Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #29: Son of the Morning Star (1991)

 

I’ve actually already written a review of this one, so this is a revised version with a little more to it. Son of the Morning Star is a two-part TV adaptation of Evan S. Connell's non-fiction book of the same name. The title is one of the Cheyenne names for Colonel George Custer, who led a daytime assault on their camp on the Washita River. I was originally drawn to this film after watching the heavily inaccurate Errol Flynn as Custer flick They Died with Their Boots On. Unfortunately the mini-series (which did not perform to expectations) has still not received a cleaned up DVD or streaming release, so I had to watch a VHS rip on Youtube (yes, it's completely free, albeit with some ad breaks). While the picture quality is fuzzy, I have to say that I was very pleased with this "movie" and feel that it deserves more attention for being the most accurate coverage of Custer and Little Bighorn. I’ve even rewatched it twice.

George Armstrong Custer literally joined the American Civil War out of West Point. His audacious bravery propelled his career, and he ended the war as both a brevet general of volunteers and one of General Phil Sheridan’s favorites. With the army shrinking, he was shunted down to the rank of colonel (a common problem for many who earned extra start leading volunteers in the Civil War) and was sent out West to deal several Indian wars. Custer’s vanity and recklessness often got him into hot water with his superiors, but it was his last stand and death at the Little Bighorn that ensured he would be remembered for all of American history.

Mini-Series Review: Son of the Morning Star (1991)

Son of the Morning Star is a two-part TV adaptation of Evan S. Connell's non-fiction book of the same name, and also covers George Custer and his final battle at Little Bighorn. I was drawn to this film after watching the heavily inaccurate Errol Flynn as Custer flick They Died with Their Boots On. Unfortunately the mini-series has still not received a DVD release, so I had to watch a VHS rip on Youtube (yes, it's completely free, albeit with some ad breaks). While the picture quality was fuzzy, I have to say that I was very pleased with this "movie" and feel that it deserves more attention for being the most accurate coverage of Custer and Little Bighorn. After seeing the laughable misrepresentation of history from Errol Flynn's film, this was an incredible experience for a Civil War/Old West buff such as myself.

Son of the Morning Star's screen adaptation is split into two parts. The first part starts in 1866 and goes up to the early 1870s. It establishes Custer (Gary Cole) as a contradictory man. For example, he is very harsh towards deserters, but practically abandons his regiment when he hears that his wife Libby (Rosanna Arquette) is sick. He also pulls off a brutal assault on the Cheyennes at Washita River (where many women and children were killed) but is later seen to be criticizing the government for abusing Indians on the newly created reservations. Overall Son of the Morning Star portrays Custer in a thankfully balances light, showing both his strengths and flaws. This is not the romanticized swashbuckler of They Died with Their Boots On, nor the bloodthirsty and somewhat idiotic butcher of Little Big Man.

Movie Review: They Died with Their Boots On (1941)

They Died with Their Boots On is a George Armstrong Custer biopic directed by Raoul Walsh. It covers Custer's life from his arrival at West Point to his last stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and for a big history buff such as myself it does so poorly. I heard and expected this movie to not be too accurate, especially since it makes the common biopic mistake of compressing years to decades of a person's life into a single movie. But I was still quite shocked by some of the choices.

They Died with Their Boots On was the last of 8 on-screen pairings between action movie star Errol Flynn and leading lady Oliva de Havilland. If one isn't particularly concerned by historical faithfulness, it's an entertaining flick. The actors do their jobs and the protagonists are likeable. The humor, especially in the West Point and courtship scenes, is quite nice as well. Errol Flynn of course plays Custer. He's as charming as he was as Robin Hood or Captain Blood. You won't see much critical appraisal of the historical figure here. Like the real Custer he's impulsive, but this trait is never shown as detrimental to the men under him as it truly was. Olivia de Havilland is of course Libby Bacon, later Libby Custer. Like Flynn's Custer she's likeable but stripped of some of her more controversial attributes (to be fair the movie doesn't cover the post-Bighorn period where she defended her husband's reputation by attacking his peers and superiors in the military). The most recognizable supporting cast includes Sidney Greenstreet as a the historically rotund General Winfield Scott, a young Anthony Quinn as Crazy Horse, and Hattie McDaniel as the Bacons' servant Callie (this character is more of a Mammy than McDaniel's own Gone with the Wind character who gave the stereotype her name).