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Custer of the West

Play trailer Poster for Custer of the West G 1968 2h 20m Biography Play Trailer Watchlist
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25% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 32% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Gen. George Armstrong Custer (Robert Shaw) offends politicians and ends up with the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn.

Critics Reviews

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Variety Staff Variety Capable, audience-involving adventure on the visual level which doesn't rise to the epic stature but is content to resume the 'facts' about the Seventh Cavalry without taking a coherent attitude to them. Mar 3, 2008 Full Review Geoff Andrew Time Out It's an ambitious and occasionally stylish work, expertly crafted but let down by a script which doesn't quite decide what angle to take on its controversial protagonist. Feb 9, 2006 Full Review Renata Adler New York Times So much strange cutting and botching went into the job that it is nearly impossible to follow the story and that the moment of Custer's great crisis of some sort is completely impossible to understand. May 9, 2005 Full Review TV Guide This film hints at being a successful epic but is ultimately just a modest biography of Civil War general George Custer. Rated: 2/4 Mar 3, 2008 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews A lumbering biopic on the misunderstood courageous Civil War and Indian fighter General George Armstrong Custer. Rated: C+ Jun 29, 2007 Full Review Chuck O'Leary Fantastica Daily Rated: 3/5 Oct 6, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (22) audience reviews
Blu B Editing & pacing really aren't that good here, and everything else is barely passable. As a western & as a bio pic about Custer it fails at both for a myraid of reasons. No one besides Shaw is that particulary memorable and even he's just alright. The whole movies has a episodic feel to it rather than a cohesive telling of his life or what led up to Little Bighorn. Where it really starts to struggle is around the time of when they catch Robert Ryan's characters deserting and the sliding down the waterslide, and the show him and his wife go to. It all feels completely unconnected to Custer's life, it's repetitive showing how much of a S.O.B. he was, and it just doesn't form a cohesive narrative at all. Other scenes like training the troops at the start drag terribly as well. The Little Bighorn battle was just alright and very underwhelming for sitting through 2 hours to get too. It suprisingly wasn't shot particulary well in a way that built up any suspension and feels like it kind of just comes out of nowhere. Besides learning Custer was a hard ass and a glory hunter there really isn't much else relationship wise that this explores. Also the music is very odd. Sometimes it feels too over the top. Other times it's too loud and bombastic, other times it's too quiet, other times it feels like a spaghetti western, and other times it's very boring and forgettable. There is lots of production value but it just gets wasted on meandering scenes and the direction can be a bit all over the place. More than anything it feels like this is trying to be a Western and a biopic on custer but never in the slightest makes the two work together. Skip This. Disappointing. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/20/24 Full Review Audience Member Custer of the West is absolute fictional Hollywood nonsense, with little or no basis in actual historical events, made only to glorify Custer and to amplify the myths about the Battle of the Little Bighorn. It's satisfying to see that it did terrible at the box office, and only regained 10 percent of its budget. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a truly wonderful film. A genuine escape into the campaign that Custer found himself at the head of. Robert Shaw excellently captures the sense of anachronism that Custer feels about his own place in the world. With care & balance, the film explores the bloodshed of the Westward expansion of the United States. I've watched it my whole life and will continue to do so, a remarkable film too often over looked! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member another re-telling of Custer's life in the west so i guess u could call it a bio-western Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review a.l.jude p A decent effort to depict US history. Very enjoyable, simple as that ! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Sprawling, impressively shot but extremely over long, by about an hour, history revision. Shaw is good in the lead. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Custer of the West

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Gen. George Armstrong Custer (Robert Shaw) offends politicians and ends up with the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn.
Director
Robert Siodmak
Producer
Philip Yordan, Louis Dolivet
Production Co
Cinerama Productions Corp., Security Pictures
Rating
G
Genre
Biography
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 30, 2018
Runtime
2h 20m