7th Cavalry

While George Armstrong Custer was getting massacred at Little Big Horn, Captain Randolph Scott was off wooing and fetching fiancée Barbara Hale, with Custer's permission he says. He escapes court martial, but no one wants anything to do with him. So when it's decided that someone needs to fetch Custer's corpse back - never mind the enlisted men - Scott volunteers to lead the expedition.

It's one of the superb westerns that Scott starred in during the last fifteen years of his movie career, and Joseph H. Lewis directs this with his immensely strong visual style, Technicolor specialist Ray Rennahan shooting from low angles in an ochre-based color matrix. Lots of Strong Men behaving nobly...but is the Comanche idea of nobility the same as the White man's? With Jay C. Flippen, Harry Carey Jr. and Frank Faylen.

Set after the Battle Of Little Big Horn, 7th Cavalry sees Randolph Scott playing Captain Benson, who returns with his future bride to his post commanded by Indian fighter, Colonel Custer. Custer however was gone, he had taken the famous 7th Cavalry to war with the Sioux at Big Horn and lost badly. Guilt ridden and tarnished by whispers of cowardice, Benson volunteers to lead a dangerous mission back to Big Horn to reclaim the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

There doesn't appear to be much much love for this 1956 Columbia Pictures Oater. Seems it's either damned for being too talky, or on the flip side, it's too hokey within its plotting to actually merit worth. Well that's a shame for this has something of a vintage feel to it, the themes of guilt and redemption are Western standards, whilst the story also takes in interesting arcs such as religious beliefs and spiritual meanings. Yes this is definitely a "talky" picture - aside from some mano mano action and single horse pursuits that is - but it's a well thought out screenplay by Peter Packer (adapting from Glendon Swarthout's story). Instances such as a military enquiry and an exchange between Benson and a young Indian warrior are intelligent passages in the story (with Scott doing fine work in the process). What it lacks in gusto action it more than makes up for with the characterisations.

Other plus points are that it's also nicely shot in Mexico, the Technicolor doing justice to the splendid costumes on show. Backing Scott up in support are admirable performers such as Jay C. Flippen, Frank Faylen, Leo Gordon, Michael Pate and Harry Carey Junior. Although the ladies (Jeanette Nolan & Barbara Hale) aren't given too much to do and the score conducted by Mischa Bakaleinikoff is at odds with the tempo of the film, 7th Cavalry still deserves a better reputation than it currently has. If you prepare for a work of fiction that is most assuredly dialogue driven, then hopefully your expectations will at the least be met. 7/10

This scheme is for Randolph Scott what THE MAN FROM ALAMO was for Glenn Ford. Remember this Universal Studios western where Glenn Ford was accused of being a coward and escaped from Alamo slaughter? So replace Alamo by Little Big Horn, two battles that Americans lost, and you have an idea of what you deal with here. This is not my favorite from director Joseph Lewis, it could have been from André De Toth, but not from Budd Boetticher though. Because Boetticher and Lewis had their own trademark. Here, the plot, directing, camera work, are rather common, nothing to remember of. Nothing in particular, I mean. Good western not more.

"7th Cavalry" picks up just after General Custer and his command is wiped out at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Captain Benson (Randolph Scott) was away on personal leave, so he somehow missed out on the massacre. However, folks are looking for a scapegoat and folks second-guess Benson and brand him a coward. Not wanting to live with disgrace, he volunteers to do an insanely difficult duty--to go into Indian territory and bury the Cavalry's dead. Oddly, instead of taking competent soldiers, he takes the scum of the regiment--guys who DID survive due to their own cowardice. Can these guys somehow redeem themselves?

The film is not based 100% on real history--which is VERY typical of most westerns. Benson and his mission is entirely fictional. However, one thing that isn't is that some officers, rightfully, questioned the competence of General Custer. He was, according to most historians, an incompetent who made many serious blunders due to his own hubris. So, when the soldiers openly question his decisions that led to the battle, that is pretty much fact--despite Benson defending his commander's decisions.

So is it any good? Well, I gave the film an 8. This is mostly because they acting is very nice and compared to other films of the genre from this age, it stands well above most due to very nice acting and an interesting what if scenario.

Captain Benson (Randolph Scott) returns from the east with his new bride-to-be (played ably enough by Barbara Hale) only to find out that his post under General Custer was wiped out at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The men who were left behind at the post resent Benson because he wasn't there to die gallantly with the rest of his troop.

A presidential order is given for the army to go into Sioux territory and gather up Custer's dead for burial. Benson quickly volunteers for such a dangerous mission, probably to redeem himself. After all, the Big Horn is still surrounded by hostile Sioux and Cheyenne, drunk with victory.

When Benson and his men reach the site, they find that the Indians won't let them un-bury the dead because it is now considered sacred ground and not to be violated. That is, until Custer's riderless horse strolls into view, scaring all the Indians into thinking it's bad medicine and Custer's spirit has returned.

There's a subplot about how this horse came onto the scene involving Harry Carey Jr. and all, but I'm not gonna get into that. Anyway, the Indians are plenty superstitious about the whole thing so they allow Benson and his men to pass, unscathed.

Although it's nowhere near as good as the oaters Scott did with Budd Boetticher, this one nonetheless still rises above most of the other western dreck Harry Cohn and Columbia Pictures was putting out. It also helps filming it out in the California pine country away from the usual Columbia ranch locations that we've seen a zillion times before. It still doesn't pass for the plains, though.

Still, it's better than most of Scott's RKO westerns from the late 40s

5 out of 10