You won't be disappointed!

Simply A Masterpiece

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

As Good As It Gets

The story of how General George Armstrong Custer led his troops to their deaths at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 is a textbook example of military megalomania writ large in American history, and clearly a story ripe for a budding writer, which is what Sam Peckinpah was in the 1950s, when, at the request of the production team of Arthur Gardner, Jules Levin, and Arnold Laven (for whom he would create the legendary TV western series "The Rifleman"), he was commissioned to write the screenplay for Hoffman Birney's novel "The Dice Of God", loosely based on the Custer story, and which was to become the basis for THE GLORY GUYS. But by the time the story went behind the cameras in mid-1964, Peckinpah, due to the fury that he had caused in Hollywood with the extreme production conflicts on MAJOR DUNDEE, was about to be virtually blackballed from Hollywood. And while the end result is nowhere near a terrible product, one has to wonder just how much further this film would have gone had Peckinpah been given the opportunity to direct his own script, which he in fact never did, contrary to what has been reported here at the Internet Movie Database (I for one would like to see corroborating evidence of that claim that he directed even a small part of it).Even in the finished film, there are themes Peckinpah had broached upon that are still there--the conflict between two men (Harve Presnell; Tom Tryon) and their commanding officer, a steely-eyed, almost dictatorial Cavalry commander (Andrew Duggan) out to put the Sioux in their place. As this kind of scenario had loosely played itself out in MAJOR DUNDEE, however, Laven, who directed the film, seemed to shift the film away from this critical look at personal and military obsession to the love triangle between Tryon, Presnell, and a pioneer woman (Senta Berger, returning from MAJOR DUNDEE) at their fort. It was a point that Peckinpah strongly (and unsurprisingly) found highly disagreeable, since his focus was on the near-fundamentalist behavior of Duggan's character. In the meantime, Laven does stage plenty of good action scenes, including the attack on the Sioux, but they don't have the kind of raw (let alone bloody) energy that Peckinpah would have bought to them, and the editing of these scenes, while more than competent, isn't quite up to what was even done in the action scenes of the unfairly butchered DUNDEE.Still, it's hard to say too many bad things about a film that is still as far removed from the old John Ford/John Wayne cavalry films as MAJOR DUNDEE had been; and Tryon and Presnell are extremely competent in their roles (though rumor has it that Lee Marvin and James Coburn were both considered first, before salary conflicts forced Laven to settle for the other two). There are also early roles for James Caan as an Irish-born cavalryman; and Wayne Rogers, later to star in the long-running TV series M*A*S*H, as another cavalry officer. Slim Pickens, who is never anything less than memorable, also does a good turn as one of the members of the cavalry. Perhaps the best thing about THE GLORY GUYS, besides those moments when the film lays Duggan's military megalomania bare, is the superb cinematography, most of it done on location near Durango, Mexico, of James Wong Howe, who had won an Oscar in 1963 for HUD.All in all, THE GLORY GUYS does hold up as an extremely competent film. But it still leaves one to wonder just how much further up the ladder of quality sagebrush film making it would have gone had Peckinpah been the one in the director's chair, as opposed to the more workmanlike direction of Laven. One can, unfortunately, only speculate.

From the original script of director Sam Peckinpah, who first penned this rousing western tale of Calvary vs Indians arises this movie called " The Glory Guys ". Contrary to other films of the genre, this film allows the Native Americas to win an occasional battle. But other credits supplement it as well. The beautiful outdoors, the exciting bar-room brawl and the spacious land conflict called for by a good script. Within the story of myopic Gen. Frederick McCabe (Andrew Duggan) who seeks a glorious victory over the southwestern tribes at any price, is an inner one dealing with two men Capt. Demas Harrod (Tom Tyron) and Chief of Scouts Sol Rogers, (Harve Presnell) who love the same lovely woman named Louisa Woddard (Senta Berger). Although rivals, they bear a mutual respect for each other. Demas is an experienced officer carrying a bitter grudge against General McCabe who sacrifices his men without compunction. His main concern are his raw recruits who he feels deserve better than to be sacrificial fodder for the general. Rogers seeks to settle down, marry and become a farmer. Slim Pickens plays Sgt. James Gregory and rightly garners much praise for his convincing, steadfast role. James Caan and an equally young Wayne Rogers are impressive and complementary characters in the movie. Their fine acting and the film's dramatic action makes for excellent viewing. The musical score is patriotically stirring and further enhances the movie. Recommended for all interested viewers***

I cringed when the opening credits started and some horrible song invaded my ear drums, but then things got better and I was pleasantly surprised while watching this film in its widescreen version. The acting was very good, the Calvary life on a dusty western post was well depicted, and the direction, albeit cheesy in some of chivalry scenes between the two leading men and typical bar fights of the genre, was pretty good considering the simple and predictable plot line.I think James Caan's part of Pvt. Anthony Dugan was well acted and gives us a hint to his impending stardom. Beautiful Senta Berger was just okay in her part of Lou Woddard but there wasn't much for her to do except officiate the battle between Tom Tryon and Harve Presnell for her hand. The other parts weren't that special either but what made the film play out well in my eyes was the appearance of authenticity of a western Calvary company. From the initial gathering of a bunch of green troops through their training and drilling, and complaining, to the final well oiled product that had at least a fighting chance of survival in a big campaign against the Indians.I would recommend this film for those who like westerns and give it 6.5 stars out of 10.

This movie combines a reasonably good movie and a mediocre one in the same film. On the surface, it is an average 1960's vintage western involving the US Cavalry, Indians, saloon fights, one woman loved by two men, etc. However, on a second level, the backdrop of the movie is actually a fairly accurate depiction of the 1876 campaign against the Sioux which resulted in the defeat of Custer at the Little Big Horn. Even though the movie characters are given fictitious names (i.e. Gen. Frederick McCabe rather than Col George Custer), and is presented as a fictional story, the basic facts of the campaign were accurately re-created.Some artistic license was taken, for example, the real scout was killed in the river crossing after the initial attack and not by going to fill water canteens. The trek to the river to get water was done by enlisted volunteers during darkness for which they were awarded the Medal of Honor. The main character of the movie, Capt Harrod, is actually a composite of several officers under Custer's command, including Capt Benteen who effectively took command of the defense of the ridge when the ranking officer, Maj Reno became too rattled to command decisively.So, for people who are interested in Custer and the battle of the Little Big Horn, this is one of the better movies made on the subject even though actual names and places have been changed.