Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

HotToastyRag They Died with Their Boots On is a biopic about the famed General Custer, but if you're wondering how one battle can fill out an entire movie, you're in for a treat. The vast majority of the movie is about his early life. Turns out, Custer was a little scoundrel in his West Point days, holding the record of lowest grades and most broken rules and punishments. In-between losing his temper, disobeying his superiors, and picking fights with everyone, he also falls in love with Olivia de Havilland-in case you hadn't guessed, Errol Flynn plays Custer. I have no idea how historically accurate this movie is, but there are little details that, if true, are very funny. Errol has a penchant for eating raw onions, and while Olivia hates the very smell of them, when he comes calling, she joins him in an appetizer, suffering for true love. Speaking of suffering, Olivia's maid is played by Hattie McDaniel, and it's pretty amusing to watch their scenes together. Two years earlier they were in Gone with the Wind together, and Hattie beat Olivia out of an Oscar she very much felt she should have won. In They Died with Their Boots On, Olivia looks at Hattie like she absolutely hates her! I wonder why she couldn't just cover her real feelings and act nice when the camera was rolling.Errol Flynn is wonderful, as always, owning the screen with his magnetic, strong, vibrant, masculine presence. He's a born hero, as proved by his many famous film roles, and it's no effort to convincingly play a larger-than-life figure like General Custer. If you like Errol, or Errol and Olivia together, rent this epic for your next movie night. It's a very well done classic, and while some of the interactions and battle scenes with the Native Americans-keep an eye out for a very young Anthony Quinn-will be a little upsetting, it's still a good quality film with high production values. Plus there's quite a large supporting cast, including Arthur Kennedy, Gene Lockhart, Sydney Greenstreet, and Regis Toomey.

weezeralfalfa The last of several B&W cavalry films starring Flynn, and the only one not directed by Michael Curtiz, whom Flynn hated. Also, the first and most remembered Flynn-starring film directed by the equally famous Raoul Walsh, who would direct or codirect nearly all of Flynn's WWII-related films and several of his remaining westerns during the '40s. Also, the last of 8 pairings of Flynn with Olivia De Havilland as the leading lady(wife Libby). Olivia has a greater presence in this film than in most, despite the emphasis upon Custer's military events. In a cleverly comedic incident, she has good reason to initially view Flynn's character very negatively, but quickly changes her attitude when offered a reasonable explanation. The initial animosity between Libby's father and Custer is faithfully dramatized in a series of often humorous scenes during their courtship, sometimes including their maid, charismatically played by Hattie McDaniel.Flynn, of course, was perfect for the role of the brash, loose cannon, side of Custer, as well as his more serious side. The early part of the film, dealing with Custer's less than stellar record at West Point, memorably burlesques Custer's penchant for fancy dress and irreverence toward authority and tradition: modeling himself on Napoleon's flamboyant cavalry leader Joachim Murat. Rather reminds us of Flynn's portrayal of Robin Hood, complete with occasionally being the victim, rather than the perpetrator, of pranks, in a very memorable incident. The W.P. brass comment that they can't remember a cadet as unpromising in academics and discipline since Ulysses Grant: a pregnant point of irony.In view of his ignominious record at West Point, the film dramatizes the difficulties and luck involved in getting his desired appointment as a cavalry officer in the Civil War. It then dramatizes his brash disobedience of orders and reckless charges in several situations, that luckily led to positive results that overrode court marshaling considerations. His several charges at or near Gettysburg are reminiscent of that in the previous "The Charge of the Light Brigade". Custer's courtship of Libby provides an often humorous interlude during this segment.Since NAs, who were Custer's later foes in battle, couldn't be faulted for defending their sacred homeland and way of life, the script needed a fictional white villain as Custer's periodic foe, rather similar to Van Helflin's character in the previous "Santa Fe Trail". This appears in the form of the Sharp father and especially son, who are overcharging frontier army personnel for supplies and refreshments, selling firearms to the NAs, and later spread a 'false' rumor of a gold discovery in the sacred Black Hills, to encourage flocks of gold seekers they can sell supplies to at inflated prices. The younger Sharp eventually suffers poetic justice when he is kidnapped by Custer, and essentially forced to take part in 'Custer's Last Stand': bizarre fiction! Historically, Custer was instrumental in blowing open this scandal, presented at the end of the film as a fitting posthumous victory for Custer. As dramatized, during this period, Grant looked upon Custer as a thorn in his side, not only for implicating his brother-in-law in this scandal, but for criticizing his overall 'Indian' policy. However, I find it nauseating that Custer is painted as having pro-NA sympathies. His copied, if controversial, innovation of using NA women and children as shields in the Battle(massacre?) of Washita River is skipped. Also unforgivable is his bizarre claim that the report of a gold discovery in the Black Hills is a false rumor. Historically, it was a scouting expedition lead by Custer that confirmed rumors of some gold in the Black Hills! The US government lacked the muscle or desire to keep prospectors out of this treatied 'Indian' lands, hence decided that the only solution was to make the NAs move to a far off reservation. Also, Custer is falsely presented as assuming that his command would be wiped out by an overwhelming NA force at the Little Big Horn, thus making them a sacrificial lamb to the greedy traders and gold seekers. Prior to this incident, Custer was unduly lucky in surviving all of his cavalry charges and other battles.In addition to Flynn and Olivia, we have several very recognizable character actors in support. Tony Quinn, as chief Crazy Horse, was still treated as a supporting actor at this time. His speeches are typical Hollywood 'Indian -pidgin'. Of course, Crazy Horse never had a parley with Custer, as dramatized, and didn't personally kill Custer...Always charismatic 'old codger' Charlie Grapewin adds some needed humor to the second half, as a crazed old loner pioneer. His appearances in "The Good Earth", "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Tobacco Road" also stand out in my mind... The very familiar Gene Lockhart plays Olivia's father. ..Noted cavalry leader Phil Sheridan, who was periodically important in Custer's career, pops up periodically. But, he certainly wasn't the West Point commander! Old General Winfield Scott also is presented as an important, if often unsure, promoter of Custer's career.In all, a captivating , historically relevant, Flynn vehicle, with historical accuracy a distant second consideration to making his character appear to die for heroic reasons rather than brash overconfident stupidity.

