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[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Not Custard Part I


Another brand new entry!

This week we find ourselves in historical inaccuracies, riding along with George Armstrong Custer...

"Custer: The Complete Series" was released on home video on June 7th, 2016.



It streeted against "Vinyl: The Complete First Season", "Hail Cesar" and "Zootopia".

This came in a transparent case with the wraparound printed on both side. The inner has a George A. Custer still (star Wayne Maunder) and episode listing, but no synopsis nor air dates. *shakes fist*

There was no insert or slipcover issued.

Let me address this first; there is an error on various websites showcasing the release. For some reason it lists the distributor as Timeless Media Group, but was in fact released by Shout! Factory - which owns TMG.

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This was bought in early July - while getting the data for my DVD collection's ORPL (Original Retail Price List), I found out why I couldn't locate on Amazon. And decided to give it a watch - if I wanted to keep, before doing a PT writing up.

I enjoyed for what it is. And until browsing those store shelves had not heard of it before. Anyhow, I then realized that time is running out if I wanted to post this. So it was quite a last minute scribe.



"Custer" is a limited time, exclusive release from Wal-Mart. It's retail price is $24.98, but can be found for $12.99 - which is the amount I paid. Please note, not all Wal-Marts carry it. I was out of town when I saw and and blind bought it, don't know why this is the case.

Furthermore - this an unannounced exclusive, no sticker on it indicating that it is. Almost like they went out of their way NOT to call attention to it. *shakes head* Does it still have the stain?

The four disc set has one extra, presented in widescreen; "Native Americans On Television: A Discussion With Clementine Brodeaux". An interview with Academic Coordinator & Lecturer American Indian Studies from UCLA. It has a run time of 14:37 minutes.

Since the series is from 1967, it is in full screen (in color). In a month or so, this will be widely available at other retailers.

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Footnotes.

Before I get into this - the series does not end at Little Big Horn; had it gone to second season, it would've concluded at his most famous/infamous battle. By the way, much of it was shoot at 20th Century Fox ranch in Malibu, CA.

While the set does carry all seventeen episodes - including the show's final episode, "Pursued" which did not air. It is not whole.

This came out in the time when Networks would from time to time take pilot episodes or TV movies and expanded them for limited theatrical releases (sometimes overseas).

This happened to the NBC series "Buck Rogers In The 25th Century" (1979) and ABC's "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) as well as Steven Spielberg's early CBS TV movie "Duel" (1971); think proto "Jaws" (1975) with a big rig. That last one had sixteen more minutes filmed by Spielberg on the original seventy-four minute length.

And this happened here too. In 1968, the pilot ("Sabers In The Sun"; September 6th, 1967) was expanded, mixed in with the episode "To The Death" (September 27th, 1967) along with other series moments; crafted into a ninety-four minute motion picture called "The Legend Of Custer".

I apologize, I am unable to give an exact date in '68 when this hit theaters.



On March 8th, 2016, the recut was released on home video from 20th Century Fox's "Cinema Archives", an MOD (manufacture on demand); UPC# 0-24543-11553-3. An official DVD-R release with printed wraparound in case. It retails for $19.98. And came with zero extras, not even the trailer. There was no slipcover or insert.

As said above, the series is full screen; for its theatrical release - cropped, top and bottom to make widescreen. It is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 sound with ten chapters. A big complaint is how no remastering was done with washed out colors and fluxed sharpness, along with scratches and debris on the print used.

Not a great viewing. The TV series picture quality is a kinda better, but just a bit.

Man, this continues to bug me - the prices on studio MODs. These things are DVD-Rs, no physical storage at all, made when ordered. So these things should be no more than ten bucks - tops. Perhaps more practically priced at $7.99 each.

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Rant.

*deep sigh*

There is still much debate on the real man; shameless self-promotion and arrogant or a well planned tactician with a flare for spectacle to full on coward.

Too much feelings on each side, even after a hundred-fourty years. His legacy is that of controversy, which I suppose is the stuff of legends. Good or bad as it were.

The show concerns itself with his post-Civil War career, roughly a year or so before his death; assigned to Fort Hays in Kansas to head the 7th Cavalry - a then group of riff raffs transformed into real soldiers. The ABC series (which aired Wednesdays at 7:30 pm) gave Custer a positive spin.

Not a showman, but rather a leader who felt his superiors were stuck in politics rather than solving problems. Thing that could be fixed right now are put aside that only creates later woes; his battle for loopholes to get his will done, stubborn too. He does have some moments of celebrity, it's not given much screen time. I didn't see much vanity in this portrayal.

This was one of the huge gripes - his depiction. Another big one was all the historical inaccuracies; Crazy Horse was Sioux, not Kiowa. Custer was married when he served in the Cavalry out West. The worst was the stereotypical depiction of Indians in the series.

'...distortions of frontier history'

'The depiction of savage Indians slaughtering white men is offensive to civil rights groups'

'...detrimental to Indians'

The show was created by Samuel A. Peeples and David Weisbart. Even before it aired, "Custer" was under attack by Native American tribes who were pissed by the above. The chief protector was Weisbart (and executive producer), defended his show with passion. But all that came to an end on July 21st, 1967.

While playing golf with friend, actor Stephen Boyd (not on the series), he dropped dead from a heart attack. His final words...

Isn’t this a beautiful day, a gorgeous day to be out here.

That was the final nail. There was no one to defend it. Seven episodes were made under Weisbart.

Adding to cancelation stew was Viet Nam. *nods* People did not want a pro-military show on television; perceived military glory - connected to a man whom many believed was the personification of a mindset that got them into this foreign war in the first place.

Lots of things added up against it. The funny thing - the show was pulling decent ratings. All the pressure from different interests that cause ABC to pull the plug - four months in.



The only other western to get that amount of hate was NBC's "The Men From Shiloh", the final season (1970), revamped show from "The Virginian" (1962). All the seasons are on DVD.

Another death happened too. Actor Grant Woods who played Capt. Miles Keogh was killed on October 31st, 1968; killed in a Los Angeles freeway accident on his motorcycle. He's on the top promo pix, the man holding the flag on the far right.

By the way, the episodes end with a voice over, "tonight's episode has been a fictional drama" - didn't help much.

The pilot was grander than expected, felt like a movie; good cinematography and panoramic views. The acting was solid with some cliché, but that's to be expected. The one major things this had going was Wayne Maunder as Custer, great casting. The man looks like the person he's playing. He comes across as introspective and decisive.



His best friend is a scout, California Joe Milner played by Slim Pickens, pictured above. I was impressed by him; you would expect he's just there for minor exposition and mostly comic relief. Comic relief in the minor sense, his role was quite serious and somber. Did not expect that.

Let's be honest, the roles Slim Pickens has done is bigger than life - exaggerations. Look at his parts in "Blazing Saddles" (1974, as Taggart) and "1941" (1979 as Hollis P. Wood) and of course "Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb" (1964 as Major T.J. "King" Kong) as good examples.

Sure; born Louis Burton Lindley, Jr.; he took the stage name of Slim Pickens as a rodeo youth. Done to keep his father from knowing what he was doing, since his father forbade him.