Another retelling of the custer myth. Called a carnival version of the west by some western afficeniados. Filmed in Spain. Starring Robert Shaw and Robery Ryan.
One of my favorites!! I even keep this with my spaghetti collection rather than with my standard American produced westerns. I knew the first time I saw it back in the very early 80s that there was something different about the production that was foreign in nature.
Hard to explain unless you see it but there was something sort of goofy about this. Though I found it to be very entertaining and cinematic, the action scenes are nice and prolonged … pretty violent for a G rated film. Nice dialogue scenes with Lawrence Tierney.
Exellent film, in fact my favorite by legendary director Robert Siodmak (The Killers, Criss Cross). I was fortunate to see this film on the big screen from a good 70mm print and it blew me away. A character study of Custer more than anything else, the intense performance of Robert Shaw could have earned him an Oscar if the film had been a success. Sadly the movie seems to be unpopular with some people, because it’s not historically accurate or they don’t like the portrayal of Custer. All I can say: well, it’s a movie, a work of art, not a history textbook…
A character study of Custer more than anything else, the intense performance of Robert Shaw could have earned him an Oscar if the film had been a success.
I concur.
Robert Shaw, as always, is amazing.
Well, it’s not very historical. The most accurate film I have seen about Custer has to be Son of the Morning Star. I used to really like Custer of the West as a kid but then as I began to read about Custer and the Indian Wars, it became much more difficult to take it seriously. However, I will say that I think Robert Shaw’s performance was absolutely fantastic. If it had have been more like Custer of the West meets Son of the Morning Star, this could have been a real masterpiece. I have to admire the filmmakers for their ambition to make an epic Eurowestern. The style of the film is quite unusual, as well. There’s just something different about it.
By no means perfect, but for some reason I like this movie.
Like you put it: There’s something different about it.
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[quote=“scherpschutter, post:7, topic:1279”]By no means perfect, but for some reason I like this movie.
Like you put it: There’s something different about it.
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The line that always stuck with me was “shoot the bird down, sergeant!” I can remember the first time I came across this movie. I was seven years old and I found it in the western section of this underground video shop. It was a really cool place. There was an upstairs with various collectible items and a back part that was sort of a “junk shop.” Then you’d go downstairs into this basement with walls of old VHS tapes. I can remember that the three films I bought that day were Custer of the West, Dances With Wolves and Stagecoach. 
So, I’ve grown up with this film.
There was such a shop in Antwerp in the 80s and early 90s, when I lived there. They had items for rent and for sale, and if you asked politely, you could also buy those items for sale, vice and versus. I miss those shops today.