THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES: #37. Son of the Morning Star (1991)

                        “Son of the Morning Star” was an epic made-for-TV miniseries (actually a two-part movie) about George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn.  It aired on CBS in two parts.  It was based on Evan S. Connell’s bestseller.  Part of it was filmed on private property near Little Bighorn National Monument.  A fort was built for $200,000.  400 horses and 150 Native Americans were used. 100 re-enactors participated and served as technical advisers.  CBS considered Kevin Costner to play Custer, but decided that he was not a big enough name at the time.  Ironically, “Dances With Wolves” came out a few months ahead of it.  The movie got low ratings, but won Emmys for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Make-up, and Costumes.

                        Spoiler alert:  Custer (Gary Cole) dies in the end.  The movie recognizes that anyone with half an education knows that already and starts (as does Connell’s book) with the aftermath of the defeat.  Capt. Benteen (David Strathairn) sets the theme by stating that “mistakes were made”.  The movie then flashes back to Kansas ten years before the Battle of Little Bighorn.  It is linear from here (unlike the book).  Although it is basically a biopic of Custer, there is an arc for Crazy Horse.  The Custer arc is narrated by Custer’s wife Elizabeth (Patricia Arquette) and Crazy Horse’s is by a Cheyenne named Kate Bighead (narration by Buffy Sainte Marie, role by Kimberly Guerrero). The two women offer the white and Indian perspectives.  The movie hits the high marks of both men’s careers.  Although the movie is based on Connell’s book, it is closer to Stephen Ambrose’s “Crazy Horse and Custer”. 

ACTING:   A                 

ACTION:    A  (7/10)

ACCURACY:  A+           

PLOT:  A                         

REALISM:   A         

CINEMATOGRAPHY:    B

SCORE:   A               

 

SCENE:  the death of Custer

QUOTE:   Custer:  Give me a civilized war!  An enemy I can find and beat!  An enemy that fights by the rules!”

                        “Son of the Morning Star” is by far the best of the many Custer movies.  It is the opposite of “They Died With Their Boots On”.   The history of the cinematic Custer is one that starts with adulation of Custer as a hero killed by savages (e.g., “They Died…”) to Custer as a villainous poster boy for the mistreatment of Native Americans (e.g., “Little Big Man”).  This movie does not shift the pendulum back, but is more even-handed than recent depictions.  The narration offers a debate between the two views of the man.  Elizabeth Bacon Custer’s is laudatory (which reflects her great literary effort to create his public image after his death) and is in line with movies like “They Died…”  Kate’s is the Native American view and reflects movies like “Dances With Wolves”.  For instance, Kate mentions the unverified claim that Custer had an affair with a Cheyenne woman.  That said, it was probably true.  The movie is amazingly accurate, especially when you compare it to the others.

                        The movie is clearly made-for-TV, but the production values are a bit above the average.  The costumes are excellent and the reenactors and Native Americans brought verisimilitude to their roles.  This reminds me of “Gettysburg” which is a similar movie dealing with a famous battle.  Interestingly, there is a connection between the two.  When “Son” tanked, CBS gave up on its “The Killer Angels” project and Ted Turner picked it up.  The cast here does not match “Gettysburg”.  Gary Cole was criticized for his portrayal of Custer, but I found his megalomaniacal Custer to be realistic.  Custer himself was a bad actor who had delusions of grandeur.  Roseanne Arquette could also be faulted for a weak performance, but Elizabeth was his publicist and worshipped him.  The romance is creepy, as it was in reality.  They clearly were in love and had a partnership which both hoped would end up in the White House.  The supporting cast is TV stock.  David Strathairn was coming off “Memphis Belle” and is excellent as Benteen.  The movie gets the Custer – Benteen dynamic right.  Rodney Grant was in “Dances With Wolves” and does a good Crazy Horse, although given the laconic, mystical nature of the man, it did not require much emoting.

