Son of the Morning Star

Custer: Symbol v. Human Being. - The purpose of ",Son of the Morning Star,", both the book and the miniseries, was to show that George A. Custer is not just a symbol, good or bad, for culural/political causes, but a human being with flaws and attributes. A previous review is a perfect example of the failure to see Custer as anything but as a symbol. To some people, Custer is the embodiment of the evils of Manifest Destiny. It s an ironic fate for someone who died in the most spectacular, albeit temporary, setback for Manifest Destiny.Custer is a fascinating historical figure because of his symbolism. So many people have such strong feelings about him for what he represents, but so few people really know anything about him. Born the son of blacksmith in a rinky-dink Ohio farm community, Custer was no son of privilege. Yet he was a brigadier general at age 23, a major general at age 25, and fought with great courage and skill in America s most horrific war. It never ceases to amaze me how people throw slurs at the officers and men of the Indian fighting army, but ignore that a large percentage of those men fought with undeniable heroism to re-unite this country and free the slaves. Custer, Reno, Benteen, Cooke, Yates, Keogh, Tom Custer, Smith, and a number of other officers of the 7th Cavalry were all Civil War vets.Attacks on Custer s courage for ",fighting women and children", just demonstrates an ignorance of his Civil War combat record and the realities of Plains Indian warfare. Custer graduated college in June 1861 and a month later he saw action at Bull Run. In April 1865, he would receive General Lee s flag of truce near Appomattox. In between, he saw action in almost every campaign in the Eastern theatre of operations. Even after he became a general, he still exposed himself to danger and was often seen fighting in hand to hand combat. At Appomattox, his superior, General Sheridan awarded him the wooden table, upon which General Grant signed the papers of General Lee s surrender, as a gift of appreciation for his magnificent courage and leadership.Yet people believe that such a ferocious combat commander reveled in fighting women and children! Plains Indians didn t fight like Rebels. They had a different concept of warfare from the U.S. Army- guerrilla tactics, hit and run. To the Army, the biggest difficulty of Plains Indian warfare wasn t fighting the Indians, it was finding them! In 1876, the biggest fear the U.S Army had was that the Lakota and Cheyennes would scatter before the Army could attack them and this mentality was the reason for Custer s decision processes on June 25. The Army had been forced to attack villages because this was the only effective method it had of forcing the Indians to stand and fight. Yes, women and children would die as a result and this was regrettable, but so were civilian casualties at Vicksburg and Atlanta. However, on June 25, 1876, the Army completely underestimated the Lakotas and Cheyennes willingness to stand and fight. Custer thought he would be pressing the issue, but instead had the battle dictated to him with catastrophic results for himself and his men. This ",arrogance", was a mindset held not only by Custer, but the entire U.S. Army and they paid for it on June 25.",Son of the Morning Star", was an attempt to present Custer and the Little Big Horn not just as symbols. Another reviewer mentioned ",Little Bigman", as being a more historically accurate potrayal. That is absurd. While ",Little Bigman", is a very entertaining film, it s as unrealistic as the 1941 movie ",They Died with Their Boots On", which starred Errol Flynn. Flynn s Custer was portrayed as the ideal American military hero for a country that was preparing for World War II. In 1970 s ",Little Bigman,", Custer is shown as a symbol of lunatic American imperialism as the country clashed over the Vietnam War. ",Son of the Morning Star", was an attempt to show Custer as a human being without World War II or Vietnam era propaganda. This miniseries does take a lot of dramatic license with its subject, but in comparison to previous efforts on the Custer/Little Big Horn story it s refreshing in its candor.

