Themes: Great Battles, Culture Clash, Military Life
Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Arthur Kennedy, Charles Grapewin, Regis Toomey, Gene Lockhart, Stanley Ridges
Release Year: 1941
Country: US
Run Time: 141 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Though history is distorted almost beyond recognition in Warner Bros.' They Died With Their Boots On, audiences in 1941 ate it up like cotton candy. In the gospel according to Warners, General George Armstrong Custer (Errol Flynn) is neither an arrogant fool nor a rabid Indian hater. Instead, he is a flamboyant but brilliant cavalry officer, who during the Civil War defies his superiors' orders and becomes a hero as a result. After a period of forced retirement in the postwar years, Custer is put in charge of the 7th Cavalry in the Dakota Territory. Here he whips this ragtag group into spit-and-polish shape, and also does his best to extend a neighborly hand to the local Indian tribes. Custer even goes so far as to promise Chief Crazy Horse (Anthony Quinn) that the white man will never set foot in the sacred Black Hills. Alas, Custer is betrayed by greedy gold prospectors, whipped into a frenzy by scheming (and fictional) land speculator Ned Sharp (Arthur Kennedy). Forced by circumstances to do battle against Crazy Horse to prevent tribal retaliation, Custer and his command ride towards a rendezvous with destiny at the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876. Though some of the historical inaccuracies in the film are real howlers, blame cannot be laid solely at the feet of Warner Bros.; the Custer legend had previously been perpetrated by the general's loyal widow Elizabeth Bacon (played herein by Olivia de Havilland), then eagerly elaborated upon by Eastern news journalists and dime novels. This film represented the final screen pairing of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, a fact that lends poignancy to their classic parting scene. Though an extremely long film, They Died With Their Boots On is never dull, especially during the spectacular Custer's Last Stand finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Errol Flynn portrays George Armstrong Custer with dash and bravado in this romanticized 1941 epic directed by Raoul Walsh. The film chronicles Custer's life from his West Point days to his death in 1876 at the Little Bighorn River in Montana, then part of the Dakota Territory. Exciting battle scenes, chivalric love, and a spirited Max Steiner music score make the production a thrilling movie experience in spite of the film's numerous historical inaccuracies. The flamboyant Flynn plays the vain, charming, headstrong Custer with the same kind of flair that characterized Flynn's performance as the title character in The Adventures of Robin Hood. Olivia de Havilland, who dazzled audiences as Maid Marian in that 1938 classic, plays Custer's wife Libby in this film with elegance and grace -- and fierce loyalty to her husband. Among the supporting actors, portly Sydney Greenstreet stands out as Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, who celebrates upstart Custer's heroics at the Battle of Gettysburg with an order of stewed onions. The motion picture helped popularize one of the most famous marching songs in history, "Garryowen," a Gaelic word meaning "Garden of Owen." After the government sent Custer to the Dakota Territory to take charge of the Seventh Cavalry, Custer adopted the lively air as the cavalry's own after he heard an Irish soldier singing it. The Battle of Little Bighorn takes place near the end of the film after Crazy Horse (Anthony Quinn), chief of the Oglala Sioux, marshals warriors numbering between 2,500 and 4,000 and annihilates Custer and his 655 men. Though the film is mostly pure Hollywood, it is also mostly pure entertainment -- and one reason why one of the favorite activities of little boys in 1941 was to play "cowboys and Indians." ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
John Hughes - Art Director, Milo Anderson - Costume Designer, Raoul Walsh - Director, William Holmes - Editor, Max Steiner - Composer (Music Score), Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Perc Westmore - Makeup, Bert Glennon - Cinematographer, Robert M. Fellows - Producer, Hal B. Wallis - Producer, Aeneas MacKenzie - Screenwriter, Wally Klein - Screenwriter, Wally Kline - Screenwriter
They Died with Their Boots On is a 1941western film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Despite being rife with historical inaccuracies, the film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, being the last of eight Flynn–de Havilland collaborations.
Like Flynn's earlier film Sea Hawk, this film was digitally colorized in the early 1990s. The colorized version was released on VHS tape, but the colorized version has yet to be released on DVD format.
Custer is portrayed as a fun-loving, dashing figure who chooses honor and glory over money and corruption. Though his "Last Stand" is probably treated as more significant and dramatic than it may have actually been, Custer (Flynn) follows through on his promise to teach his men "to endure and die with their boots on." In the movie's version of Custer's story, a few corrupt white politicians goad the Western tribes into war, threatening the survival of all white settlers in the West. Custer and his men give their lives at Little Bighorn to delay the Indians and prevent this slaughter. A letter left behind by Custer absolves the Indians of all responsibility.
The film, as a fictionalized account of Custer's life, deviates from the historical record in various ways, both in depicting Custer's personal life, his record during the Civil War, and the Battle of Little Bighorn itself.
The commandant at West Point before the Civil War is claimed to be Colonel Philip Sheridan, who was a second lieutenant in the Oregon Territory until March 1861. He never served as superintendent of West Point. In fact, the superintendent of the Military Academy from 1852 to 1855 was Col. Robert E. Lee, and during January 1861, P.G.T. Beauregard, both later Confederate generals.
Among the other historical inaccuracies is that Custer served as a messenger at the First Battle of Bull Run; he did not command troops, and Lt. Gen.Winfield Scott was commander of the United States Army only until November 1861; the film claims he served in this position throughout the war.
"Custer's Last Stand" sequence
Only 16 of the extras were Sioux Indians. The rest of the Native American army were Fillipino extras. Knowing the scene would be dangerous, Anthony Quinn ordered a hearse on the day of shooting as a joke. Two extras did die during the filming of the sequence. One untrained rider died in a fall from his horse, reportedly while drunk.
Music
The score was composed by Max Steiner. He adapted George Armstrong Custer's favorite song, "Garryowen", into the score. Custer first heard the song from Irish soldiers. In the film, he hears it from an English soldier instead. This connection is apocryphal.
In March 2008 a band formed using They Died with Their Boots On as the name [1].
