''The Glory Guys'' is a 1965 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Arnold Laven Arnold Laven (February 3, 1922 – September 13, 2009) was an American film and television director and producer. He was one of the founders and principals of the American film and television production company Levy-Gardner-Laven. Laven was a ...

and written by

Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic ''The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institute ...

, based on the 1956 novel ''The Dice of God'' by Hoffman Birney. Filmed by

Levy-Gardner-Laven Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions was an American film production company based in Beverly Hills, California. The principals, Jules V. Levy, Arthur Gardner, and Arnold Laven, met while serving in the Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit during Wo ...

and released by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

, it stars

Tom Tryon Thomas Lester Tryon (January 14, 1926 – September 4, 1991) was an American actor and novelist. He is best known for playing the title role in the film ''The Cardinal'' (1963), featured roles in the war films '' The Longest Day'' (1962) and ''I ...

Harve Presnell George Harvey Presnell (September 14, 1933 – June 30, 2009) was an American actor and singer. He began his career in the mid-1950s as a classical baritone, singing with orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States. His career re ...

Senta Berger Senta Verhoeven (née Berger; ''Austrian German:'' , ; born 13 May 1941) is an Austrian-German actress. She received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include three Bambi Awards, two Romys, an Ad ...

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...

, and Michael Anderson Jr.

Plot

Though a fictionalized Western based on

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

7th Cavalry Regiment The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. Its official nickname is "Garryowen", after the Ireland, Irish air "Garryowen (air), Garryowen" that was adopted as its march tune. The regiment participated i ...

at the

Battle of the Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nort ...

, the film is almost a generic war story covering the enlistment, training, and operational deployment of a group of recruits that could take place in any time period. The main plot follows two cavalry soldiers under the command of a tough general who fight

Plains Indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...

and fall for the same woman.

Production

Arnold Laven hired Sam Peckinpah to write the script in 1956 after having been impressed by some of Peckinpah's scripts for ''Gunsmoke''. Although it took a number of years for Laven to raise finance for the movie, the quality of the script led to Laven working with Peckinpah in television. Peckinpah later called the film "a total disaster because of the casting. All the people in the picture were good. That is, they’ve all been good in other pictures but they didn’t really belong in that one. It was a wretched film. And one of the reasons I’ve made up my mind not to write any more. But I was on the street. I had to write." The film was known as ''Custer's Last Stand''. When

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

announced they would make ''The Day Custer Fell'' they were worried about competing with a big budget film so they changed the script and made all the characters fictitious. Sam Peckinpah, fresh from making ''

Major Dundee ''Major Dundee'' is a 1965 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, and James Coburn. Written by Harry Julian Fink, the film is about a Union cavalry officer who leads a contentiou ...

'' (1965), was considered to direct the film, but he was passed over in favor of Arnold Laven. The large-scale film was made in

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, with large numbers of mounted extras and the final battle scene choreographed on of land. The titles were drawn by Joseph Mugnaini for Format Productions.

Cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

's of the title song were done by

Al Caiola Alexander Emil Caiola (September 7, 1920 – November 9, 2016) was an American guitarist, composer and arranger, who spanned a variety of music genres including jazz, country, rock, and pop. He recorded over fifty albums and worked with some of ...

and sung by

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

Cast

as Capt. Demas Harrod *

as Scout Sol Rogers *

as Lou Woddard * Michael Anderson Jr. as Trp. Martin Hale *

as Trp. Anthony Dugan *

Slim Pickens Louis Burton Lindley Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens transitioned to acting and appeared in dozens of movies and ...

as Sgt. James Gregory *Erik Holland as Trp. Clark Gentry * Adam Williams as Trp. Lucas Crain *

Andrew Duggan Andrew Duggan (December 28, 1923 – May 15, 1988) was an American character actor. His work includes 185 screen credits between 1949 and 1987 for roles in both film and television, as well a number more on stage. Background Duggan was born in ...

as Gen. Frederick McCabe *

Peter Breck Joseph Peter Breck (March 13, 1929 – February 6, 2012) was an American character actor. The rugged, dark-haired Breck played the gambler and gunfighter Doc Holliday on the ABC/Warner Bros. Television series ''Maverick'' as well as Victoria Bark ...

as Lt. Bunny Hodges *

Laurel Goodwin Laurel Goodwin (August 11, 1942 – February 25, 2022) was an American film and television actress who is known for her role as the love interest of Elvis Presley in the 1962 film ''Girls! Girls! Girls!'', as well as appearing as Yeoman J.M. Col ...

as Beth Poole *

Jeanne Cooper Wilma Jeanne Cooper (October 25, 1928 – May 8, 2013) was an American actress, best known for her role as Katherine Chancellor on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' (1973–2013). At the time of her death, she was eighth on the ...

as Mrs. Rachael McCabe *

Robert McQueeney Robert McQueeney (March 5, 1919 – April 24, 2002) was an American actor, best known for television roles during the 1950s and 1960s. During and after his acting career, he also worked as a golf pro and instructor. Acting career A versatile c ...

as Maj. Oliver Marcus *

Wayne Rogers William Wayne McMillan Rogers III (April 7, 1933 – December 31, 2015) was an American actor, known for playing the role of Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre in the CBS television series ''M*A*S*H'' and as Dr. Charley Michaels on ''House Calls'' ...

as Lt. Mike Moran *

Michael Forest Gerald Michael Charlebois (born April 17, 1929), better known as Michael Forest, is an American actor who provides the voices for many animated titles. Early life Born in Harvey, North Dakota, he moved with his family at a very early age to Se ...

as Fred Cushman *

Claudio Brook Claudio Brook (born Claude Sydney Brook Marnat, 28 August 1927 – 18 October 1995) was a Mexican actor. Life Born in Mexico City, Brook had a prolific career, making around 100 film and television appearances in his 38 years as an actor. ...

as Rev. Poole (scenes deleted)

Notes

External links

* 1965 films Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels Western (genre) cavalry films 1965 Western (genre) films United Artists films American Western (genre) films Films directed by Arnold Laven Films shot in Mexico Films scored by Riz Ortolani Revisionist Western (genre) films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films {{1960s-Western-film-stub

Plot

Production

Cast

See also

Notes

External links