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George Armstrong Custer, again

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

The cover of the Feb. 2008 issue of American History blares "George Custer: Hero or Villain?" but the interior story is titled "Custer the Truth behind the Silver Screen Myth" and deals mostly with the movie "They died with their boots on." The last paragraph:

Whoever plays Custer on film in the future will be working the very long shadow cast by Errol Flynn...Both the film and his performance have stood the test of time. Flynn's Custer stands alone as the one to which all other Custer portrayals are compared--no small acting feat.

The Louis Kraft article does not mention that Custer attempted to attack an Indian encampment comprising women and children immediately prior to meeting his demise. Kraft does write Contary to popular belief, Custer respected Indians. Kraft does not mention that Custer's actions in attacking the Indians were directly counter to his orders. In a picture from the movie, Kraft points out inaccuracies, such as the presence of sabers, but doesn't mention that Custer's group of 212 or so were attacked piecemeal, not as the en masse group in the picture.

[Of course, the issue of Spencers vs. Springfields did not come up.]

Full post as published by IPBiz on March 10, 2008 (boomark / email).