Robert Shaw plays George Custer is this version of his rise to fame as an Indian fighter.

Given his choice of assignments by Gen. Sheridan after becoming a hero in the Civil War, Custer demands action.

Which means heading to the Dakotas to push Indians off land the whites want.

With wife Libby (Mary Ure) in tow, he journeys west to find an undisciplined command led by junior officers Maj. Reno (Ty Hardin), who has a fondness for drink, and Capt. Benteen (Jeffrey Hunter), who has a soft spot for the Cheyenne.

Custer whips the 7th Cavalry into shape, then puts down an Indian uprising, which marks his first encounter with the Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife.

But peace is hard to keep, especially when you’re caring for Indians one minute and forcing them off the land you’ve given them the next.

Soon, Custer finds the politics of being a soldier more difficult than the soldiering itself.

Robert Shaw as George Custer, seeking glory in the post-Civil War West in Custer of the West (1967)

Kieron Moore as ChieF Dull Knife surveys what’s left as Custer’s attack at Washita in Custer of the West (1967)

Review:

A fanciful version of the Custer story filmed on an epic scale in Spain.

If you want a historically accurate version of the Custer legend, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Shaw’s Custer has a face-to-face talk with Dull Knife, pleads the Indians’ case with Sheridan and tries to avoid battle at the Little Big Horn.

But this is still a highly entertaining film. And if Mary Ure is a bit bland as Libby Custer, Shaw brings plenty of passion to the lead role.

Bernardo Segall delivers a fine score and director Robert Siodmak uses the Cinerama process to take viewers on carnival rides that don’t have a lot to do with the main lot, but are nonetheless fun to watch.

Shaw and Ure were a couple when this film was made. They’d have four children together and remained married until her death from an accidental overdose in 1975 at age 42. Shaw died of a heart attack in 1978 at age 51.

Jeffrey Hunter as Capt. Benteen at the Little Big Horn in Custer of the West (1967)

Ty Hardin as Marcus Reno at the Little Bighorn in Custer of the West (1967)

Directed by:
Robert Siodmak

Cast:
Robert Shaw … George Custer
Mary Ure … Elizabeth Custer
Ty Hardin … Marcus Reno
Jeffrey Hunter … Capt. Benteen
Lawrence Tierney … Gen. Sheridan
Kieron Moore … Chief Dull Knife
Robert Ryan … Sgt. Patrick Mulligan
Barta Barri … Grand Duke Alexi
Marc Lawrence … Gold miner
Charles Stalnaker … Lt. Howells
Robert Hall … Sgt. Buckley
John Clark … Fort doctor
Luis Rivera .. Indian scout
Also with … Jack Gaskins, Jack Taylor, Bill Christmas, Joe Zboran, Clemence Bettany, Jack Cooper, Carl Rapp, Bud Strait, John Underhill, Dennis Kilbane, Robert Reynolds

Runtime: 146 min.

Mary Ure as Elizabeth Custer welcoming George home from the Civil War in Custer of the West (1967)

Lawrence Tierney as Gen. Sheridan, asking Custer to deliver another victory in Custer of the West (1967)

Memorable lines:

Gen. Sheridan, contemplating Custer’s future: “What happens to a boy general when they don’t need any more generals?”

George Custer: “I want action.”
Gen. Sheridan: “That brings us back to the Indians. They’re on the land and we want it. Plain robbery. You won’t be able to tell yourself you’re fighting for a noble cause. You know, there must be more than a million of them out there. You’d be outnumbered 100 to 1. You’d be fighting against the best light cavalry in the world. And you’d have to chase those devils over the roughest country in the world … You know, Custer, you could become a living legend. Or get yourself killed. Dead men make better legends.”

Custer, after Maj. Reno says he came from a long line of officers: “Major, there’s no law says you can’t drink. But if I find you drunk on duty once, that long line of officers is going to end right here. With you, major.”

Robert Shaw as George Custer and Robert Hall as Sgt. Buckley in Custer of the West (1967)

Robert Shaw as George Custer, reviewing plans for the upcoming Indian campaign with Capt. Benteen (Jeffrey Hunter) in Custer of the West (1967)

Custer: “Last month, we had orders to give the Cheyenne rifles so they could go hunting. Now you’re telling me to kill ‘me because they’ve gone hunting’.”

Custer to Gen. Sheridan, after he’s been given orders to protect the railroad: “I wish you’d tell me how to surround 10 Indians with one soldier.”
Gen. Sheridan: “I’m counting on Custer’s luck.”

Custer as his troops triumph at Washita River: “Send a dispatch to General Sheridan. Despite overwhelming odds, a great victory was won here today. Factors contributing to our success were: One, the Indians were asleep. Two, the women and children offered little resistance. Three, the Indians are bewildered by our change of policy.”

Robert Ryan as Sgt. Patrick Mulligan, caught prospecting instead of soldiering in Custer of the West (1967)

Robert Hall as Sgt. Buckley, proving he can match Custer’s stamina in Custer of the West (1967)

Custer to Dull Knife: “The fact that we seem to be pushing you clear off the earth is not my responsibility. The problem is exactly the same as when you Cheyenne decided to take another tribe’s hunting ground. You didn’t ask them about their rights. You didn’t care if they’d be there a thousand years. You just had more men and more horses. You destroyed them in battle. You took what you wanted. And right or wrong, for better or worse, that is the way things seem to get done. That’s history. I’m talking about history. You are a militarily defeated people. You are paying the price for being backward. And whatever my personal feelings — and I don’t say I have any — there’s nothing I can do to change all this.”

Mulligan to Custer: “You’ve got no feelings, general. There’s just an empty place inside. A hole, stuffed with rubbish — the flag, the regiment, duty.”

Major Reno, during the march to the Little Bighorn: “General, why do you want to get there first?’
Custer: “Because first is first and second is nobody.”

Dull Knife: “Today is a good day for fighting.”