The Great Sioux Massacre [Custer Massacre] ** (1965, Joseph Cotten, Darren McGavin, Philip Carey, Julie Sommars, Nancy Kovack) – Classic Movie Review 13,124

‘Blood-Vengeance Clashed With Custer’s Cavalry!’ The competent 1965 Western CinemaScope film The Great Sioux Massacre stars Joseph Cotten, Darren McGavin and Philip Carey. It is interesting as a different take on Custer’s Last Stand.

‘Blood-Vengeance Clashed With Custer’s Cavalry!’

Director Sidney Salkow’s 1965 Western CinemaScope film The Great Sioux Massacre [The Custer Massacre] stars Joseph Cotten, Darren McGavin and Philip Carey, with Julie Sommars and Nancy Kovack.

The story of Colonel Custer’s Last Stand is revealed in flashback at a court-martial, where the tales of drunken Major Reno (Joseph Cotten), his junior Captain Benton (Darren McGavin) and bitter pro-Indian soldier Colonel Custer (Philip Carey) are told. After Custer is forceably retired by the US Army for his views, Senator Blaine (Don Haggerty) tries to involve Custer in a plan to make him US president. The Indian-hating Custer forces Crazy Horse (Iron Eyes Cody) and Chief Sitting Bull (Michael Pate) of the Sioux tribe to react with violence, resulting in Custer’s Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

An interesting tale, from a story by Sidney Salkow and Marvin A Gluck, getting more mileage out of the events leading up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Custer’s Last Stand, is competently produced and performed with some style on screen. It is interesting as a different take on Custer’s motives and retelling of Custer’s Last Stand, but it is a flabby fictionalised rewriting of history with little very special to make it stand out. It claims to be the true story but instead it offers a frustratingly fictional version of Custer’s descent from a defender of Indian rights to a politically-motivated warmonger.

The screenplay by Marvin A Gluck is credited to Fred C Dobbs, the name of Humphrey Bogart’s character in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

The Great Sioux Massacre uses extensive action stock footage from Sitting Bull (1954), also directed by Salkow and also featuring Iron Eyes Cody as Crazy Horse.

Iron Eyes also acts as technical adviser on the film.

Iron Eyes Cody insisted, in his private life as well as publicly, that he was Native American, but after his death in 1999 (aged 94), it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage, and born Espera Oscar de Corti on April 3, 1904.

Iron Eyes Cody also appears in the 1936 film serial Custer’s Last Stand, as Chief Brown Fox.

Louise Serpa, who plays Mrs Turner, was a renowned rodeo photographer

It filmed near Old Tucson, west of Tucson, Arizona, where its action scenes in flat desert conflict with the hilly wooded Mexican landscapes of Sitting Bull (1954).

The cast are Joseph Cotten as Major Marcus Reno, Darren McGavin as Captain Bill Benton, Philip Carey as Colonel George Armstrong Custer, Julie Sommars as Caroline Reno, Nancy Kovack as Libbie Custer, John Matthews as Dakota, Michael Pate as Sitting Bull, Don Haggerty as Senator James Blaine, Frank Ferguson as General Alfred Howe Terry, Stacy Harris as Mr Turner, Iron Eyes Cody as Crazy Horse, House Peters Jr as Reporter, John Napier as Tom Custer, William Tannen as miner, Blair Davies as presiding officer, Louise Serpa as Mrs Turner.

The Great Sioux Massacre [Custer Massacre] is directed by Sidney Salkow, runs 102 minutes, is made by Leon Fromkess – Sam Firks Productions, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Marvin A Gluck (credited Fred C Dobbs), based on a story by Sidney Salkow and Marvin A Gluck (credited Marvin Gluck), is shot in CinemaScope by Irving Lippman, is produced by Leon Fromkess, and is scored by Emil Newman and Edward B Powell.

Release date: June 1, 1965.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,124

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