Did General Custer Help the New England Patriots Win the Super Bowl?

DOVER, N.H., Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Did a last-minute decision by George Armstrong Custer help the New England Patriots win their first Super Bowl? That's the strange but intriguing premise of "Bighorn," a 15-minute, supernatural historical fantasy based on a true fact: that General Custer's bandmaster, Felix Vinatieri -- an Italian immigrant and the great-great-grandfather of NFL kicker Adam Vinatieri -- was ordered to stay behind at the 7th Cavalry's Powder River camp and missed the Battle of the Little Bighorn where Custer and his entire regiment were annihilated. The Twilight Zone-ish story takes place in 2002 during the New England Patriots' Super Bowl run, and in 1876. "Bighorn" can be viewed online at http://www.BighornMovie.com

"Bighorn" is the latest from award-winning filmmakers Alfred Thomas Catalfo, writer/director of the Internet hit "The Norman Rockwell Code" and winner of 21 major screenwriting competitions, and Glenn Gardner, winner of the prestigious Palm d'Or, the top overall award, at the Cannes Film Festival as producer of the film "Sniffer." After a script review and several months of negotiations, the NFL granted the filmmakers permission to use footage of Adam Vinatieri's game-winning kick for the Patriots in the 2002 Super Bowl.

In 2002, the New England Patriots won their first Super Bowl on a last-second, 48-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri, widely regarded as the greatest clutch kicker of all time. "I was intrigued by a true story I heard at the time," writer/director Catalfo recounts. "Adam's great-great-grandfather Felix Vinatieri and his 7th Cavalry Band were on their way to the Little Bighorn with Custer when, at the last minute, they were ordered to stay behind. If Felix had died there, Adam would not have been born. I thought that story was a poignant commentary about how tenuous life is, and that a path taken -- or not taken -- by a person can have an effect generations later. I combined this with the theory of quantum entanglement -- that there are alternate universes and what happens in one may affect what happens in another."

Custer is portrayed by the renowned Steve Alexander. The United States Congress passed a resolution honoring Alexander as "the foremost Custer living historian." He has portrayed Custer in the Real Bird Native American re-enactment of the Battle of the Little Bighorn on the original battlefield every year since 1986, on the History Channel, on A&E's Biography, and at West Point. Alexander lives in Custer's former home in Monroe, Michigan.

"I remember saying that my next film would be simple and easy," laughs Catalfo, a personal injury attorney. "The next thing I know I'm directing Custer's Last Stand with mounted cavalry charging, soldiers firing period weapons, arrows flying, and a very ornery herd of buffalo -- on film with a $5000 budget."

Catalfo and Gardner are next moving on to feature films and have several projects in development.

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SOURCE Alfred Thomas Catalfo and Glenn Gardner