Monday, June 16, 2014

Son of the Morning Star (1991)



This film covers two perspectives on the Battle of Little Bighorn, or Custer's Last stand, the native American view and the American view.  The film can pretty much be considered an epic, with the huge battles, vast vistas and comprehensive native American cast.  It's hard to imagine how they created the scene showing the vast native American camp shown just before the Battle of Little Bighorn.

The way the film is broken up into segments makes it seem like it could be divided into two seperate films, which could stand on their own, each showing a different perspective.

The film gives great insight into Custer, as most films show him as either incompetent or a monster.  Here we see him as a multifaceted person, showing his wife and family life, as well as delving into his history prior to his last stand.   It also shows a bit of his "flamboyant" nature, as he spent a great deal of effort on his hair, as well as wearing uniforms completely different from his regiment.

From this film, we are told that Custer was known by many names to the native Americans.  Some of those names included "Long Hair" and "Son of the Morning Star", hence the name of this film.

This is the kind of film that should be required viewing for high school history students. It gives insight into the actions of the US against the native Americans, as well the the motivations for the reactions on both sides.

Dean Stockwell appears in this film, who appeared in Quantum Leap as well as reoccurring characters in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Unfortunately, this film has not been release on DVD or any digital format, as the only release of this film is on VHS.


While watching this film, it's hard to look at Custer and not recall Ben Stiller's character from Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, as they both had the same mustache and type of face.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Saving Otter 501 (2013)

Strangely this movie was a bit disappointing.  While I LOVE otters, and just recently learned that they were considered extinct for about 50 years, due to hunting by humans, this film was less informative and engaging than other videos I have seen on sea otters.

I stumbled upon this movie, after reading an article about CED disks that said they often had extra material recorded on their reverse sides on, which was included without making the buyer aware it was included.  One of the people said they had an episode of "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau: The Unsinkable Sea Otter".  I of course know of Jacques Cousteau's reputation as filmmaker of marine life films and due to my love of otters, I tracked down a copy of that episode.  The episode opened my eyes to the so called "Great Hunt" of sea otters, which decimated the population, appearing to have rendered them extinct for 50 years.

While, it wasn't as informative about sea otters as the Jacques Cousteau's film and other sources, and also the story wasn't as compelling, it was great to see the baby sea otter and watch her recovery, "education" and release, as well as wonderful to find out about the conservation work the Monterey Bay Aquarium is doing.  Observant watchers will notice that the Monterey Bay Aquarium was featured in the the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as the Cetacean Institute.