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).