| Little Big Horn | |
| Director: | Charles Marquis Warren |
| Producer: | Carl K. Hittleman |
| Screenplay: | Charles Marquis Warren |
| Story: | Harold Shumate |
| Starring: | Lloyd Bridges John Ireland Marie Windsor |
| Music: | Paul Dunlap |
| Cinematography: | Ernest Miller (as Ernest W. Miller) |
| Editing: | Carl Pierson |
| Studio: | Bail Productions Inc. Robert L. Lippert Productions |
| Distributor: | Lippert Pictures |
| Runtime: | 86 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $500,000[1] |
Little Big Horn (also known as The Fighting Seventh) is a 1951 American Western film written and directed by Charles Marquis Warren starring Lloyd Bridges, John Ireland and Marie Windsor.[2]
It was also known as The Fighting Seventh.[3]
Captain Phillip Donlin (Lloyd Bridges) and his small troop must rush to reach Little Big Horn in order to warn General Custer of the Sioux 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 (John Ireland), who Donlin knows is having an affair with his wife, Celie (Marie Windsor).
It was to be the first of a two-picture deal Charles Marquis Warren had with Republic Pictures. Warren was a leading writer at the time best known for Only the Valiant and he wanted to become a director. The film was called The Black Hills and was to be produced by Joseph Kane and star Rod Cameron. Filming was to start 10 March 1950.[4] [5]
The film eventually shifted to Lippert Pictures.[6] Filming was to have started 7 November 1950.[7] However it was pushed back to February. Lloyd Bridges was the star.[8] [9]
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.[10]
The film was a box office hit.[11] It launched Warren's career as a director.[12]
Writing in The Nation, film critic Manny Farber calls Little Big Horn “a tough-minded, unconventional, persuasive look” at the events surrounding General George Armstrong Custer's defeat at the hands of the Soiux and Cheyenne under Sitting Bull in 1876.[13]
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.[14]
It was nominated for an award by the Writers Guild of America in 1952.[15]