They Died with Their Boots On is a 1941
black-and-white American
western film from
Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by
Hal B. Wallis and
Robert Fellows, directed by
Raoul Walsh, and starring
Errol Flynn and
Olivia de Havilland. Written by
Æneas MacKenzie and Wally Kline, the film is a highly fictionalized account of the life of General
George Armstrong Custer, from the time he enters West Point military academy, through the
American Civil War, and finally to his death at
Little Big Horn. Custer is portrayed as a fun-loving, dashing figure who chooses honor and glory over money and corruption. The battle against Chief Crazy Horse is portrayed as a crooked deal between politicians and a corporation that wants the land Custer gave to the Indians. Despite its historical inaccuracies, the film was one of the top-grossing films of 1941.
They Died with Their Boots On was the eighth and final film collaboration between Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.