You get him fighting and there isn’t anything he won’t do. George Custer (Errol Flynn) gets into trouble on arrival at West Point and when the Civil War breaks out he is at the bottom of the class but he is beloved by all his colleagues bar Ned Sharp (Arthur Kennedy). He falls in love with Libbie Bacon (Olivia de Havilland) and becomes acquainted with General Winfield Scott (Sydney Greenstreet) who places him in the 2nd US Cavalry where he performs heroic deeds after disobeying orders. Then a mistake in orders has him made a Brigadier General and he commands the Michigan Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg. He is more or less retired and drinks too much. Now his wife, Libbie petitions Scott to have Custer placed back in action and he is sent to the Dakota Territories where he is confronted by the Lakota tribe led by Crazy Horse (Anthony Quinn). He gives his word that they will keep the Black Hills, their sacred home, but finds Sharp running the fort’s trading post and saloon and plotting with business men to start a gold rush that will bring fabulous wealth to an elite. When Custer finds out, he is court martialled … I don’t want a medal. I just want a beef steak and a bottle of bourbon. One of the greatest films of classical Hollywood, this plays fast and loose with history but somehow the smart writing gets to the essence of the story – this is one of the wittiest, most exuberant films, with Flynn at his most beautiful, all flash, dash and flamboyance as the man who sympathises with Crazy Horse and the cause of the only real Americans in the vicinity. His meet cute with de Havilland is for the ages and the inscribing of every stage of their relationship is beautifully achieved by writers Lenore Coffee, Aeneas Mackenzie and Wally Kline. The screenplay is supreme – there isn’t a wasted witticism or action, every scene cleaves to the driving forward of Custer’s character which climaxes at Little Big Horn. And what a characterisation by Flynn – you can’t take your eyes off him, whether in his garish cadet’s gear, climbing up onto the porch of de Havilland’s house to woo her despite having insulted her father, or leading the loyal troops who would follow him anywhere. This is funny, smart and moving. It may not be accurate but it is true. Simply sensational. Directed by the legendary Raoul Walsh. There’s something about that fellow I like
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