Son of the Morning Star (the film)

[Pat Holscher]

Anyone familiar with this? I saw part of this film treatment of the book on tv the other day, but only part of it. The portrayal of Reno was interesting, but I didn't catch that much of the film.

Good, bad, fair, unfair?

[Mike Miller]

I have seen it several times. Mostly a sympathetic view of Custer much of it based upon Libby Custer's book and some Native American accounts. There is a book of the same title that I haven't had time to look at. It is available used online. I believe it is the best portrayal yet of Custer but could be much better. I am far from knowledgeable of the whole Custer ordeal but the film does a fair job of being somewhat balanced and entertaining. Maybe a 6-7 out of 10. I'd be interested if anyone had some good critical observations of the film and or book.

[Pat Holscher]

I have seen it several times. Mostly a sympathetic view of Custer much of it based upon Libby Custer's book and some Native American accounts. There is a book of the same title that I haven't had time to look at. It is available used online. I believe it is the best portrayal yet of Custer but could be much better. I am far from knowledgeable of the whole Custer ordeal but the film does a fair job of being somewhat balanced and entertaining. Maybe a 6-7 out of 10. I'd be interested if anyone had some good critical observations of the film and or book.

I've read the book a couple of times and liked it. It covers a wide expanse of territory, topics and years.

Having said that, not everybody agrees. Utley, in a book written after it, semi criticized it as "sprawling", which is perhaps true, but was part of the charm.

I'm reading Nathaniel Philbeck's new book on this topic presently and I'm enjoying it.

[Mike Miller]

That sounds like a good recommendation. I realized that I don't have a copy so will try and pick one up this week. Thanks.

[Pat Holscher]

That sounds like a good recommendation. I realized that I don't have a copy so will try and pick one up this week. Thanks.

I'd pick up Philbrick's book first, quite frankly. I'm reading it now and it's very illuminating.

[kenrknopp]

At the time of its filming it was considered an excellent representation of the LBH battle as we then understood it. While it was sympathetic to the Indian side of the story I do not think it was so much for Custer. The book was well balanced in its treatment of the personalities but the film....well it was just OK. However, they adapted the authentic story line of the LBH battle pretty close.
I was on the film shooting for three weeks back in 1990. We did all of the battle scenes. Quite alot of fun and adventure. Gary Cole was a lousy Custer. Could not ride a supermarket pony if you put it in low gear and strapped him into the saddle. Flapped his arms like a goose. Once the medics had to ice his balls cause he kept racking them on the saddle pommel. What a hoot! Not very approachable to us low life troopers either. Very aloof. Strahan (?) who played Benteen was nice. The guy who did Reno was a Hollywood hero kind of a jerk. The guys that played Cook and Tom Custer were great. At the time, I was rather well schooled on the LBH and the people involved. Interestingly, it seems many of the actors were such that their own personalities seem to fit the roles of the persons they portrayed. Not sure if that is Life imitating Art or vice versa.
Anyway, the Reno fight scenes in the valley were terrific!! We did a full charge with almost as many mounted men (about 85 as I recall) as Reno had (about 115) that fatal day. You can see them in the movie- very well done. We actually made that charge in a battalion front (all 85 guys) at a full run then coming to a halt, dismounting with horse holders and forming a skirmish line just as Reno did. Pretty cool for us cavalry guys!! Across the valley the Indians charged us from the village just as the Sioux did. These scenes were shot in one continuous scene then also broken up into several minor cut aways but all were shot in one day with lots of action and realism (and some real casualties- some of the Indians fell off their horses). The Custer Hill scenes were shot over several days and pretty interesting unto themselves.
In general, the Indians on the set were good. There were Sioux, Cheyenne, Crow and others bused in from the Reservations. The makeup artist did a phenominal job in accurately portraying the different warrior societies. They were really quite frighteningly real at first. In general we got along with the Indians but the different tribes did not get along amongst each other vey well. There was still alot of bad blood between the different tribes. Drinking was a problem and I understand some fights broke out from time to time. Some of the individual fight scenes in the movie that we as troopers had with the Indians got kinda rough as the Indians seem to really enjoy kicking our white asses. I got beat up, scalped, stripped and counted cou on so many times I cant remember. One Souix fella (his name was George) and I had a running mounted fight in several scenes over several days that got kinda real. Seems he would seek me out to count cou by hitting me with his lance, bow or rifle and I would try to get away or counter his blows. This happened with alot of the guys such that the director would yell "cut" and the fight scenes would just continue on. Finally, he had to give us all a speech to put an end to it.
One day an old Indian woman came on the set to visit. She was in some of the scenes. I found out later that she was a granddaughter of "White Man Runs Him" one of Custer's Scouts.
As I remember our costuming was great. They were sticklers for accuracy. I used James Hutchins book as I recall for buiilding my kit right down to the Andrews hat, prairie belt, original 45/70 carbine etc. etc. Anyway, it was a good movie, great book and a helluva lot of fun.

Ken R Knopp

[Pat Holscher]

One day an old Indian woman came on the set to visit. She was in some of the scenes. I found out later that she was a granddaughter of "White Man Runs Him" one of Custer's Scouts.

I once had a WhiteManRunsHim as a witness in a case. When we deposed him, we traveled to the seat of the Crow government on the reservation to take his deposition, which we did in the high school as it was a convenient government building.

It was a memorable experience as he had a very dry keen sense of humor. After the deposition I couldn't resist asking him if he was related to the famous scout, and he was. I can't recall the generation precisely, but I think he was the g-grandson of the scout. No doubt he was asked that all the time, and he laughed and told me that his other g-grandfather was a bootlegger. I don't know, really, if that was true or just an amusing answer he'd started giving to a frequently asked question.

[horace hockey]

Agree that it seems to sympathize mainly with custer. I liked the movie so much, when I adopted a BLM palimino mustang, I named her Morning Star.