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Assienment: TcleviskinLBy Terrence O Flaherty[ thoroughly enjoyed the opening episodeof ‘Custer” because the Sioux won. In thisseries I am rooting for the Indians.“Custer” is a Wednesday western, wherein the good guys are really the bad guys and the bad guys are the good guys. The members of the 7th Cavalry under Lieutenant Coionel George Armstrong Custer—in history as well as on television—were a bunch of bums. At the opening of the premiere segment, a senior officer introduces Custer to his new command by saying:“There are your men. Colonel—the scum of the earth “The Indians—in history but not on television—were proud and handsome men who fought bravely to defend their lands, their wives and their children. The great western photographers of the last century captured them in stills, Rain-in-the-Face, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Curley the Crow—and the dignity and pride in their splendid facesshould serve to haunt all Americans for all time.In ABC’s “Custer,” the Indians are portrayed in the traditional manner as a rag-gle-taggle band of cut-throats, thieving andWayne Maunder portrays Custer in the controversial new series, which many claim will lastbut for 13 weeks.6ftESS COU»lt*murdering to get the gold to buy rifles. That they are men who are bravely defendingtheir land and families is never touched uponeven though this fact is basic to the understanding of history as well as the motivation for the TV series itself.Producers Glicksman and Weisbart havemade one concession, however. At least.Chief Crazy Horse is portrayed by an actor with a strong, photogenic face (one-time ballplayer Michael Dante).This series will probably be a howliing success because, in the character of Custer, the producers have a ready-made nominationfor today's standards of heroism which have been set bv the movies, television and psychiatry. For Custer was a colorful loser who gained immortality by his spectacularfailure.He had only two major Indian engagement in his life, the second of which sent him to Valhalla in the U.S. Cavalry’s most disastrous mistake in judgment. Just as it was depicted on the Anheuser-Busch beer tray, they died, to the last man. ABC concluded the premiere with this announcement: “Tonight’s show has been a fictionalepisode.” Otherwise, after that opening battle. Custer would have only one more to go.Despite his wife’s worshipful journalism which continued almost until her death in 1933, the picture of Custer that has emerged is one of a man who resented authority in his superiors but flaunted it for those under her. He was fond of swaggering in unusual uniforms and the only time he cut his long, blond hair was when he rode out that last time to attack the Northern Chevennes and feared detection. His hair-cutting was completed just below the scalp line at the Battle of the Little Big Horn shortly thereafter.Inasmuch as most of these qualities were present in Wayne Maunder’s-characterization on the opening episode, it is apparent that the producers understand precisely what appealsuch a character will have for the younger generation which has been associating itself with the loser. Maunder’s performance is excellent. And his pants fit better than anyoneelse’s in the cast.Even though the invading Cavalry may wipe out village after village and desecratethe Indians’ lands during the coming months on television, there is always the thought that the final show’ in the series will be a comforting one. Until that time. I’m willing towatch it w ith a Mona Lisa smile on mv face.SUNDAY, SEWEMftEt 24, \96T
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