                        The movie flows well as each scene is not allowed to linger.  This is partly due to simplified takes on famous incidents like the Fetterman Massacre.  The movie does an admirable job interjecting the political machinations into the narrative.  The true villains of the movie are Sheridan (Dean Stockwell) and Sherman (George Dickerson) as they manipulate the reluctant Pres. Grant (Stanley Anderson).  These political scenes also allow the movie to show the bipolar nature of Custer as he steps on Grant’s toes by criticizing his Indian policy.  The use of narration to introduce the episodes works well.  It is balanced between the two women and the two viewpoints.  A key moment in the movie is when Elizabeth claims 158 warriors were killed in the Battle of the Washita and Kate admits to 11.  The movie makes it clear that most of the Indian deaths were women and children and Custer was far from holding his men back.  It is reminiscent of the scene in “Little Big Man”.    Most of the combat is saved for an extended recreation of the Battle of Little Bighorn and it is worth the wait.  No movie has better covered the battle.  It is excellent at depicting the chaos of the last stand and although it has to pull its punches, the gore is implied efficiently.  The cinematography is good with some well-positioned slo-mo.  It features some excellent stunt work on horseback.  You will definitely be rooting for the Indians by this point and will be able to list the numerous mistakes that were made.  The movie makes it clear that Custer was a charismatic leader, but not a good tactician.  There is no question that Crazy Horse is the hero of the movie and Custer is the villain.  Most historians would agree with that.

                        I do not normally consider Westerns to be war movies.  This is one of the rare ones that I put in the war movie genre, because it is the story of a battle.  I am very familiar with the subject as I have read extensively on the Plains Indians, Custer, and the Battle of Little Bighorn.  This movie is as good as you can expect from a made-for-TV production, especially if you want accuracy.  Not only does it recreate many of the seminal moments in Custer and Crazy Horse’s careers, but there are numerous direct quotes filtered in.  It even throws in details that only fanatics like me would recognize, like the regimental flag ominously falling down the night before the battle.

                        The Battle of Little Big Horn has been the subject of many books and a few movies.  Most of the books have tried to offer an explanation for what happened and most of the movies have filmed the legend of Custer’s Last Stand.  This is the first movie to try to be an accurate biopic.  Custer is a fascinating figure and fits well into the modern style of biopics that were inaugurated with “Patton”.  In othe words, we get Custer, warts and all.  And it’s mostly warts.  What makes the film special is not only the accurate depiction of Custer, but the inclusion of a much better role model in Crazy Horse.  “Son of the Morning Star” is an acclaimed (and highly overrated book), but the movie is better and a better history lesson for those not familiar with this very famous battle.  It’s also a great antidote to the ridiculous movies that came before it.  Hopefully, the 21^st Century will be marked by this movie’s interpretation of Custer, instead of “They Died With Their Boots On.”

THE FIRST OF 12 - Flying Tigers (1943)

 

                “Flying Tigers” was John Wayne’s first war film. It was the first of 12.  As is well known, Wayne did not serve in the military in WWII.  This movie is part of the argument that he better served his country by making “flagwaving” films like this one.  Since it is unlikely that the uniformed Wayne would have killed as many Japanese in reality as compared to the celluloid hero, let’s concede the argument.  The fact that the movie was made in 1943 means that there were technical constraints on the effects and they impacted the script with the requisite propaganda themes.  The movie is meant to be a tribute to the American Volunteer Group (popularly known as the “Flying Tigers”) and leads off with a testimonial by Chiang Kai-shek.  The plot is basically the story of the leader of the unit (Wayne as Jim Gordon) and a hot shot jerk named Woody (John Carroll).  Gordon is the empathetic head pilot who takes in black sheep pilots to shoot down Japanese planes for the saintly (but hickish) Chinese people.  Woody is a wolf who makes no secret that he is in it just for the bounty money given for each kill.  He says “get out your checkbook, General” when he shoots down a Zero.  There is a love triangle involving a nurse named Brook (Anna Lee).  Woody wears out his charming roguishness when he contributes to the downing and subsequent strafing while parachuting death of the beloved exec “Hap” (Phil Kelly).  He does get a chance to redeem himself at the end and the love triangle conundrum is solved via subtraction.

