This 1991 made for television movie, which chronicles the life and times of George Armstrong Custer following the Civil War, is available on video cassette. It was originally shown on one of the networks in two parts. Some critics claim it was television's answer to Dances With Wolves but the same could be said about any well-done film portraying the conflict between the army and the Indians.

The movie was based on Evan S. Connell's best seller Son of the Morning Star and other historical sources. The title comes from the Crow Indian name for Custer, "Son of the morning star who attacks at dawn."

This epic is a very well done account of events leading up to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The story doesn't make Custer the ultimate villain as many movies do but it also doesn't show him as the great American hero that is seen in many of the earlier portrayals of this battle. Instead, it shows him as the ambitious and sometimes egotistical army officer that he really was.

The story is told from the point of view of Custer's wife Elizabeth (Rosanna Arquette) and from the point of view of an Indian maiden whose agency name is Kate Bighead. She is played by Kimberly Norris as the older Kate and by Demina Becker as the younger child. Folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie is the voice of Kate Bighead.

Many recent politically correct movies, probably written by historical revisionists, portray the Indian as the peaceful person who never had any trouble with anyone until the white man came along. These stories say he was happy being the ultimate environmentalist who wanted nothing more out of life than to hunt, fish, and live peacefully with his neighbors. Stories are probably written in this way to assuage a learned or otherwise acquired national guilt. Even though there is some of that in this movie, it works in this case since the Indian side of the story is being told from a Native American point of view.

The story begins with Custer at his post as commander of Fort Riley, Kansas in 1866 and culminates with the famous battle in June of 1876. Gary Cole believably plays Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer but the standout performance is by David Strathairn as Captain Benteen, an army officer who unabashedly shows his disdain for Custer. Sheldon Wolfchild is also excellent as the scout, Bloody Knife.

This is another movie you should add to your collection.

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