this be a wonderful film a a film it get an positive . a a filmed piece of accurate history . one wish to be more loving and but it be a 5 out of 10. and i think i be actually be very charitable . what be he like that man of horse and saber who be the young boy general in the union army of the american civil war and and end die with all his command in the great military victory of the north american indian tribe . opinionated and militant and bumptious and bloody hand and ambitious and clever and too clever and indian foe and indian friend ( . ) and and national hero . his death in 1876 be treat a a national tragedy and push him into a position of fame equal to washington and lincoln and jackson and and grant or lee and and sherman or jackson . it be only with a grow awareness of the mistake make in his career the overly ambitious hot spur and that his reputation decline . yet to this day and george armstrong custer remain the best recalled figure in our history military annals to lose his last battle ( i can not really think of a similar one maybe general jonathan mayhew wainwright and force to stay with his men on the bataan death march but wainwright survive the march and the second world war ) . custer have appear in more film than far good general and due to the western adventure and little big horn . pity that the detail of the real career be never handle so lovingly a raoul walsh and errol flynn handle them in this film . but even in 1941 the legend be still potent . olivia de haviland portray libby custer and who be recently point out in another film review on this thread survive george until 1933 and so her effective handling of the story be still in place eight year later . custer be see a our wayward but brave knight errant and and with the shadow of world war ii loom close we have to keep the myth and bury the truth . john ford would have fully understand this and approve it . so we get the view that he be a hot spur and but he be patriotic . although almost push out of west point by demerit ( which be true ) and custer be in the class of 1861 and and it would have be really stupid to be picky about such a fighter that year . you see and most of the so called military talent from west point ( from robert e. lee down ) be southern and and join the confederacy . the union need every northern point man they could find . custer civil war career should be give closer study he be attach to the staff of general in chief george b. mcclellan and and distinguish himself in the peninsula campaign and other eastern front warfare . but he be a cavalryman and he would rise under the watchful eye of grant and sherman buddy phil sheridan in the latter part of the war . in particular he serve with dash and distinction at the battle of cedar creek and which end the threat of the confederacy in the shenandoah valley . it also hit custer hard on a personal level ( his close west point friend and stephen ramseur and join the confederacy and rise to a position like custer mortally wound and custer sat with ramseur all through the latter last night alive ) . follow the war thing fell apart . he want to make his brevet major generalship permanent ( it wasn not and a it be a battlefield promotion ) . they only have a lt. colonelship to give him in the shrunken army along the frontier . he try to play politics and make the error of support president andrew johnson on a political trip in 1866 and and find most northerner hat johnson a an inept idiot . he supposedly admire the indian ( he certainly be eloquent in writing of them and the west ) and but he cause a genuine military massacre in 1868 of indian woman and child that end with a court martial . later and during the 1870s he would support indian claim against a ring of politician ( that go up to the secretary of war and william belknap ) who buy and sell indian trading post for profit . it ruin belknap and and leave a black eye on the grant administration . it put him into the doghouse with grant and sherman ( who be belknap former commander ) and and sheridan barely save his career . then he be send on the final big horn campaign . and immortality arrive . that career be worth a real film and but would it be too critical . should we hold a man of the 1850s 1876 to the standard of 2007. would we like that do to u in a hundred year . certainly it could happen and but i be not sure we would like it . custer ( 1941 style ) fit flynn like a glove and with his give the close to a dance performance in any of his major film . his final movie with olivia de haviland be underline with a melancholy due to the fate of the hero character . in support actor like sidney greenstreet and stanley ridge and arthur kennedy and anthony quinn do very nicely a friend and foe and or even treacherous sneak ( kennedy ) . a an entertaining piece of myth make it remain high but a a study of a complex military hero it be not what it should be .