This is about as accurate a presentation of the events leading up to and including the Fetterman Massacre in in December of 1866as you are going to get.The battle was the opening shot of the Plains Indian Wars. Richard Egan is Colonel Henry Carrington, the cautious commander of Fort Kearney along the Bozeman Trail. Carroll O'Connor plays Captain Tenodor Ten Eyck the second in command. Robert Fuller is the brash and ambitious Captain William J Fetterman, a hero of the Civil War, who is anxious to regain the fame and glory he had lost at the war's end. not to mention his brevet rank of colonel.Everyone does a solid and believable job.Both Egan and Fuller are quite good The fact that Fetterman and George Custer shared many of the same character traits is even brought up.
The story moves along quickly and covers the personality clashes and hostility between Fetterman and Carrington. What it does nor do is really tell the Indian side of story. Once again the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho braves are faceless and nameless. Red Cloud and Crazy Horse are mentioned but their characters aren't explored.So little of their personal motivation is revealed.
Still it is fairly well done, and examines an incident in the history of the American West that is often glossed over> It's worth a watch if you happen to catch it.
The story moves along quickly and covers the personality clashes and hostility between Fetterman and Carrington. What it does nor do is really tell the Indian side of story. Once again the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho braves are faceless and nameless. Red Cloud and Crazy Horse are mentioned but their characters aren't explored.So little of their personal motivation is revealed.
Still it is fairly well done, and examines an incident in the history of the American West that is often glossed over> It's worth a watch if you happen to catch it.
