Das letzte Gefecht

SITTING BULL is a sluggish western about a cavalry major (DALE ROBERTSON) who is compassionate toward the Indians and must face insubordination for some of his actions against harsh superior officers.

There's a traditional romance thrown into the mix, between a General's daughter (MARY MURPHY) and Robertson, with rival suitor WILLIAM HOPPER as another man interested in Murphy. J. CARROL NAISH is Chief Sitting Bull, who wants peace and refuses to put on his war paint although some members of his tribe are anxious to fight some of the white men's injustices. DOUGLAS KENNEDY is flamboyant and seriously miscast as the yellow-haired General Custer of the 7th Cavalry.

It's handsomely produced in outdoor settings that look authentic, but the stilted dialog is handled indifferently by a lackluster cast of players. DALE ROBERTSON gives a leaden performance in the major role and he doesn't get much help from WILLIAM HOPPER or MARY MURPHY, who in real life, married Robertson after this film. Their chemistry on film fails to register and her motivations throughout are sketchy, to say the least.

A major plot development has President Grant helping Robertson when he is condemned for helping Chief Sitting Bull and there are a few other subplots before we get to the battle at Little Big Horn. Robertson's compassion for the redskins almost lands him in big trouble toward the end, until Chief Sitting Bull intercedes just before he's about to be executed for treason by a firing squad.

Good western should have been much better but is marred by dull performances and uninspired direction of Sidney Salkow. The director unwisely allowed few close-ups of his cast throughout the film, depending solely on medium shots for most of the scenes, probably because he was new at the CinemaScope process. Since most of the cast underacts considerably, this is a real drawback in the more intimate moments.

TCM played this last night. It's cheap and shallow Saturday matinée stuff as the other comments suggest. I noticed two things: the day-for-night shots look good but the director(s) rarely used closeups. Most of the shots are long or waist shots, or two shots.This was an early CinemaScope production and perhaps they were limited by the lenses they had (the lenses were not plentiful at this time, especially to non- Fox producers). "Sitting Bull" was the first independent production to be shot in CinemaScope. This was W. R. Frank's last feature film production; he was a Minneapolis, MN theatre owner. The world premiere was held August 19, 1954 in Sioux Falls, SD. What did the Sioux Falls cinema-goers think of this picture being shot in Mexico?! It opened October 7, 1954 at the State Theatre in Minneapolis and Paramount in St. Paul. Both of the cities' film critics, Will Jones and Bill Diehl, hated the film. Comment cards were handed out at both theatres. A trade magazine item in April 1953 said that Frank had set May 20 as the production's start date, but decided to put it off until July when CinemaScope equipment was available. As early as 1950 actors such as Victor Jory were announced as being signed for this production. Later, names such as Boris Karloff and Dennis Morgan were mentioned in the trade press.

Historians Love to Quibble and Nit-Pick with Hollywood's Treatment of "Real History".

But the "Bottom-Line" is that Most Movies are Made as Entertainment with a Profit Motive.

So Historical "Facts" Aside, as an Entertaining Piece of an Early Cinemascope Film (the first Independent) In the First-Half of the "Decade of the Western",

You Could Do Much Worse than this Nobly Intended Movie about the Sioux Chief "Sitting Bull",

His Constant Battles with "Forked-Tongue" Treaties and the General Inhumane Treatment of Prisoners,

Leading Up to the "Battle of Little Big-Horn" and Custer's Last Stand.

Playing Fast and Loose with some "Facts" is a Consideration to Make the Movie Box-Office Friendly.

But the Film Deserves Credit for Bucking the Trend of "White-Man Wins Called Victory...Indian Wins Called a Massacre" and Taking a Liberal Other-Sided Approach.

In the End it is Not Guilty of Over-Indulging the Re-Writing of History and Shows Respectable Behavior on Both Sides.

The Casting is Weak but the Story and the Epic Battles are Well Staged, Engaging, and Somewhat Informative.

All Things Considered...A Fine Film and Definitely...

Worth a Watch.

The white men spend more time fighting each other than the Indians until eventually they arrive at Little Big Horn in this rather static and talky western in which J. Carrol Naish brings gravitas to the title role and Douglas Kennedy's briefly-seen Custer isn't the usual flamboyant caricature.

No western hero who was in the military ever took more on himself than did Dale Robertson in Sitting Bull. Not even Errol Flynn who buried Confederate gold in violation of orders in Virginia City got himself in as much trouble as did Major than Captain Robertson did here.

This B film from MGM is yet another version of the events of surrounding the Little Big Horn battle where Douglas Kennedy as Custer got himself surrounded and massacred by some angry Sioux Indians. This version does show the Indian side of the events, how badly treated they were on reservations, how the whites once word of gold being discovered in their sacred Black Hills of Dakota territory systematically broke the treaties signed. Yet in fact the film went a bit overboard with presenting the Indian side and took great liberty with the facts.

Dale Robertson's an army major who zealously follows his orders about respecting the Indian rights, to the dismay of former General now Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Robertson's maverick tendencies wouldn't be liked in the army in any event, but his fiancé Mary Murphy who is General John Litel's daughter wants an upwardly mobile career man and Robertson doesn't look like a good bet. For standing on his beliefs Robertson loses her to newspaper reporter William Hopper.

But Dale gets himself in an even bigger jackpot. He's got an agreement with his former commander Ulysses S. Grant who is now president of the United States, the big chief of all the white folks. But when Custer moves prematurely and gets massacred and troops are sent on reprisal, Robertson does a very daring and potentially foolish thing to keep the peace process alive. That's the essence of our story.

Which of course never did happen. Neither did Ulysses S. Grant as played by John Hamilton on hiatus from the Superman series ever come west to negotiate with J. Carrol Naish as Sitting Bull. That's the biggest flaw in this film.

Murphy's character doesn't ring true either. From a woman who makes no bones about her desire for an upwardly mobile man, she does an about face and would make Tammy Wynette proud if Tammy had in fact ever seen Sitting Bull.

The film's heart is the in the right place, but the rest of it is out to lunch.

Though I will say one thing. If what I read is true about Mary Murphy's bout with Montezuma's revenge on location for this movie, she may have given one of the great performances of all time just getting through this film without a hint on screen.