The Glory Guys


The Glory Guys is a 1965 American western film directed by Arnold Laven and written by Sam Peckinpah, based on the novel The Dice of God by Hoffman Birney. Filmed by Levy-Gardner-Laven and released by United Artists, it stars Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, James Caan, and Michael Anderson, Jr..

Plot

Though a fictionalized Western based on George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, 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 working under the command of a tough General and who fight Plains Indians and fall for the same woman.

Production

The film was known as Custer's Last Stand. When 20th Century Fox 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, was considered to direct the film, but he was passed over in favor of Arnold Laven.
The large-scale film was made in Durango, Mexico, 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's of the title song were done by Al Caiola and sung by Frankie Laine.

Cast