The Great Sioux Massacre

The Great Sioux Massacre is a 1965 American Western war film directed by Sidney Salkow in CinemaScope using extensive action sequences from Salkow's 1954 Sitting Bull. In a fictionalized form, it depicts Custer's descent from a defender of the Indians from Federal interference to an incompetent warmonger, and the Indians as his victims, and covers events leading up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Custer's Last Stand. It stars Joseph Cotten, Darren McGavin and Philip Carey. Plot The film begins at a Board of Inquiry over the Battle of the Little Big Horn; specifically examining the conduct of Major Marcus Reno. Captain Bill Benton (perhaps inspired by Frederick Benteen) is called to the stand, and rather than merely answer questions from the board states that he will tell his version of the "true story" that the audience sees through flashback. Benton relates his first arrival in the Wild West in 1875, where his detachment is escorting the wife of the local Indian Agent Mr. Turner. The Indians attack the party and abduct Mrs Turner away from Benton's command. Benton's army scout "Dakota" advises against tracking the Indians until the next day due to their laying of false trails that lead into ambushes. Dakota and Benton come across a wounded Indian whom Dakota shoots, saying sarcastically he would now not have to starve on an Indian Reservation.