The Glory Guys

...I was thrilled to see that this film was available on DVD... but nervous at seeing "Morgan J. Freeman" listed as the director...(instead of Arnold Laven) Made me wonder... Only the fact that I was buying through Amazon made me go ahead and order....Advertised as "letterbox..." I got DVD and the "jacket" said "FULL SCREEN"... Well, don't worry... it IS in "LETTERBOX..." Disc is "bare bones..." Absolutely no special features... not even scene selection. You put in disc and movie runs... when done... runs again. ...Copy seems decent enough... especially the color... which has faded badly on the copies shown on TV... I last saw this film in widescreen at a theater in 1965 on a date... It has been shown on TV only rarely... I have had the opportunity three times in all these years (oddly, most recently the day before the DVD arrived) So a joy to see again in letterbox... with very good color... Scenes often missing in TV showings (training ride, soldier missing saloon fight) have been restored... and the sound quality is very good. ...As to the film itself... Would have been better if Sam Peckinpaw had directed rather than just written the screenplay (from Hoffman Birney's DICE OF GOD...) TWO romances to bog down the plot rather than just one... Seemingly unavoidable "bust up the saloon scene..." ...Having said that... a large part of the film is definitely amazing. The all time best wide screen cavalry vs Indians battle (and deployment to battle) to ever grace the screen. It has been many years since studios could afford this scale (until computer augmentation arrived...) ...The Glory Guys (unfortunate title) is a thinly veiled retelling of the Custer at the Little Bighorn story. For the most part, the terrain is hauntingly similar to Fort Abraham Lincoln area (except bluffs in distance) and the Little Bighorn itself... Quite a feat since filming took place in Durango, Mexico... 1500 miles south of the actual location (once in a while a tall cactus type plant only found from the Sonora on south pops up...) ...Riz Ortolani's (theme from Mondo Cane, etc) hard driving score matches the large scale action. More than 600 extras make the epic battle scenes memorable (wasted if not in widescreen). The cast is excellent... including newcomers, James Caan and Wayne Rogers. Harve Presnell (General Marshall in Saving Private Ryan) shows fine acting skills so rarely used (he was famous in musicals) ...Technical details not bad... such as showing the need to space out shots in four second intervals with 45.55 cavalry carbines... to avoid jamming. And critical fact that wearing out cavalry remounts in the days leading up to battle makes any retreat costly... Weakness of cavalry holding ground clearly shown... Horses to the rear... every 4th man horseholder... 25% of firepower immediately missing from the line. ...Commanding officer of regiment shown as Major General... In reality, at best would have been full colonel... (The actual commanding officer of 7th Cavalry, a full colonel, was gone for years on detached duty) and while a Brevet Major General from the Civil War... Custer was serving as a Lt. Colonel... though addressed by most of his officers as "General..." a courtesy that his brevet warrented... ...Tom Tryon's Captain Demas is a thinly disguised Captain Benteen, one of the finest company commanders in the 19th Century U.S. Army. Major "Marcus" stands in for Major Marcus Reno... an officer whose troops only survived because of Benteen having put backbone in their defense of the bluffs. ...Historically there is no proof that Custer wanted Benteen and Reno dead... (though Reno might well have thought so when Custer's promise of support proved worthless), a major plot item in the film, but they hated him and at best he wanted them away from as much glory as possible. Wishbone Creek mentioned in the film stands in for troops left to die at the Washita River by Custer... an action that turned half of his officers against him. ...There is no doubt that this is a flawed film; but where it shines... it glistens. UPDATE 3/17/22: The actress Laurel Goodwin, who plays Beth in this film... was one of the highlights... Her character was intelligent, independent...and she should have been in far more films. Best known to most viewers for the original Star Trek pilot. She just passed away. Y.P.

