The Great Sioux Massacre
| The Great Sioux Massacre | |
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Original film poster
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| Directed by | Sidney Salkow |
| Produced by | Leon Fromkess |
| Written by | Marvin A. Gluck Sidney Salkow |
| Starring |
Darren McGavin Joseph Cotten Philip Carey |
| Music by |
Emil Newman Edward B. Powell |
| Cinematography | Irving Lippman |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Great Sioux Massacre is a 1965 Revisionist Western film directed by Sidney Salkow in CinemaScope using extensive action sequences from Salkow's 1954 Sitting Bull. In a greatly fictionalised form, it depicts events leading up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Custer's Last Stand.
It stars Joseph Cotten, Philip Carey and Darren McGavin.
The film begins at Board of Inquiry over the Battle of the Little Big Horn; specifically examining the conduct of Major Marcus Reno. Captain Bill Benton (perhaps inspired by Frederick Benteen) is called to the stand, and rather than merely answer questions from the board states that he will tell his version of the "true story" that the audience sees through flashback.
Benton relates his first arrival in the Wild West where his detachment is escorting the wife of the local Indian Agent Mr. Turner. The Indians attack the party and abduct Mrs Turner away from Benton's command. Benton's Army Scout "Dakota" advises against tracking the Indians until the next day due to their laying false trails that lead into ambushes. Dakota and Benton come across a wounded Indian who Dakota shoots so he will not have to starve on an Indian Reservation.
Received by his commanding officer Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, Benton is gently told his first encounter with the enemy has been disastrous but Custer confirms that he did the right thing by following Dakota's advice not to pursue the hostile party. Custer invites Benton to a dress dance held at the fort that evening and dismisses the distraught Mr. Turner by telling him that he will visit the hostile Indians who abducted his wife in the morning.
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Wikipedia