''Little Big Horn'' (also known as ''The Fighting Seventh'') is a 1951 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film written and directed by

Charles Marquis Warren Charles Marquis Warren (December 16, 1912 – August 11, 1990) was an American motion picture and television writer, producer, and director who specialized in Westerns. Among his notable career achievements were his involvement in creating the ...

starring

Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian-American actor and film director. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in New York City, he came to prominence with film audiences for his supporting roles i ...

and

Marie Windsor Marie Windsor (born Emily Marie Bertelsen; December 11, 1919 – December 10, 2000) was an American actress known for her femme fatale characters in the classic film noir features '' Force of Evil'', '' The Narrow Margin'' and '' The Killing''. ...

. It was also known as The Fighting Seventh.

Plot

Captain Phillip Donlin (

) and his small troop must rush to reach Little Big Horn in order to warn Lt. Colonel Custer of the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

attack that awaits him. As they race against time, and Donlin pushes them hard through an arduous and dangerous journey, the Sioux start taking out the soldiers one at a time. Meanwhile, Donlin also clashes with Lt. John Haywood (

), who Donlin knows is having an affair with his wife, Celie (

Cast

as Capt. Phillip Donlin *

as Lt. John Haywood *

as Celie Donlin *

Reed Hadley Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas. Career Before moving to Hollywood, he acted in ''Hamlet'' on stage in N ...

as Sgt. Maj. Peter Grierson * Jim Davis as Cpl. Doan Moylan *

Wally Cassell Wally Cassell (March 3, 1912 – April 2, 2015) was an Italian-born American character actor and businessman. Early years Wally Cassell was born as Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini Rolando Vincenza Castellano. (A 1951 newspaper article gives C ...

as Pvt. Danny Zecca *

Hugh O'Brian Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC Western (genre), Western television series ' ...

as Pvt. Al DeWalt *

King Donovan Francis King Donovan (January 25, 1918 – June 30, 1987) was an American film, stage, and television actor, as well as a film and television director. Early years King Donovan was born in Manhattan on January 25, 1918. His parents were vaudev ...

as Pvt. James Corbo * Richard Emory as Pvt. Mitch Shovels * John Pickard as Sgt. Vet McCloud * Richard Sherwood as Pvt. David Mason *

Sheb Wooley Shelby Fredrick Wooley (April 10, 1921 – September 16, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He recorded a series of novelty songs, including the 1958 hit rock-and-roll comedy single "The Purple People Eater", and under the name ...

as Quince * Larry Stewart as Bugler Stevie Williams *

Rodd Redwing Roderic Redwing (born Webb Richardson; August 24, 1904 – May 29, 1971) was an American trickshooter, stunt performer, and actor known for his work in Western films. He was known as a top gun, knife, tomahawk, whip, and drill instructor in ...

as Cpl. Arika (as Rod Redwing) * Dick Paxton as Pvt. Ralph Hall (as Richard Paxton) * Gordon Wynn as Pvt. Arndt Hofstetter * Ted Avery as Pvt. Tim Harvey *

Barbara Woodell Barbara Woodell (born Barbara Mae Smith; May 25, 1910 – January 16, 1997) was an American stage, film and television actress, born in Lewistown, Illinois. Taking the stage name Woodell after her grandmother's name, she was married to composer ...

as Margaret Owen * Anne Warren as Anne Owen

Production

It was to be the first of a two-picture deal

had with

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

. Warren was a leading writer at the time best known for ''

Only the Valiant ''Only the Valiant'', also known as ''Fort Invincible'', is a 1951 American Western film produced by William Cagney (younger brother of James Cagney), directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Gregory Peck, Barbara Payton, and Ward Bond. The ...

'' and he wanted to become a director. The film was called ''The Black Hills'' and was to be produced by

Joseph Kane Jasper Joseph Inman Kane (March 19, 1894, San Diego – August 25, 1975, Santa Monica, California) was an American film director, film producer, film editor and screenwriter. He is best known for his extensive directorship and focus on Western ...

and star Rod Cameron. Filming was to start 10 March 1950. The film eventually shifted to

Lippert Pictures Lippert Pictures was an American film production and distribution company controlled by Robert L. Lippert. History Robert L. Lippert (1909–1976) was a successful exhibitor, owning a chain of movie theaters in California and Oregon. He was frust ...

. Filming was to have started 7 November 1950. However it was pushed back to February.

was the star. In an interview, Marie Windsor recalled an executive from Lippert Films announced the film had run out of money, with the production having several pages torn out of the script, and the film finished without certain scenes being done.

Reception

The film was a box office hit. It launched Warren's career as a director.

Critical Assessment

Writing in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', film critic

Manny Farber Emanuel Farber (February 20, 1917 – August 18, 2008) was an American painter, film critic and writer. Often described as "iconoclastic",Grimes, William (August 19, 2008) ''New York Times''Kiderra, Inga (August 21, 2008Obituary: Artist and Crit ...

calls Little Big Horn "a tough-minded, unconventional, persuasive look" at the events surrounding Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer's defeat at the hands of the Soiux and Cheyenne under

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota people, Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against Federal government of the United States, United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian ...

in 1876. Farber praises the film for its "unpolished handling of the regular-army soldier…for once, men appear as individuals, rather than types—grousing, ornery, uprooted, complicated individuals, riding off to glory against their will and better judgment; working together as a team in a genuinely loose, efficient, unfriendly American style.

Awards

It was nominated for an award by the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

in 1952.

Footnotes

Sources

* Farber, Manny. 2009. ''Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber.'' Edited by

Robert Polito Robert Polito is a poet, biographer, essayist, critic, educator, curator, and arts administrator. He received the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography in 1995 for ''Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson.'' The founding director of th ...

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ...

External links

* {{Charles Marquis Warren 1951 films Films directed by Charles Marquis Warren 1951 Western (genre) films Western (genre) cavalry films American Western (genre) films Lippert Pictures films Films scored by Paul Dunlap 1951 directorial debut films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language Western (genre) films Sioux in popular culture