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This 1970 movie's story is based on the 1864 massacre at Sand Creek, near Eads in southeastern CO. I have seen the Colorado History Museum's video about this event. The Colorado Militia led by Gen Chivington (Gen Iverson in the movie), attacked this peaceful Cheyenne village in southern Colorado in retaliation for a Cheyenne Indian attack in northern Colorado near Julesburg. My great-grandmother was 7 years old when she witnessed Chivington's parade of Indian body parts and dead babies on swords down the main street of Denver--a horrible sight she never forgot and retold throughout her long life. Several soldiers refused to participate in the genocide and mutilations; they filed formal complaints in Colorado and Washington, DC. For that, they were eventually murdered by some of their fellow soldiers. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado finally got the Sand Creek Massacre site designated as a National Historical Site in 2007. Of course this movie is done by Hollywood and has it's own plot, but the ending is definitely accurate. It was not advertised in Colorado--mostly sold in Canada and the UK--hard to ever find a copy until after 2000. If you want to feel better after viewing this movie, watch "Last of the Dog Men." Read full review
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Funny how history provides dates and places for events without rarely providing any insight into the personal aspects of the events themselves. In this film, we are given the chance to view history with a second pair of eyes. We are given the opportunity to see things from another viewpoint, that of the Native American Indian. Candice Bergen plays a woman who has been captured by Indians and has lived among them for 2 years, learning all aspects of day to day life, including the hatred by the white man that haunts them. Together with her Union 'soldier blue', played by Peter Strauss, she attempts to convince him that the loyalties he holds to the military agenda are indeed and at best, tragic. A non believer to the horrors of war as carried out by the Union army, Mr. Strauss finds himself in a 'seeing is believing' situation that will forever change his life. A touching and sometimes comedic role by Ms. Bergen, plays out well in this action filled drama of horrific domination and shows us again, that history indeed does have a personal side and that there is almost always, two sides to every story . I saw this film over 20 years ago and it continues to bring laughter and tears to my eyes. It is a controversial film that touches on many human issues and one that should be watched if for no other reason than to simply experience it at least once.Read full review
Ideological garbage. Dated, it is even thought to be an anti Viet Nam war diatribe. Like Dances with Lies (Wolves) another anti western civilization citique that is hideously one sided it scrambles the facts about the period into an unrecognizable anti-American stew. The massacre is obviously supposed to be the Sand Creek massacre that took place in 1864 when Colorado volunteers, under the command of Chivington, wiped out a village of Cheyenne Indians who were under the protection of the US government. This story takes place a year after the defeat of Custer (1876). This change of time indicates that the writers of this story meant that this kind of massacre by the cavalry was commonplace and it was the policy of the US at that time to commit genocide. But Chivington was admonished, not commended for this act of brutality, not the act of a genocidal government. An obvious contradiction to the plot has a cavalry platoon being wiped out by these very same "friendlies" at the start of the movie. But that is OK according the heroine in the movie because they are only US cavalry soldiers and therefore, deserved it. Add to this one sided tale that the mutilations to the dead cavalrymen that were always administered to casualties inflicted by plains Indians at that time are not shown very close or with the fanfare with which the Indians casualties in the village later are treated. After all, we wouldn't want to turn the viewers against the Indians now, would we ? But in case you still didn't get it about who the bad guys are in this movie, the Indian warriors are all killed before the village, which now only contains women and children, is attacked. This is not what happened at Sand Creek. There are so many obvious contradictions and flaws in the plot that anyone with an once of sense can see through it all. Unfortunately, the view presented here has been so often repeated over the last 40 years it has trumped the facts. And so a generation of Americans have been brought up to lionize the wrong side because they lost, feel guilt for their own side because they won, and note the blood thirsty attrocities committed by the winners and ignore those committed by the losers. As propaganists have always known, tell a lie often enough, and it becomes percieved as the truth.Read full review
It is an excellent movie with all actors doing the best in each part of the movie. I did not know what this movie was all about until at the end. It is all about the Sand Creek massacre.
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Just to comment on gschandel's review. I saw this in the late 70s, early 80s and being a history buff I tried to find info. on the Sand Creek Massacre, I found nothing UNTI I was in DC and wouldn't you know, the Library of Congress has records and books and all sorts of info dating back just about the beginning of time it seems. All on Microfisch at that time. Anyway, Col. Iverson's OFFICIAL War Report of this action is there for all to read, as is the subsiquent investigation records and eye witness accounts to include, those Native Americans that could be located a few years later and every account is just about identical, so close infact that the differences are barely noticable. So I would say this is not an anti American/Viet Nam film Sorry your feelings got hurt. So for any history buff of the Western era, this IS a good account of this engaement, and it is graffic. AGAIN, as in all the reports.Read full review
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