Product Details

• Actors: Gary Cole, Rosanna Arquette, Stanley Anderson, Edward Blatchford, George Dickerson
• Directors: Mike Robe
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Republic Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 186 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302112117
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #1 in	Video > Boxed Sets > Westerns
  #3 in	Video > Drama > Television
  #5 in	Video > Westerns

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Release this to DVD now!!!!, , April 23, 2005

By	Gerhard Lack "Mosby" (Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been waiting now for years to see it uncut on DVD. Maybe not the absolut historically correct Custer, but one of the best Custer films ever made.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gary Cole in a Bravura Performance, April 30, 2000

By	Reginald D. Garrard "the G-man" (Camilla, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If memory serves me correctly, "Son of the Morning Star" was broadcast the same year as the theatrical release of Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves." Inasmuch as both dealt with the same historical period of our nation, obvious comparisons would arise. Wherein "Dances" told a fictional story, "Son" is the tale of General George Armstrong Custer, a figure both revered and vilified simultaneously. And it pulls it off wonderfully with passion and political correctness.

Gary Cole IS Custer. He brings to life the conceit and arrogance of a man who felt that his way was the only way. Cole's unique facial expressions are perfect in every scene, even those wherein he is completely silent.

The television mini-series has the production quality of a bigger budget theatrical film. The location filming enhances the story and the use of Native American actors is a further plus.

"Son of the Morning Star" rises high! I give this film a strong recommendation.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best film on Custer and the Little Bighorn!, January 28, 2000

By A Customer

Without a doubt, "Son of the Morning Star" is the best film on the subject of Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. It also does a good job being fairly even handed with this still controversial subject. Custer is not shown as an insane Indian hater or as a self-sacrificing hero. Gary Cole does an excellent job of showing the vibrancy and arrogance of Custer which demonstrates why people either loved or hated him.

The first part of this film is fairly uneven. The producers decided to add on the parallel story of Crazy Horse, which is too thinly developed. The jewel of the film, though, is the retelling of the Little Bighorn campaign and battle. Really magnificent work. As close to the historical record as any film has ever come. (Although, that really is not saying much considering the other Little Bighorn movie recreations.)

The Last Stand parts, though, are pure romance. General Custer, already mortally wounded, stands up and blazes away with his pistol in slow motion as the Lakotas and Cheyennes overrun his position. Beside him is his brother, Captain Tom Custer, behind him is Sergeant Major William Sharrow, Chief Trumpeter Henry Voss, and Sergeant Robert Hughes with Custer's personal guidon. Custer probably did not die like that; but he should have.

This movie does contain a historical inaccuracy which no film has ever had the guts to correct which is Custer's long hair. All historical accounts record that Custer cut his hair extremely short for the campaign. Combine that with the fact that all photos of Custer in his mid-30's point to a man who was going bald and you get a very different picture from all the actors who have played him with long, blond manes.