Not the true Custer - This is a terrible and unaccurate portrayal of one of history s most overblown ",heroes,", George A. Custer. He was a butcher and a madman who did most of his ",Indian fighting", against women and children as the Seventh Calvary rode them down in ambush attacks in their village. Custer was one of the biggest contributers to America s own version of the holocaust which we conviently tend to ignore. Custer is not someone to glorify as this miniseries tries to do on the heels of the Indian freindly ",Dances With Wolves.", This seems to be more of a PR move to appease those appalled at Wolves notion that the U.S. army at the time were less than honorable. Rodney A. Grant from that film (Wind In His Hair) plays exceptionally the role of Crazy Horse, but his screen time is cut embarassingly low. Custer on the otherhand, is played up like a Tall Tale from the western drugstore dime novels. Here he s romanticized as a great guy, but this just ain t so. The novel ",Son of The Morning Star", from which this miniseries is supposedly based, gives a more realistic portrayal of the real Custer. His Indian name translation, ",Son of the Morning Star,", is actually another name for the devil in American Indian lore. Skip this movie and read the book, or ",Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", by Dee Brown. It s an historical chronicle of the destruction of the American Indian. It s difficult to read because it s so shocking and sad, but every American should read it. ",Little Big Man", starring Dustin Hoffman gives a much more accurate version of the Battle of the Little Bighorn and of Custer.

Release this to DVD now!!!! - A very well done production even though two of the main characters were miscast.One of the best Custer films made but with many inaccuracies and typical Hollywood foul-ups.But still, very entertaining.This needs to be released onto DVD uncut and with the making of the movie A.S.A.P.

Well Done! - This is as good a version of the Little Bighorn that has ever been done for film.Gary Cole is very good- although he does not look like a horseman. Unfortunatly, Rosanna Arquette, who plays Libbie Custer the General s wife, seems just to be interested in collecting a paycheck. She is as wooden as it gets. However, I think David Strathairn, a regular of John Sayles films, does an excellent job as Capt. Benteen. Although, the horrendous wig he is outfited with detracts from his performance, he does capture, IMHO, the cranky complainer personality of Benteen very well. (Anyone familiar with the writings of Fred Benteen can tell you he WAS angry with the world.)",Son of the Morning Star", relied on the services of dedicated re-enactors who brought a sense of authenticity to the uniforms and equipment not seen in other Little Bighorn movie re-creations. Unfortunatly, although re-enactors are great at dressing their parts, they don t often look their parts- the 7th Cavarly was not as heavily populated with middle-aged, overweight men as ",Son of the Morning Star", would have you believe.Finally, the outfit Gary Cole is wearing for the Little Big Horn scenes is based on an actual photo. In 1875, a picture was taken of Custer at a picnic near Ft. Lincoln wearing a hat and a white buckskin jacket, which look alot what was depicted in the movie. Of course, we don t know if Custer wore that outfit a year later, but that photo shows that the producers for the movie just didn t make it up. However, the movie s Little Big Horn scenes show Gary Cole with his face shaven and hair immacutely clean, conditioned, and styled. Hardly realistic.

Cole and Arquette miscast in their roles - And the actor who portrayed Benteen was even worse. He had a perpetual scowl and looked truly angry at the world, not just at Custer. Gary Cole looked more suitable to be riding a Harley, zipping around with his mouth agape. Arquette was her usual air-headed self, and did a grave injustice to Libby Custer s memory. Some of the supporting cast was wooden as is the case in some of these biopics, as they seem to be just filling the space of real characters and are usually portrayed with not much personality of their own. As all Custer historians know, everything concerning the movements of the five troops with Custer is purely speculative. After passing the bluffs no one saw them alive and their movements have been the subject of hot debate for many years. The Hollywood version portrayed here is as good as any, and the terrain should look familiar to anyone who has spent time at the Battlefield, as it was filmed a short distance away, showing that rolling, treeless terrain that is easily recognized. Thumbs down to the costume designer who came up with the supposedly buckskin outfit Cole wore. It looked like the bleach bottle got loose in the wash. in truth the troopers were dirty, grimy, and on a day that had temperatures in the 90 s, Custer would surely have not been zipping around in a full, well tailored buckskin outfit.