Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

disinterested_spectator The theme of this movie is that glory is of greater value than money. And George Custer is all about glory. Right at the beginning of the movie, when he arrives at West Point, he announces that he wants to be a cavalryman in the army for the sake of glory, to leave behind a name the nation will honor, noting that there are more statues of soldiers than there are of civilians. We shrink from positing glory as a motive today (we prefer to say that soldiers fight for our rights and freedoms), but for any story set prior to the twentieth century, glory seems to be acceptable.Custer makes this statement about glory to Ned Sharp, who will prove to be his nemesis. But at this stage of the movie, he appears to be just a prankster, playing a trick on Custer on account of the fancy uniform and entourage of dogs and a servant he brought with him, a trick Custer seems at this point to deserve. Eventually, Sharp will come to represent the evils of capitalism, which values money above all else. But this side of him must wait until after the Civil War.Speaking of which, the Civil War breaks out while Custer is still a cadet. He is given his commission early and sent to Washington. And then he is made a general through a clerical error. Most Hollywood movies take liberties with history, and this one is no exception, there being so many it would be tedious to list them all. But this one deserves special comment. The reality is that he was made a general because there was a shortage of generals needed to command the ever increasing number of brigades, and Custer seemed to be suitable. By making his promotion to general be just a lucky break instead, the movie is telling us that luck is the only difference between us and a man like Custer. That way we will like him better.Because the Confederacy lost and was eventually reunited with the North, we like to think of southerners as basically good Americans. To this end, the movie never lets us see a single Confederate soldier being killed, and only one wounded Yankee is seen after a battle. We see Custer leading a charge, and we expect to see what we usually do in such cases: men slashing and shooting the enemy soldiers as they break through the ranks of the opposing infantry. But the camera stops filming just as they approach the Confederate soldiers. Then another charge is led, and we think that this time we will get to see some bloodshed; but once again we are denied such a scene. And then a third charge is led, and we think, "All right, the first two charges were just a tease, but now we are going to see a complete battle." Nope. But that's all right. Later in the movie, when war breaks out with the Indians, we get to see lots of slaughter to make up for the bloodless presentation of the Civil War.Just as Sharp kept turning up wherever Custer was during war, as a thorn in Custer's side, so too does Sharp seem to show up everywhere Custer is after the war, except after the war it is always about money. Sharp and his father approach Custer about having him lend his name to a corporation, so that they can all cash in on his renown, but Custer is insulted by the suggestion. Later, when Custer is assigned to the Territory of Dakota, he arrives to find Sharp selling guns to the Indians and liquor to the troops, who spend all day in the bar.Custer closes down the bar and runs off the Indians. Then he decides to get the regiment in shape, to make them a fighting unit. To this end, he has them learn the song "Gary Owen." I guess songs go more with glory than with money, which is why Sharp doesn't have a song to go with his money-making schemes. In addition to the song, Custer tells his men that their regiment will be immortal, even should they die in battle. And later, he tells Sharp that unlike money, which you cannot take with you when you die, glory stays with you forever.The Sioux Indians sign a peace treaty, giving them the Black Hills. But when Sharp and his associates want to get their hands on the land for development purposes, they start a rumor that there is gold in them thar hills, hoping to cause a gold rush that will overwhelm the Indians with settlers, who will then be supported by the government. Actually, it was Custer who started the gold rush by announcing that he had found gold in the Black Hills, but that would not be in keeping with the movie's narrative arc, which is that Custer wants glory and Sharp wants money, and so the story about gold is attributed in the movie to Sharp instead.Custer kidnaps Sharp and brings him along to the Little Bighorn. Custer figures they will all be killed in the coming fight, and by bringing Sharp along, he will bring about the demise of the one person in the movie in whom all the evil seems to be concentrated. Instead of running away, however, Sharp redeems himself in the battle, and dies telling Custer he was right about glory after all. And apparently he was too, because in the last scene of the movie, we see the images of Custer and his regiment riding to the tune of "Gary Owen," thereby reassuring us that the regiment and its glory are immortal, whereas we do not get to see any final images of Ned Sharp engaged in his various profiteering schemes, stuffing money into his pockets as he puffs on a big cigar.

GManfred Fictionalized account of Gen. George Custer's life is still very watchable and very entertaining. This is a movie from Hollywood's Golden Age, when movies and movie stars were bigger than life. Warner Bros. pulled out all the stops to bring "They Died With Their Boots On" to the silver screen, and, although it garnered no AA noms, remains one of Hollywood's most enduring and exciting classics.It is Errol Flynn's picture and he is supported by many of Warner's most recognizable character actors. Love interest is supplied by Olivia DeHavilland and the heavy is played by Arthur Kennedy, and also in the cast are Gene Lockhart, Sidney Greenstreet and John Litel. Crazy Horse is played by Anthony Quinn.Other reviewers have covered the plot but I just wanted to log in my rating and add a few notes. There's a very tender scene near the end of the picture between Flynn and DeHavilland which I thought was worth mentioning as it was unexpected and may be one of Flynn's best ever movie scenes; he was a swordsman first and then an actor. The picture is a little long but maybe fitting for an epic of this stature, because they don't make 'em like this anymore, folks.

denis888 Well, well, such grand black and white 2-hour long movies could only appear in the 30-50'. Now, it will be virtually impossible to imagine such a crazy medley of motley genres and often unimaginably incoherent episodes. This head-cutting array of pure comedy, farce, tragedy, love story, drama, war film, and who-knows-what-not is sometimes puzzling and dazzling. Errol Flynne is excellent here, he was made right for this movie, with his arrogant air, big grin, flashy style, wild morale, unhinged behavior and tear-jerking sentimentality. Generally, the film is Not the accurate history document, as sometimes it borders on the brink of purely slapstick comedy of The Marx Bothers. The Civil War here is at least sketchy and jotted, the whole post-war period is at best blurred and slurred. The heroic demise? Custer's Last Stand? Well, typical sped-up cavalry run, chaotic battle, unrealistic deaths and falling. The Indians are pure barbarians here, only great mighty Anthony Quinn is a great Must See. generally, strange and not tragic death scene. It goes, and yes, it goes. That is all. The conclusion? Nice. Not perfect

Alex da Silva Errol Flynn (Custer) graduates from military school but only because the North is desperate for men to join the army to fight the Southern Confederates. His disciplinary record is the worst ever and were it not for the sudden outbreak of war, he surely wouldn't have made it. We follow Flynn's rise through the military ranks until he makes his final stand at Little Big Horn.The cast are all excellent with the exception of Charley Grapewin (California Joe) who plays one of those comedy drunken wagon drivers who are NEVER funny. He's meant to be an endearing character but he just irritates. There is also an English buffoon thrown in - another cast mis-calculation. But everyone else hits the mark, especially Flynn, Olivia De Havilland as his wife Libby, Arthur Kennedy as his adversary Ned Sharp and Anthony Quinn as Crazy Horse.There are many good scenes, eg, the confrontations between Flynn and Kennedy regarding the issue of selling alcohol to troops and rifles to the Indians, the final scene between Flynn and De Havilland as he prepares to go into battle for the last time, and the numerous horseback charges that Flynn leads. However, we could do without all the scenes with the stupid wagon driver. The film has comedy (NOT from the annoying wagon driver), action, drama and good actors that keep you watching despite it's length. Flynn is very likable as Custer and develops his character through to a man of conscience who gives Arthur Kennedy a satisfying pay-back time. What a shame that De Havilland sold Flynn's conditions at the end instead of exposing the corruption that had taken place to the general public. That would have caused the required shame. The Indians are the good guys in this film.