Custer of the West | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert Siodmak |
Written by | Bernard Gordon Julian Zimet |
Produced by | Philip Yordan executive Irving Lerner |
Starring | Robert Shaw Jeffrey Hunter Ty Hardin Mary Ure |
Cinematography | Cecilio Paniagua |
Edited by | Peter Parasheles Maurice Rootes |
Music by | Bernardo Segall |
Production company | Security Pictures |
Distributed by | Cinerama Releasing Corporation |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 141 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4 million [1] |
Box office | $400,000 (US/Canada rentals) [2] |
Custer of the West is a 1967 [3] American epic Western film directed by Robert Siodmak that presents a highly fictionalised version of the life and death of George Armstrong Custer, starring Robert Shaw as Custer, Robert Ryan, Ty Hardin, Jeffrey Hunter, and Mary Ure. It is the first film production from Cinerama Releasing Corporation. The film was shot entirely in Spain. [4]
With no better offers to be had, famous American Civil War upstart officer George Armstrong Custer takes over the Western Cavalry maintaining the peace in the Dakotas. He soon learns that the U.S. treaties are a sham, that Indian lands are being stolen and every excuse for driving them off their hunting grounds is being encouraged. With his wife Elizabeth, Custer goes in and out of favor in Washington while failing to keep wildcatting miners like his own deserting Sergeant Mulligan from running off to prospect for gold in Indian country. After trying to humble the prideful Indian warrior Dull Knife Custer leads the 7th Cavalry into defeat.
In the mid 1960s 20th Century Fox announced plans to make a film about Custer called The Day Custer Fell, directed by Fred Zinnemann, with Robert Shaw among the actors considered to play the title role. It was cancelled on grounds of cost. [1]
Producer Philip Yordan decided to make his own Custer movie and hired Bernard Gordon and Julian Zimet to write a script. According to Zimet, “The original brief was to turn out a typical Western sainted hero martyr script, which Gordon and I duly delivered. But Robert Shaw figured he would make it over to suit himself. Which he did. He turned Custer into a sadist of Shakespearean depth.” [5]
According to Bernard Gordon, "Production stumbled along on Custer as Julian and I tried to give the Indians a fair shake.[ verify ] Robert Shaw was helpful. A bright man and a fine writer, he approved of our point of view of that the Indians were victims right to the end. He even wrote one speech for Custer… that made this point sharply.” [5]
Yordan said he needed a known star (Shaw) and director (Siodmak) to raise the funds to make the movie. [5]
Julian Zimet later elaborated:
Shaw took care of the battle scenes himself. Siodmak preferred directing ballroom scenes, which he had done so often in his long career they required no invention. What he didn’t anticipate, as he choreographed fifty couples, was that the actor—whose intervention was designed to give coherence to the scene—would go crazy, punch him in the chops, and walk off the set. I was already working on another project, but Yordan insisted that I write some lines for a minor actor, which would account for the miscreant’s absence. This would allow the ballroom scene to continue, save having to locate the crazy or drunk actor, and save having to reshoot. While Siodmak kept the dancers in motion, I rehearsed the new actor in his role, and tailors stitched together a bespoke uniform. Within minutes he burst upon the scene, apologised on behalf of the government minister for his absence—due to a crisis in Washington—and announced an impending honour for Custer. It was a weak solution, but it saved a lot of money. That’s show business for you. [5]
The film was originally known as Custer's West. It was one of two big screen epics made by Security Pictures (a company of Louis Dolivet and Philip Yordan) in the Cinerama process, the other being Krakatoa, East of Java . Security borrowed $6 million from the First National Bank to make the films in collaboration with Pacific Theatres. Pacific and Security Pictures gave distribution rights to Cinerama. Cinerama bought out most of the rights of Pacific and Security Pictures then sold 50% of the movie to ABC Films. [6] [7]
Most of the film was shot within 30 miles of Madrid except for the Battle of Little Big Horn which was filmed in Almería near Costa del Sol. [8] [1]
The film met with a largely negative reaction from critics. At Rotten Tomatoes, the film received only a 25% "rotten" rating. It holds average rating of 4.1/10. [9] Many were unimpressed by the attempt to shoehorn two different viewpoints into the same film – the mistreatment of the native Americans by American troops, and the portrayal of Custer as an American hero who was not to blame for the disaster. The general inaccuracies of the film were also questioned, particularly the portrayal of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The film only returned theatrical rentals of $400,000 in the United States and Canada. [2]
Custer of the West was released to VHS by Anchor Bay Entertainment on July 14, 1998 and on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on May 25, 2004, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD.
Robert Siodmak was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of films noir he made in the 1940s, such as The Killers (1946).
Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Beginning his career in theatre, Shaw joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre after the Second World War and appeared in productions of Macbeth, Henry VIII, Cymbeline, and other Shakespeare plays. With the Old Vic company (1951–52), he continued primarily in Shakespearean roles. In 1959 he starred in a West End production of The Long and the Short and the Tall.
Richard Mulligan was an American character actor. He was known for his roles in the sitcoms Soap (1977–1981) and Empty Nest (1988–1995). Mulligan was the winner of two Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe Award (1989). Mulligan was the younger brother of film director Robert Mulligan.
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Battle of the Bulge is a 1965 American widescreen epic war film produced in Spain, directed by Ken Annakin and starring Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and Charles Bronson. The feature was filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 and exhibited in 70 mm Cinerama. Battle of the Bulge had its world premiere on December 16, 1965, the 21st anniversary of the titular battle, at the Pacific Cinerama Dome Theatre in Hollywood, California.
Elizabeth Bacon Custer was an American author and public speaker who was the wife of Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, United States Army. She spent most of their twelve-year marriage in relative proximity to him despite his numerous military campaigns in the American Civil War and subsequent postings on the Great Plains as a commanding officer in the United States Cavalry.
Eileen Mary Ure was a Scottish actress. She was the second Scottish-born actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her role in the 1960 film Sons and Lovers. She was the aunt of musician Midge Ure.
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The Killers is a 1946 American film noir starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, and Sam Levene. Based in part on the 1927 short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, it focuses on an insurance detective's investigation into the execution by two professional killers of a former boxer who was unresistant to his own murder. Directed by Robert Siodmak, it featured an uncredited John Huston and Richard Brooks co-writing the screenplay, which was credited to Anthony Veiller. As in many film noir, it is mostly told in flashback.
Ty Hardin was an American actor best known as the star of the 1958 to 1962 ABC/Warner Bros. Western television series Bronco.
Philip Yordan was an American screenwriter, film producer, novelist and playwright. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee, winning Best Story for Broken Lance (1951).
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Santa Fe Trail is a 1940 American western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn as J. E. B. "Jeb" Stuart, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey as John Brown, Ronald Reagan as George Armstrong Custer and Alan Hale. Written by Robert Buckner, the film is critical of the abolitionist John Brown and his controversial campaign against slavery before the American Civil War. In a subplot, Jeb Stuart and George Armstrong Custer—who are depicted as friends from the same West Point graduating class—compete for the hand of Kit Carson Holliday.
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