Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn in Four Major Films: “Little Big Man”, “They Died with Their Boots On”, “Sitting Bull” and “Chief Crazy Horse”
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Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 1 Representation of the battle of Little Bighorn in four major films: “Little Big Man”, “They Died with their Boots on”, “Sitting Bull” and “Chief Crazy Horse”. Javier Rafael Fernández Esteller Doctoral thesis UDC / 2015 Director: Alan Floyd Moore Department of English Philology/RD 778/1998 Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks go to Dr Alan Floyd, Dr María Jesús Lorenzo Modia, Antonio López Zanón, Mary Allport and the staff of the Library of the Philology Faculty, Universidade da Coruña. Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 3 RESUMEN La presente tesis analiza las complejas relaciones entre cine e Historia y más concretamente la representación de la batalla de Little Bighorn en las películas “Pequeño Gran Hombre”, “Murieron con las botas puestas”, “Sitting Bull, casta de guerreros” y “El gran jefe”. La primera está centrada en la personalidad de George Armstrong Custer, la segunda en su carrera militar, la tercera en la vida de Sitting Bull y la última en la vida de Crazy Horse. Después de haber establecido los hechos concernientes a la batalla de Little Bighorn a través de los libros de los diferentes autores y la comparación de los hechos por ellos narrados, se han estudiado las cuatro películas, comparando las secuencias de las películas con los hechos establecidos en la historia. La tesis también da una perspectiva de la historia de las películas de Indios y los dos grandes conflictos entre los Indios y los Estados Unidos Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 4 RESUMO A presente tese analiza as complexas relacións entre cinema e Historia e máis concretamente a representación da batalla de Little Bighorn nas películas “Pequeño Gran Home”, “Morreron coas botas postas”, “Sitting Bull” e “O gran xefe”. A primeira está centrada na personalidade de George Armstrong Custer, a segunda na súa carreira militar, a terceira na vida de Sitting Bull e a última na vida de Crazy Horse. Despois de establecer os feitos concernientes á batalla de Little Bighorn a través dos libros dos diferentes autores e a comparación dos feitos narrados por eles, estas catro películas foron estudiadas, comparando as secuencias das películas cos feitos establecidos na Historia. Esta tese tamén dá unha perspectiva da historia das películas sobre Indios e os dous conflitos entre os Ini¡dios e os Estados Unidos Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 5 ABSTRACT The present thesis analyses the complex relationships between cinema and History and more concretely the representation of the battle of Little Bighorn in the films “Little Big Man”, “They Died with their Boots On”, “Sitting Bull” and “Chief Crazy Horse”. The first one is centred on the personality of George Armstrong Custer, the second on his military career, the third on the life of Sitting Bull and the last on the life of Crazy Horse. After having established the facts concerning the battle of Little Bighorn through the books of the different authors and the comparison of the facts narrated by them, these four films have been studied, comparing the sequences of the films with the facts established in history. The thesis also gives a perspective of the history of Indian films and the two great conflicts between the Indians and the United States. Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 6 INTRODUCTION The present thesis is focused on the study of four major films concerning the battle of Little Bighorn. The first, Little Big Man (1970), is centred on the personality of George Armstrong Custer, They Died with their Boots On (1941) on his military career, Sitting Bull (1964) on the life of the medicine man and Chief Crazy Horse (1955) on the life of the warrior chief, its main objectives being the comparison between the facts that gave origin to the battle of Little Bighorn and the way they have been represented, deducing from the comparison the quality of the representation, but it also pays attention to the characters that starred in this conflict and, in that sense, the lives of the main ones have been added. To achieve this objective, this thesis has been structured in six chapters. The first develops a general frame in which the main ideas about Representation are told. In it, there is an analysis of the different kinds of Westerns as well as the different aspects involved in film-making. Some social matters have been dealt with, such as those related to migration. It also deals with the problem of the sources. The second chapter is dedicated to the migration of the Sioux people, from the moment they abandoned their location in Minnesota until the moment of their location in the Black Hills, with the object of inscribing them in the frame of History. It also has the objective of bringing into light the tribes with which they met and the relations resulting in long-lasting friendship or enmity. Chapter three gives a short history of the Indian films. This chapter is complemented by the following one, in which the two main conflicts are studied. Also a biography of the main leaders is given. Chapter five deals with the four major films which are the object of this thesis, analysing them from the point of view of Representation, and adding the life stories Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 7 of the Indian leaders taking part in them. Chapter six shows the conclusions. Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 8 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………. 6 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………………… 10 1REPRESENTATION…………………………………………………………………………. 11 2 HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MIGRATIONS………………………………………………... 73 3 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE INDIAN FILMS............................................................ 102 4 THE TWO GREAT CONFLICTS IN THE WESTERNS…………………………………. 121 4.1 Apaches………………………………………………........................................ 121 4.1.1 Victorio............................................................................................. 127 4.1.2 Cochise………………………………………………............................ 133 4.1.3 Taza………………………………………………...……………………. 140 4.1.4 Chato………………………………………………...…………………... 142 4.1.5 Geronimo............ ………………………………………………............ 146 4.1.6 Massai................……………………………………………................. 153 4.1.7 Mangas Coloradas........ …………………………………….……….... 155 4.2 Sioux....................................……………………………………………............. 157 4.2.1 Red Cloud........................... …………………………………………... 168 4.3 The Cheyennes………………………………….……….……………………….. 179 4.4 Little Bighorn………………………………….……….…………………………... 182 5 FILM REPRESENTATION OF THE BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN…………………. 189 5.1 Little Big Man (1970) ………………………………….……….………………… 191 5.2 They Died with their Boots On (1941) ………………………………….……… 223 5.2.1 Custer………………………………….……….………………………... 223 Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 9 5.2.2 Crazy Horse………………………………….……….…………………. 256 5.3 Sitting Bull (1964) ………………………………….……….……………………. 286 5.3.1 His Life………………………………….……….……………………….. 286 5.3.2 The Film………………………………….……….……………………… 290 5.4 Chief Crazy Horse (1955) ………………………………….……….…………… 314 5.4.1 His Life………………………………….……….……………………….. 314 5.4.2 The Film………………………………….……….……………………… 319 6 CONCLUSIONS………………………………….……….…………………………………. 351 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………….……….…………………………………… 357 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………………….. 376 I.PHOTOS………………………………………………………………………………………. 376 II.SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………....... 379 Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 10 List of Abbreviations Neb. Hist. Mag:Nebraska History Magazine Om.Dai. Reg: Omaha Daily Register South Dak. Hist. Col: South Dakota Historical Collections Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 11 1. REPRESENTATION In the academic panorama, as far as I know, no thesis has been written about the Battle of Little Bighorn from the point of view of Representation. Neither are there articles about the representation of Indians in the battle of Little Bighorn nor any academic work about Indians in films, which includes the non-existence of academic works about the figure of Crazy Horse. However there have been biographies about the life of the great chief, but they were literary works. The novel of Ambrose, even if documented, it still remains to be a novel. There were also works concerning the battle of Little Bighorn, included in larger books, being histories, like that of Doane Robinson or George E. Hyde, in which the lives of some warriors and chiefs were included, some of them fragmentary, but there were also more personal books, such as the one by Margueritte Merington, commenting on the private letters of Elizabeth Custer. The current thesis was born to fill that space of Representation relating to Indian studies. It deals with the complex relationships between Cinema and History, relations that have been frequent, given the number of historical events represented in the films. Of these representations, there are a large number of films well known to the general public, many of which have been based upon novels, like Trouble Shooter, by Ernest Haycox, giving origin to the film Union Pacific (1939), which tells the story of the building of that train; The Saga of Billy the Kid, by Walter Noble Burns, the origin of the films Billy the Kid (1930) and Billy the Kid (1940); Cheyenne Autumn, by Mary Sandoz, a source of inspiration for the homonymous film, all of them dealing with the History of the United States. There Representation of the Battle of Little Bighorn 12 are others, however, that speak about the Indian