Sitting Bull

1954 "The Biggest Battle That Ever Shook the West!"
5.7| 1h45m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 06 October 1954 Released
Producted By: W.R. Frank Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Chief Sitting Bull of the Sioux tribe is forced by the Indian-hating General Custer to react with violence, resulting in the famous Last Stand at Little Bighorn. Parrish, a friend to the Sioux, tries to prevent the bloodshed, but is court- martialed for "collaborating" with the enemy. Sitting Bull, however, manages to intercede with President Grant on Parrish's behalf. Written by Jim Beaver

Genre

Western

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Director

Sidney Salkow

Production Companies

W.R. Frank Productions

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Sitting Bull Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
VividSimon Simply Perfect
SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie
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.
bkoganbing No western hero who was in the military ever took more on himself than did Dale Robertson in Sitting Bull. Not even Errol Flynn who buried Confederate gold in violation of orders in Virginia City got himself in as much trouble as did Major than Captain Robertson did here.This B film from MGM is yet another version of the events of surrounding the Little Big Horn battle where Douglas Kennedy as Custer got himself surrounded and massacred by some angry Sioux Indians. This version does show the Indian side of the events, how badly treated they were on reservations, how the whites once word of gold being discovered in their sacred Black Hills of Dakota territory systematically broke the treaties signed. Yet in fact the film went a bit overboard with presenting the Indian side and took great liberty with the facts.Dale Robertson's an army major who zealously follows his orders about respecting the Indian rights, to the dismay of former General now Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Robertson's maverick tendencies wouldn't be liked in the army in any event, but his fiancé Mary Murphy who is General John Litel's daughter wants an upwardly mobile career man and Robertson doesn't look like a good bet. For standing on his beliefs Robertson loses her to newspaper reporter William Hopper.But Dale gets himself in an even bigger jackpot. He's got an agreement with his former commander Ulysses S. Grant who is now president of the United States, the big chief of all the white folks. But when Custer moves prematurely and gets massacred and troops are sent on reprisal, Robertson does a very daring and potentially foolish thing to keep the peace process alive. That's the essence of our story.Which of course never did happen. Neither did Ulysses S. Grant as played by John Hamilton on hiatus from the Superman series ever come west to negotiate with J. Carrol Naish as Sitting Bull. That's the biggest flaw in this film.Murphy's character doesn't ring true either. From a woman who makes no bones about her desire for an upwardly mobile man, she does an about face and would make Tammy Wynette proud if Tammy had in fact ever seen Sitting Bull.The film's heart is the in the right place, but the rest of it is out to lunch.Though I will say one thing. If what I read is true about Mary Murphy's bout with Montezuma's revenge on location for this movie, she may have given one of the great performances of all time just getting through this film without a hint on screen.
classicsoncall Right out of the gate, it probably would have been best if this film came with a warning to sit back and view it as the work of fiction that it is, rather than try to figure out which elements may or may not have been historically accurate. As it is, I'm ready to dismiss it entirely as a contrived piece of movie making that has little to recommend it.Of the figures presented, Chief Sitting Bull probably acquits himself most favorably, portrayed by veteran J. Carroll Naish. He's generally characterized as preferring peace, though from a pragmatic point of view, knowing that the next great war against the white man will probably wipe out his people, the seven great nations of the Sioux. His warrior chief Crazy Horse (Iron Eyes Cody) on the other hand, chomps at the bit to don the war paint and go on a tear. When a proposed meeting between Sitting Bull and President Grant (John Hamilton) fails to materialize, events converge to play out in a scenario that we now know as the Battle of Little Big Horn, but again, with great liberty taken with the known facts. Yes, Yellow Hair Custer (Douglas Kennedy) dies in battle, but this time around at least two men survive to report back to General Howell, along with the film's top billed Dale Robertson, as Captain Robert Parrish. Parrish escapes a firing squad for treason after leading the Sioux to safety after Little Big Horn (huh?), thanks to the intercession of Sitting Bull (double huh?).A lot of emphasis in the film is put on Sitting Bull's requirement that President Grant meet with him by the next full moon to consider a peace plan. As the time draws near, we see Sitting Bull on the final night looking skyward to the full moon with no word of the president. The very next moment he's walking in broad daylight to counsel with his war chiefs.I got a kick out of the opening credits, mentioning Iron Eyes Cody as "Technical Adviser and Indian Costumes"; in brackets he's called a "Famous T.V. Star". Speaking of costumes, both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are routinely shown in full regalia and war bonnet, though my limited knowledge of Indian custom tells me that full head dress was limited to rare occasions, so chalk up another one to poetic license.I guess it's fitting then that the movie humorously closes on what probably best describes it in a closing credit, though my copy may have been improperly cropped. There in big bold letters, it states "A Rank Product", distributed by United Artists - sadly, how true.
bsmith5552 "Sitting Bull" as one might expect, takes place at the time of the infamous and oft filmed "Custer's Last Stand".The story involves the efforts of the fictional Major Bob Parrish (Dale Robertson) and Sioux Chief Sitting Bull (J. Carroll Naish) to prevent a war between the Sioux nations and the U.S. Cavalry. On one side, Sitting Bull's chiefs led by Crazy Horse (Iron Eyes Cody) and Colonel Custer (Douglas Kennedy) on the other push their superiors into war.The requisite love triangle involves Parrish, the General's daughter Kathy (Mary Murphy) and newspaperman Wentworth (william Hopper). Kathy turns away from Parrish when he is charged with insubordination and reduced in rank to Captain. She then becomes engaged to Wentworth.Parrish meanwhile with the assistance of former black slave "Sam" (Joel Flueller)arranges a meeting between President U.S. Grant (John Hamilton) and Sitting Bull. However, before the meeting can take place several incidents occur and war breaks out culminating with Custer's last stand at the Little Big Horn.J. Carroll Naish lends dignity to his portrayal of Sitting Bull. We see him as an intelligent caring and cautious leader who will stoop to war only as a last resort. In a move unusual for its time black actor Joel Flueller was cast in one of the leading roles in the film.The battle scenes are spectacular and well staged by director Sidney Salkow. In spite of the contrived Hollywood ending, this western is a lot better than some would have you believe.
frankfob Cheap, stupid, maddeningly idiotic western supposedly about Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Everything about this movie is tenth-rate--the acting is terrible, the script is absolute horsecrap with not even a PRETENSE of historical accuracy, the photography is awful, at times the camera actually shakes . . . you name it, this movie sucks at it. One of the most glaring examples of its almost complete incompetence is in the battle scenes. They'e stiff, mechanical and wretchedly directed; it looks like the actors playing the soldiers and Indians got tired of standing around waiting for someone to tell them what to do and went ahead and did it themselves. Even more irritating is the fact that the same battle scenes are replayed every 30 seconds or so, apparently in hopes that no one would notice that there wasn't enough footage shot to show a complete battle scene. The movie was filmed in Mexico (another stupid mistake by the filmmakers; the hilly, boulder-strewn, semi-desert Mexican terrain is nothing whatsoever like the rolling prairie country that was the actual locale of the battle) by American director Sidney Salkow and Mexican director Rene Cardona. Separately they were, at best, mediocre directors; together they merged into a really lousy one.All in all, this is a complete botch job at every conceivable level. Don't bother wasting your time on it.