They Died With Their Boots On

The 7th Cavalry Regiment, Gen. George Armstrong Custer says, rides “to hell or to glory. It depends on one’s point of view.” The point of view of Raoul Walsh’s spectacular They Died with Their Boots On decidedly favors glory. Errol Flynn portrays the famed cavalryman in this hoof-and-thunder chronicle tracing his career from dandyish West Point plebe to Civil War hero to frontier legend immortalized by the Battle of Little Big Horn. Olivia de Havilland, sharing the marquee with Flynn for the eighth and final time, plays Custer’s devoted wife, Libby. And composer Max Steiner’s stirring music trumpets gallantry and sacrifice. Seventh Regiment: Charge!