RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

phillewis-42679 I have visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield about half-a- dozen times and have read many of the books regarding this epic confrontation. Unfortunately I have also seen some of the Hollywood movies that, supposedly, depict the Last Stand either as part of a much larger story or intending to depict the fight as its entire plot. After seeing a few of these movies I have tended to avoid other attempts since none of those that I saw come close to telling the full story, as I understand it. So, after reading several positive reviews of "Son of the Morning Star", I decided to chance it! I'm so glad that I did! OK, it's not perfect but it is infinitely better than any other offering. Parts of it, I think, would be rather confusing if you didn't have reasonable knowledge of Custer's life between the civil war and his final battle. For example the fate of Major Elliot's detachment, at the Battle of Washita, was glossed over; yet this event created a deep resentment within the ranks of the 7th Cavalry which may have had a bearing on events at the Little BigHorn. It's difficult to know how much of the Washington background to include, much of it is essential to understanding Custer's behavior in the build-up to that Sunday in Montana. As another reviewer has stated, it would be great if Hollywood were to produce a movie which actually stuck to the facts, as opposed to a two part mini-series. If this were to happen then maybe all copies of that fiasco called "Custer of the West" could be incinerated! The Battle on The Little Bighorn is an important fight. The defeat of the 7th is the least of it! It also marks the start of the downfall of the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. The army was not about to sit back and let the Indians get away with that victory! As such the Battle deserves a realistic attempt to portray it on the big screen. I thoroughly recommend it!

Marlburian Having come late to this website I find that earlier comments have said everything I want to. My video-recording of the film is one of the very few I've bothered to keep.It appears 98% authentic, and a lot of effort seems to have been made to make those acting the junior officers look like the men themselves. I'm not so sure about Gary Cole, though; he looked like a sack of potatoes on his horse and he didn't seem too inspirational. But photos of Custer himself make him look a bit insipid - weak chin, droopy moustache - and apparently by 1876 he was beginning to go bald; Cole is a better likeness than Errol Flynn or Robert Shaw were, but we have yet to see a definitive screen Custer. David Strathairn has screen presence as Benteen. The voice-overs by Kate Bighead and Rosanna Arquette were remarkably similar in tone - almost dirge-like.

Bobster36 I generally find Gary Cole rather uninteresting as an actor. But he does a good job in edgy roles, like Jeffrey MacDonald in "Fatal Vision" and George A. Custer in "Son of the Morningstar." The movie has its flaws. It takes too long to get going and I found the Indian narrative tiresome.But it provides the most accurate Hollywood depiction of the events leading up to Custer's last battle and of the battle itself. Cole portrays Custer as a driven man, but not the madman of "Little Big Man" or the saint of "They died with Their Boots On." And it accurately captures the scenery of the Little Big Horn, not the bizarre desert setting of "Custer of the West." Most details, some not so well known, are handled accurately. Custer's men did not have sabers with them (little did Errol Flynn know). Custer refused gatling guns because they were too cumbersome to haul over the hilly areas the cavalry was expected to cover quickly. Custer couldn't see the Indian village from a distance when it was pointed out to him by his scouts. Custer hastily made his plan of battle after being informed Indians had taken some lost supplies and, thus, discovered his whereabouts. All of this comes out in the movie, so that we don't just get the standard Hollywood Custer-as-egotistical-glory-seeker story. The real story was far more involved than most people realize, and this film portrays most of those events. The film also shows that Custer's Last Stand was a combination of orderly resistance and chaos, as Indian witnesses contended.The film also does a good job with some of the other characters; Crazy Horse, Tom Custer, Major Reno, Captain Benteen and Captain Weir. Where the film misses out, in my opinion, is its failure to adequately depict the events involving Reno and Benteen during the battle. The film does an excellent job with Reno's charge, dismount and retreat to the bluffs, and with Weir's attempt to rescue Custer. But it should have gone further. The film has Weir's company merely returning to the reinforced bluffs. What we don't see is that Reno and Benteen actually mounted a slow moving trek following Weir's path, and all were forced to retreat to their original position where they fought valiantly into the night, while some soldiers who were left behind in Reno's retreat rejoined them after some harrowing moments hiding from the Indians. This portion of the battle has never been accurately portrayed on film (although "The Glory Guys" does a reasonably good job of it). And Morningstar squanders a great deal of time on far less interesting scenes instead of devoting time to this portion of the fight.So, while far from perfect, this is very much the best Custer movie ever made and highly recommended to anyone who wants to learn more about what really happened. I keep hoping that one more major Custer movie will get made and finally get it all right.

phj-2 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