                “Flying Tigers” was a big hit in a country that was craving Japanese ass-kicking.  People had heard of the famous unit already, but if they were hoping for a history lesson they were disappointed.  None of the characters were based on real people.  The only thing the movie gets right is the fact that the pilots were paid a bounty for each kill.  The biggest whopper is having the unit earning those bounties before Pearl Harbor.  In reality, the AVG did not go into action until after Pearl Harbor.  The other departure from reality is in the air combat depicted in the movie.  That can partly be blamed on the available technology.  The effects make heavy use of models (P-40 Warhawks) and footage (including Japanese newsreels to show the effects of bombings).  Although the movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Effects, it looks decidedly quaint.  There are three ways to go in dogfight movies:  the use of models, the use of actual planes to reenact, and the use of CGI.  The use of models can be pulled off if you are making “Star Wars”, but in this case it just looks like models.  Plus models pre-Star Wars often defy the realities of physics and look foolish doing so.  “Flying Tigers” also falls into the Old School of showing dogfights via cockpit shots and machine guns blazing.  Any plane shot at goes down and usually with the bullet ridden body of the pilot on board (unless you want to reenact the dastardly strafing of an American pilot early in the war).

                “Flying Tigers” is patriotic bull shit, but it is not painful to watch.  The acting is good.  Wayne is Wayne, as usual.  Carroll gets the meaty role and digs his teeth into it.  The character is not two-dimensional and although quite a cad, he has some redeeming qualities.  Anna Lee is lovely and can actually act a bit (usually not a requirement in movies like this).  The plot is very predictable, but what do you expect from a 1943 movie?  I could say the same for the dogfighting scenes, but they were done much better by movies pre-1940s

GRADE  =  C

Ambush Bay (1966)

 

                    “Ambush Bay” was a B-movie directed by Ron Winston (usually a TV director).  It was filmed in the Philippines.  Mickey Rooney became ill during the filming and while he was laid up, his wife was killed by her lover in a murder-suicide.

                    The movie is set in the Philippines in October, 1944.  Nine men from a recon team are being sent in to make contact with a spy.  These dudes are serious.  They put camouflage on their faces on the plane.  They wear camo uniforms and have silencers.  One of the nine is a radio operator who is coopted for the mission.  PFC Grenier (James Mitchum) narrates, so we know he is going to survive.  The rest of the nine, don’t bet on them.  The whittling begins almost immediately as their commanding officer (played by Lt. Col. Clement Stadler -  Navy Cross recipient and technical adviser) is killed.  Sgt. Corey (Hugh O’Brian) takes over and leads his crew through the jungle.  Corpses #2 and #3 come from a fire fight with Japanese that have a tank.  #4 dies from a punji trap.  Another fire fight claims #5 and #6.  And #7 is Mickey Rooney.  He dies from a grenade, for the third war movie in a row.  In between all this bloodshed Corey makes contact with the spy (Tisa Chang) in a tea house.  Since there is still some film available, a new mission involving blowing up a mine field is added for a big finish and because Corey is still alive.

                    “Ambush Bay” breaks no new ground in the commando mission subgenre, but it entertained drive-in movie audiences.  However, for a low-rent crowd-pleaser, it is surprisingly downbeat.  Besides the very low survival rate of the crew, the crew leader is not likeable.  Corey is supposed to be a role model, but he is actually a hard-ass bastard.  Grenier is a typical cinematic military whiner.  He and Corey do not get along so we get some dysfunction.  Humor is provided by Mickey Rooney, who is basically playing the same character that he played in “The Secret Invasion”.  His humor does not change the fact that the movie is pretty grim.  The acting is not a detriment.  Mitchum, O’Brian, and Rooney dominate as none of the other soldiers register.  Chang plays an interesting female character.  The combat is above average and the deaths are not melodramatic.

                    “Ambush Bay” is a forgettable “who will survive?” behind the lines action flick.  Although the body count is predictable, it does veer away from tropes a bit.  If you remind yourself it is not a documentary and are just interested in a popcorn (Jiffy Pop would be time appropriate) picture, it will kill some time. 

GRADE  =  C+