atlasmb They Died with Their Boots On was released soon after the U.S. entered WWII when patriotism was at a fever pitch. Any audience watching the film at that time would, no doubt, have cheered any character who went into battle with the U.S. flag. And this film certainly knows how to raise the American banner over all the highest principles--truth, honor, and bravery.But it is easy now, from our vantage point, to delve deeper into the "truths" of this film. Despite the rousing performances of some very talented actors, TDWTBO is a film that diverges so greatly--and so purposefully--from truth that is must be decried as little more than propaganda.We often forgive diversions from historical facts when we view a film. But a film must remain true to the spirit of the truth. In this film, I thought the spirit of the truth was honored its early scenes, through the end of the Civil War. After that, the facts were so distorted and contradicted that there is little resemblance to reality. In fact, Custer's role is elevated to a heroic level despite the fact that the real Custer was a prime agent in some of the worst actions of the Black Hills conflicts.If one reads about Custer's campaigns against the Indians and the happenings in the latter years of his life, he does not emerge so nobly. TDWTBO sacrifices the honor of others to glorify Custer, which is too bad. The real story would have been just as compelling--just not as faithful to the Hollywood mythology of the treacherous savage vs. the dashing cowboy/pioneer.

James Hitchcock There are certain similarities between "They Died with Their Boots On" and "Jesse James", another Western from two years earlier. Both films are loosely based on the life of a legendary hero of the Old West, in this case General Custer. (At least, the films treat their subjects as heroes; whether either man really deserves the name of hero is another matter). Both feature a famously handsome and dashing star in the leading role. Both are notorious for their historical inaccuracy and gloss over many aspects of their subjects' lives, especially their character flaws. And in both films the main villains are the representatives of a corrupt railroad company; during the era of the "New Deal" Hollywood seems to have been more critical of Big Business than it was to become after the war. So what does this film get right? Well, Custer did attend the West Point Military Academy where he achieved an undesirable reputation for pranks, unruliness and low academic standards. He did indeed marry a girl named Elizabeth "Libby" Bacon. He did indeed serve with distinction in the American Civil War and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, although it is doubtful whether he really did win the Battle of Gettysburg single-handed as implied here. And, as every schoolboy knows, he died in 1876 fighting a coalition of Native American tribes at the battle of the Little Big Horn, an action which has gone down in history as "Custer's Last Stand". So what does this film get wrong? The answer is "virtually everything else". There is far too little space here for a comprehensive list of its goofs. Some of these are only minor details. Custer's father-in-law, for example, had the Christian name Daniel, not "Samuel" as shown here. Custer first met Libby during the Civil War, not during his West Point days. He was never decorated in the Civil War, and General Phillip Sheridan never served as Commandant of West Point. (In 1857 he would have been on active service in the Pacific North-West). Nor is there any evidence to suggest (as the film does) that Custer's promotion to General was due to a bureaucratic error. More seriously, the film's account of the causes of the Great Sioux War of 1876 is completely fictional. According to the film, the war started when a crooked railroad company, backed by corrupt politicians, started a false rumour of gold strikes in the Black Hills of South Dakota, sacred territory to the Sioux nation, hoping to make a huge profit in the ensuing gold rush. (In reality, reports that gold had been found in the Black Hills were entirely correct). This plot line was probably inserted to allow Custer to be portrayed as a hero without making the Indians the villains. Hollywood producers of the 1940 were not generally noted for political correctness, but even they probably realised that the Great Sioux War had not been the noblest episode in American history and that the Indians had indeed been the victims of white greed and aggression, if not quite in the manner depicted here. And yet, despite its many inaccuracies, "They Died with Their Boots On" is quite an enjoyable movie. Errol Flynn had a limited compass as an actor, but within that range he could be very good indeed, and few were better than he at portraying a dashing, swashbuckling hero. Custer- or at least the Custer portrayed in this film- was a role just made for him. During the early part of his career Flynn and Olivia de Havilland were one of the cinema's best-known on-screen couples. (Off-screen, despite Flynn's reputation as a Casanova, there was never any romance between them). This was the eighth film in which they appeared together, and was to be their last. Although the lovely Olivia as Libby makes an effective foil to Flynn's dashing hero, she had some to a stage in her career where, following her great performance in "Gone with the Wind", she had ambitions to be more than just a foil to her leading men. The portrait of Custer given in this film is highly idealised. He is portrayed throughout as "America's Golden Cavalier", courageous, honourable and dashing. His "last stand" is shown as a gallant, self- sacrificing rearguard action designed to buy vital time for the US Army, although in reality many historians have criticised his leadership at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, attributing the defeat of the US Cavalry to his strategic errors, his arrogance and impetuousness and his underestimating of his enemy. The film, however, was made shortly before the American entry into World War II, and its advocacy of bravery, military glory and heroic self-sacrifice were doubtless intended to prepare the country for the coming conflict. I doubt if many of those who saw the film in 1941 were history buffs intent on picking it apart for factual errors. What the audiences of those times wanted was a stirring tale of adventure, heroism and patriotism, and that was something which "They Died with Their Boots On" gave them in spades. Like "Jesse James" the film might not show its hero as he was in real life, but it certainly shows him as people preferred to remember him. 7/10