A cavalry officer sympathetic to the wronged Sioux fixes a meeting between Chief Sitting Bull and President Grant but a dishonest Indian Agent and a hateful General Custer test the Sioux's p... Read allA cavalry officer sympathetic to the wronged Sioux fixes a meeting between Chief Sitting Bull and President Grant but a dishonest Indian Agent and a hateful General Custer test the Sioux's patience, threatening to derail the peace-talks.A cavalry officer sympathetic to the wronged Sioux fixes a meeting between Chief Sitting Bull and President Grant but a dishonest Indian Agent and a hateful General Custer test the Sioux's patience, threatening to derail the peace-talks.
- Charles Wentworth
- (as Bill Hopper)
- Webber - Indian Agent
- (as Tom Brown Henry)
- White Cloud
- (uncredited)
- Trooper Foster
- (uncredited)
- Young Buffalo
- (uncredited)
- Trooper
- (uncredited)
- Capt. Swain
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was shot outside of Mexico City, and star Mary Murphy caught "Montezuma's Revenge" and was very ill throughout the six-week shoot. Most of her scenes are relatively brief, possibly because of this.
- GoofsIn many of the scenes the women are obviously men.
- Quotes
Sitting Bull: I have wanted peace. I have prayed for peace. There have been battles. But when the white soldiers win a battle, they call it victory. When the Indians win, they call it massacre.
- Crazy creditsDuring the opening titles, the film's 'Technical Advisor and Indian Costumes' is credited to 'Iron Eyes Cody' who is also parenthetically credited as being a '(Famous T.V. Star)'.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Great Sioux Massacre (1965)
- SoundtracksGreat Spirit
Music and Lyrics by Max Rich
This B film from MGM is yet another version of the events of surrounding the Little Big Horn battle where Douglas Kennedy as Custer got himself surrounded and massacred by some angry Sioux Indians. This version does show the Indian side of the events, how badly treated they were on reservations, how the whites once word of gold being discovered in their sacred Black Hills of Dakota territory systematically broke the treaties signed. Yet in fact the film went a bit overboard with presenting the Indian side and took great liberty with the facts.
Dale Robertson's an army major who zealously follows his orders about respecting the Indian rights, to the dismay of former General now Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Robertson's maverick tendencies wouldn't be liked in the army in any event, but his fiancé Mary Murphy who is General John Litel's daughter wants an upwardly mobile career man and Robertson doesn't look like a good bet. For standing on his beliefs Robertson loses her to newspaper reporter William Hopper.
But Dale gets himself in an even bigger jackpot. He's got an agreement with his former commander Ulysses S. Grant who is now president of the United States, the big chief of all the white folks. But when Custer moves prematurely and gets massacred and troops are sent on reprisal, Robertson does a very daring and potentially foolish thing to keep the peace process alive. That's the essence of our story.
Which of course never did happen. Neither did Ulysses S. Grant as played by John Hamilton on hiatus from the Superman series ever come west to negotiate with J. Carrol Naish as Sitting Bull. That's the biggest flaw in this film.
Murphy's character doesn't ring true either. From a woman who makes no bones about her desire for an upwardly mobile man, she does an about face and would make Tammy Wynette proud if Tammy had in fact ever seen Sitting Bull.
The film's heart is the in the right place, but the rest of it is out to lunch.
Though I will say one thing. If what I read is true about Mary Murphy's bout with Montezuma's revenge on location for this movie, she may have given one of the great performances of all time just getting through this film without a hint on screen.
- bkoganbing
- Feb 19, 2009
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,500,000
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.55 : 1