramatic and heroic, and completely inaccurate, promotion for the movie.

She knocked the overly lengthy running time, but lauded the lead actors. “Errol Flynn plays Custer with swashbuckling vigor and Olivia DeHavilland, as Libby (sic), is as charming and beautiful as ever.” Anthony Quinn, by the way, portrayed Crazy Horse.