"The Glory Guys" is actually two Westerns in one. On the one hand, the film boasts an insightful script by Sam Peckinpah that explores the dilemma a junior army officer faces when he realizes his commanding officer is letting personal emotions overcome the commander's better military judgment, placing the troops in their brigade in unnecessary danger. On the other hand, the film also features the standard silly plot complications of a 60s action film: a hackneyed love triangle and knockdown barroom brawls.The movie is a thinly disguised fictionalization of George Custer's Little Big Horn campaign, as told from the standpoint of junior officers. In the film, an army general (Andrew Duggan in the Custer role) prepares his command to take part in a major offensive with several other units against the Indians, with the stated objective of forcing them onto the reservation. In reality, Duggan is out for personal glory and wants his command alone to deal the decisive blow to the Indians. Tom Tryon plays a captain (a fictionalized version of Custer subordinates Major Reno and Captain Benteen) who served under Duggan previously and transferred out of the general's command following an earlier battle in which the general deliberately sacrificed a company of poorly trained recruits to draw the Indians out. Now, Duggan has pulled strings to get Tryon transferred back and orders him to train some more new recruits for the upcoming offensive.I'm guessing that Peckinpah's original script for "Glory Guys" emphasized the battle of wills between Tryon and Duggan, as Tryon tries to be the professional soldier and train his troops, even as he realizes that Duggan does not intend to take part in a coordinated attack but, instead, rush his troops into battle on their own. It's a theme that Peckinpah would explore in greater depth in his next script, "Major Dundee," a film he also directed. The scenes pitting Duggan and Tryon are by far the best dramatic scenes in the film. Unfortunately, only bits and pieces of these themes find their way into the finished movie. Instead, the film, as directed by Arnold Laven (primarily a TV director), is pretty much routine studio fare.Instead of spending most of his time squabbling with his commanding officer, Tryon spends most of his time vying with the general's chief scout (Harve Presnell) for the affection of a local widow (Senta Berger). This romantic triangle is quite tiresome and very predictable (any viewer who's ever seen a 60s Western can guess within five minutes after Presnell's character is introduced how it will turn out). "Glory Guys" also stints on depicting the troops' training. All viewers get to see are a couple of scenes of them taking target practice and trying to ride, all the while being browbeaten by Tryon, who continually berates them (supposedly, this type of "tough love" is needed to get them into shape, but the movie doesn't devote enough time to the training to make it realistic). With so little time devoted to the troops, nearly all of them are interchangeable bit players. The only two soldiers given any depth are two more Western stereotypes, the loud mouthed Irishman (James Caan) and the innocent young kid (Michael Anderson, Jr.) in love with an equally innocent town girl."Glory Guys" does devote plenty of screen time to showing a couple of those incredibly fake brawls in which everyone gets a goofy look on their face when an opponent's wild haymaker punch lands, people get knocked through doors and windows a lot, and entire rooms of furniture get smashed, but no one is the worse for wear other than a couple of bruises. All in all, the brawls are about as convincing and entertaining as a backyard wrestling league battle royal.Eventually, "Glory Guys" features a major battle between the cavalry and the Indians, and the sequence is quite well staged. Back then, studio productions employed plenty of extras and sizable numbers of troops on each side in a major battle, and the money spent and attention paid to detail show here. The sequence lasts about twenty minutes and is exciting throughout, while, at the same time, easy for viewers to follow. Although anyone familiar with Custer's final campaign knows how the battle will turn out (and how the movie will end), the high level of realism in the combat sequence helps the movie maintain as much suspense as possible.For the most part, "Glory Guys" is indistinguishable from dozens of other Westerns of that era, albeit with stars Tryon and Presnell having considerable less screen presence than the leads of most comparable A-level Westerns (when Peckinpah did finally make "Major Dundee," he was working with Charlton Heston and Richard Harris). It's probably no coincidence that the movie marked the end of both Tryon's and Presnell's career as leading men. Fortunately, the film has a first rate set piece finale and enough well-written dramatic tension in some of the earlier scenes for me to give it a mild recommendation. However, there's just not enough glory here to warrant a better rating.

Traditional Calvary Western

I know. Who the heck is Tom Tryon? One hell of an actor who quit to become a writer. Check out Tom in IN HARMS WAY with John Wayne or in the Cardinal. Well known on television as he portrayed real life western sheriff Texas John Slaughter for Walt Disney TV. A really good Native Americans vs. U.S. Cavalry movie.He is supported by a GREAT cast! Harve Presnell, beautiful Senta Berger, James Caan, Andrew Duggan,Slim Pickens,Peter Breck, and legendary Jackie Cooper. What began as a peaceful mission to move the Sioux to reservations turns into one cavalry general's personal bloody vendetta.

This is a great movie. It is very much in the classic "war movie mold". A bunch of new recruits assigned to a unit, drawn from different parts of America, including the wise guy, the old guy, the young kid, etc. Have them train and bond while we learn about the men who lead them: dashing and capable officer, hard bitten but knows his stuff sergeant, martinet suck up officer, etc. Throw in some capable enemies (the Souix, this is really a fictionalized account of Custer's Little Big Horn Battle) and savvy scout and a love triangle and mix well.

The screenplay was written by Sam Peckinpah several years before the film was made ---- he must have been in a very melancholic mood at the time, there is no fizz to the story line and though there is Bloody Sam's trademark depiction of men conflicted and bonding throughout, there is also a wasteful romance that runs throughout the bulk of the film which didn't work for me and is quite unlike Peckinpah's usual remit. The man just doesn't do romance unless it's destructive.Arnold Laven directed woodenly although to be fair some actors shone through despite his manipulations.Slim Pickens as stalwart as ever, James Caan sparkled in perhaps a very early role for him, singer Harve Presnell tried to show how to play a tough army scout and Senta Berger, later to appear in two films directed by Peckinpah himself 'Major Dundee' and 'Cross Of Iron', just looked stunning being herself.There was nothing director Laven could do to improve Tom Tryon ---- this actor is as wooden as a totem pole but merely looks the part, like so many top male actors who appeared in westerns during the heyday of the genre. In my opinion The Peck would have kicked him off the set had he been in charge.On the plus side the cinematography by James Wong Howe is exceptional and a stirring musical score by Riz Ortolani keeps the viewer interested and entertained. With 20 minutes to go the final battle scene arrives (far too long into the total 108 minutes) and it is well done without being graphic --- Where were you Mr Peckinpah? --- and as a culmination of the film a bit disappointing. There was also another, major battle scene which wasn't included in the film, only it's aftermath ----- and I felt cheated to be honest. The whole thing felt like a tv film and should have had more guts to it considering the great subject matter. A pondering spectacle inching its way to a flat conclusion. Yet I had to see it for its association with Mr Peckinpah. You can't win them all.No extras and NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES. Optimum Releasing once again.

A well acted movie, well made (not like some of todays rubbish) Really fast delivery. will use again. Sometimes smaller seller are better, as this one was.

Good film spoilt by the two lead male characters fighting for the affections of the lead female. The fist fights are utterly ridiculous. Impossible in real life. After 5 minutes punching each others lights out, they show up the following day without a mark. It's for children. The same can't be said for the cavalry v. indians. Excellent re-telling of Custer's last stand. Errol Flynn and Robert Shaw versions are for Saturday morning matinee. Entertaining but not accurate in any sense except one.

Arrived on time and plays fine.

my dad bought this no problems