"They Died With Their Boots On" is a thoroughly optimistic mess of epic battles, romance and racial stereotypes, with an inspired lack of realism and an inordinate amount of onion humor. The movie grinds along, with high-budget battle scenes intermingled with lengthy dialogue about nothing at all. Certainly, if nothing else, I must say the movie is unique.
The movie is loosely based on the life of George Armstrong Custer, famed nineteenth-century general during the Civil War, best known for his final charge at the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand. The movie follows Custer from his initial enrollment at West Point until his death. Despite the movie's title, it is not particularly focused on that final battle - it simply skims over Custer's life in general, picking and choosing (or changing altogether) particular events - namely his time at West Point, his courtship of Elizabeth "Libby" Bacon (Olivia de Havilland), his military career during the Civil War, and of course his climactic demise.
Custer is played with an odd air of bumbling innocence by Errol Flynn, notable mostly for his portrayal of Robin Hood and similar swashbuckling heroes. Custer, is portrayed as a man with a lot of dedication who awkwardly succeeds in virtually every challenge. The movie opens with him riding into West Point in a ridiculous custom-tailored outfit, where he is immediately mistaken for someone of far higher rank, resulting in a rather embarrassing situation that sets the tone for the next half-hour or so of the movie. The bizarre non-humor continues at a steady pace as we see Custer doing terribly at all his classes, finding himself in class rivalries and spontaneous brawls ("I didn't know you could get fired from the army for fighting!" he complains indignantly), yet still managing to get by somehow (the movie doesn't entirely explain this) by his commitment and wit.
The movie skims over his military career, showing brief shots of various battles in the Civil War (all of which look exactly alike) after becoming a general. Following a typical Hollywood pattern of losses and triumphs, Custer is eventually famed for his daring charges and bravery. These battles, of course, are portrayed more as something of a sport than of a open slaughter of dirty, tired men - Custer seems more pleased with himself than mournful of his losses. At one point, General Sheridan casually comments "Oh, Custer, it's you! Good work!" in the midst of what should be carnage.
Finally, after a lengthy and tiring courtship plot in which Custer is married, the movie prepares itself for Custer's Last Stand. After earnestly giving his word to Chief Crazy Horse (Anthony Quinn) to preserve the sacred land of the Sioux in the Black Hills, Custer somehow finds himself fighting to take that land back when a plot by his West Point rival Sharp (actually devised by Custer himself in reality) sends thousands of fortune-seeking prospectors into that land in a gold rush. The final battle itself is a farce; the movie depicts the Battle of the Little Bighorn as a small group of sitting U.S. riflemen warding off hundreds of Sioux horsemen for an astonishing length of time while Custer stands in the middle of them with his guns blazing, essentially a bit of target practice before finally being struck by an arrow and dying dramatically.
"They Died With Their Boots On" is a textbook example of how not to make a historical epic. The movie wildly inaccurate, but it completely mocks the actual events that inspired it; it sees war as a fun and exciting adventure. Even on a purely aesthetic level, it completely lacks any tension as the story trickles past silly characters and sub-plots that add nothing to the film whatsoever. The only real redeeming value is its wealth of unintended humor found in its mediocrity.
The movie is loosely based on the life of George Armstrong Custer, famed nineteenth-century general during the Civil War, best known for his final charge at the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand. The movie follows Custer from his initial enrollment at West Point until his death. Despite the movie's title, it is not particularly focused on that final battle - it simply skims over Custer's life in general, picking and choosing (or changing altogether) particular events - namely his time at West Point, his courtship of Elizabeth "Libby" Bacon (Olivia de Havilland), his military career during the Civil War, and of course his climactic demise.
Custer is played with an odd air of bumbling innocence by Errol Flynn, notable mostly for his portrayal of Robin Hood and similar swashbuckling heroes. Custer, is portrayed as a man with a lot of dedication who awkwardly succeeds in virtually every challenge. The movie opens with him riding into West Point in a ridiculous custom-tailored outfit, where he is immediately mistaken for someone of far higher rank, resulting in a rather embarrassing situation that sets the tone for the next half-hour or so of the movie. The bizarre non-humor continues at a steady pace as we see Custer doing terribly at all his classes, finding himself in class rivalries and spontaneous brawls ("I didn't know you could get fired from the army for fighting!" he complains indignantly), yet still managing to get by somehow (the movie doesn't entirely explain this) by his commitment and wit.
The movie skims over his military career, showing brief shots of various battles in the Civil War (all of which look exactly alike) after becoming a general. Following a typical Hollywood pattern of losses and triumphs, Custer is eventually famed for his daring charges and bravery. These battles, of course, are portrayed more as something of a sport than of a open slaughter of dirty, tired men - Custer seems more pleased with himself than mournful of his losses. At one point, General Sheridan casually comments "Oh, Custer, it's you! Good work!" in the midst of what should be carnage.
Finally, after a lengthy and tiring courtship plot in which Custer is married, the movie prepares itself for Custer's Last Stand. After earnestly giving his word to Chief Crazy Horse (Anthony Quinn) to preserve the sacred land of the Sioux in the Black Hills, Custer somehow finds himself fighting to take that land back when a plot by his West Point rival Sharp (actually devised by Custer himself in reality) sends thousands of fortune-seeking prospectors into that land in a gold rush. The final battle itself is a farce; the movie depicts the Battle of the Little Bighorn as a small group of sitting U.S. riflemen warding off hundreds of Sioux horsemen for an astonishing length of time while Custer stands in the middle of them with his guns blazing, essentially a bit of target practice before finally being struck by an arrow and dying dramatically.
"They Died With Their Boots On" is a textbook example of how not to make a historical epic. The movie wildly inaccurate, but it completely mocks the actual events that inspired it; it sees war as a fun and exciting adventure. Even on a purely aesthetic level, it completely lacks any tension as the story trickles past silly characters and sub-plots that add nothing to the film whatsoever. The only real redeeming value is its wealth of unintended humor found in its mediocrity.