¨Son of the morning star¨ deals with the exciting life of George Armstrong Custer that comes alive in this made for television movie formed by 2 episodes in an above average mini-series . The story of the stubborn George Custer (Gary Cole) , Crazy Horse and the events prior to the battle of the Little Bighorn (1876) , told from the diverse perspectives of two women , both , the Custer's wife , Libby (Rosanna Arquette) , and a young Indian . And following a parallel as well as opposite story of the life of Native American inspirational hero Crazy Horse (Rodney A. Grant) . This is a pretty good movie , and it calls out for being one of the more accurate films based on this famous role . In addition , appearing known historical characters as President Ulysses S. Grant/Stanley Anderson , General Sherman/George Dickerson , Gen. Philip Sheridan/Dean Stockwell and Indians as Crazy Horse/Rodney A. Grant , Sitting Bull/Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman and Red Cloud/Nick Ramus .This moving mini-series blends impressive battles , good action scenes , shootouts , go riding , politics , stirring Indian charges and many other things . The film centers about the vain , obstinate , and ambitious general Custer and wife , though takes liberties with historical facts . Headstrong George Armstrong Custer's complex characterization with an unusual point of view is well performed by Gary Cole who gives a nice embodiment of this Western hero . Opposing points of view on the same events by narrators speaking from different perspectives . And developing really two lives that will intertwine and culminate with the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 1876 where Custer was exterminated with his entire command . Exciting final confrontation between Custer army and Indians is spellbound and breathtaking . The motion picture will appeal to biopic enthusiasts and Indian/cavalry western buffs. The film is a fiction , but based on real events . George Armstrong Custer's career begins when is graduated in the known Military Academy of West Point and after that , he intervened in American Civil War where detaches in battle of Gettysburg . General Sheridan assigns him the command a regiment at Fort Abraham Lincoln . As it follows his Post-Civil War career (1866-1876) on the Great Plains and a recreation of the known ¨Fetterman massacre¨ . In 1869 Custer and his 7th Cavalry carried out the ¨massacre of River Washita¨ where one hundred Indians and their chief Black Kettle were murdered . Problems enhanced when the Commissioner of Indian Affairs directed all Sioux bands to enter reservations by the end of January 1876 or be declared hostile . Many bands of Sioux did not meet this deadline and were attacked by US troops . Crazy Horse and his Oglala people moved north to join forces with Sitting Bull , by the spring of 1876 some 3000 Teton Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors had assembled at Sitting Bull's camp in the valley of the Little Big Horn in Montana . On 25 June 1876 Crazy Horse and other war chiefs led the allied warriors against General Custer and his seventh Cavalry , Custer and all the man under his direct command were killed . This victory , however , brought relentless retaliation from the army and Sioux were scattered . Sitting Bull and his followers fled to Canada and stayed there until July 1881 , when he returned to the US and surrendered at Fort Buford , Montana . After he was placed on a South Dakota reservation , though for a year Sitting Bull went a tour with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and continued to regard himself as chief of his people . Crazy Horse was also detained and subsequently murdered . Finally , Indians were really slaughtered at the ¨Wounded Knee massacre¨. Other adaptations about this historic character culminating in the thrilling battle of ¨Little Big Horn¨ are the followings : the best ¨They died with the boots on (1941) ¨ with Errol Flynn and directed by Raoul Walsh ; ¨Santa Fe trail¨ by Michael Curtiz with Ronald Reagan as Custer ; ¨Great massacre Sioux¨ by Sidney Salkow with Philip Carey as Custer and Iron Eyes Cody as Crazy Horse ; ¨Little Big Man¨ by Arthur Penn with Richard Mulligan as Custer ; ¨Custer of the west¨ by Robert Siodmak with Robert Shaw , Mary Ure and this TV miniseries by Mike Robe with Gary Cole.

Great acting, well directed and edited,accurate in the history...would recommend this unreservedly. The American government's crimes against the indigenous people are pretty well-known by now, and they are not unmentioned in this story. However,the attention is mostly on Custer's personality--his narcissism and ambition. He was, after all, a very interesting American type: convinced that he will succeed simply because he has the will. He was dashing and romantic and daring and completely foolhardy---all well-known and appreciated (or unappreciated) at the time. Gary Cole does a great job conveying the complexities of the man. Rosanna Arquette is instrumental in conveying his humanity. The story is Shakespearean tragedy at its best, and this production does full justice to that quality.

Taking this movie for what it is, a movie about an historical event, it's pretty good. The scenes, settings, and dialogue all work towards looking and portraying the events documented in history. Because it's a movie, it is more of a play about real events. The music is the most disruptive and annoying part. It heavily detracts from watching the story. The dialogue is spoken as actors would speak it, with drama, rather than the conversational tone it was surely truly spoken as. The Indians, many of them, are fat, way too unbelievable for people who lived off the land, and Crazy Horse, while thin and muscular most likely didn't have the six pack of someone who works out, but maybe he did. Most disappointing is the portrayal of Captain Benteen, who, according to the movie, callously refuses to go to Custer's aid. I think in truth he didn't know Custer's location or true predicament. Though no love was lost between the two real men, Benteen was a brave soldier who would have come to the aid of other 7th Calvary soldiers. That said, it's a good reenactment movie with real or real looking historical sets, and I love the replacing of the famous Custer picture with Gary Cole as Custer in one of the closing shots. I believe that Custer, as a personality, was more likely a self-centered quarterback type, instead of the pretty boy he's played as. He sounds like he as a pretty ruthless killer, not very Errol Flynnish.

I actually just bought this movie(ebay) for a significant amount. Not because I really thought it was that good, but because I`m totally hung up on the history of native Americans, and especially obsessed with the battle of Little Big Horn. In that respect I was NOT disappointed by this movie.The climactic battle scene was actually very satisfying to me, because i was afraid it would a long wait for nothing. I was eager to see if they had managed to bring the great battle to a realistic scale (3000 thousand warriors, enormous Sioux camp). I was almost completely convinced. Both the choreography and the attention to historical details was flawless! All in all a must for "indians`/western fans" but also watchable for people interested in historical/war dramas. When that is said, this is after all a TV-production, and my review must be seen in that context. 7/10