Watched this the other day and it was an interesting Cavalry vs. Indian (Sioux) film taking place before the establishment of Ft. Abraham Lincoln, and Custer. Steiger (who personally I think sucks at accents) plays a Confederate soldier with a weird Irish/Southern accent who fires the last shot in the Civil War, at Ralf Meeker, who he wounds.
He basically refuses to surrender after Appomattox and heads off to the Northern Great Plains along the way he befriends an old Sioux cavalry scout, and he undergoes the ritual "run of the arrow" and becomes accepted by the tribe, where he continues the fight against the US.
During the negotiations with the Sioux over establishing posts to separate settlers (keeping them off the hunting grounds) traveling West and the natives their chief, played by Charles Bronson, and the chief cavalry engineer played by Brian Keith they agree to select Steiger as chief Sioux scout for the expedition, not all of the Sioux are in concert with this. Keith and Steiger sort of hit it off but Meeker is a hot headed second in command who after Keith is hit by a renegade arrow decides to locate the new post in a different location than agreed, to igniting a war.
Its an interesting take on the subject and the film is worth a watch but its nothing outstanding.
He basically refuses to surrender after Appomattox and heads off to the Northern Great Plains along the way he befriends an old Sioux cavalry scout, and he undergoes the ritual "run of the arrow" and becomes accepted by the tribe, where he continues the fight against the US.
During the negotiations with the Sioux over establishing posts to separate settlers (keeping them off the hunting grounds) traveling West and the natives their chief, played by Charles Bronson, and the chief cavalry engineer played by Brian Keith they agree to select Steiger as chief Sioux scout for the expedition, not all of the Sioux are in concert with this. Keith and Steiger sort of hit it off but Meeker is a hot headed second in command who after Keith is hit by a renegade arrow decides to locate the new post in a different location than agreed, to igniting a war.
Its an interesting take on the subject and the film is worth a watch but its nothing outstanding.