AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

serafinogm I've enjoyed Dustin Hoffman in many of his cinematic roles but none more than his multi-stage role in "Little Big Man". Hoffman morphed from one persona to another; Indian to gunfighter to Army scout to drunk, repeating some of those roles as the story progressed. One was given bit of a history lesson (genocide of the American Indians) in a vehicle that was both simultaneously comedic and horrific, absolutely one of the best Westerns I've ever seen (right up there with Jeremiah Johnson, Missouri Breaks, and Hombre). From time to time I revisit this film and I have the same reactions and same responses as I had the first time I saw it in the very early seventies. This movie has staying power and it will remain a cinematic classic for all time!

Wuchak Released in 1970 and directed by Arthur Penn, "Little Big Man" is narrated by 121 year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), who details a tall tale of his colorful exploits in the Old West. Events include: Growing up with the Cheyanne, his adoptive family/tribe; a religious period with a striking hypocritical woman (Faye Dunaway); working as a snake oil huckster; living as a (funny) gunslinger who meets Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Corey); working for General Armstrong Custer (Richard Mulligan); his many conversations with this loving adoptive grandfather (Chief Dan George); and many more.This is a historically significant Western, coming out at the height (and twilight) of the hippie movement, and the movie reflects this. The first act is great because it's so different, mixing comedy with drama. There are some genuinely amusing moments. As far as production values go, this was top-of-the-line for 1970. For instance, young Hoffman convincingly passes for a crotchety old man. Unfortunately, the second and final acts definitely meander, likely because Crabb is rambling out his (dubious) life story. This is the main reason for my mediocre rating. Another problem is that there's zero balance with the ideology. The European Americans are corrupt one way or another, and sometimes evil incarnate, while the Natives are generally painted as super-virtuous. But I have to give the movie credit for the first Old West sequence, which depicts the aftermath of a savage Indian raid. Then there's the "gay" Indian. Why sure!So the movie's a mixed bag. It's notable and unique enough to make it worth seeing, but its flaws mar its overall impact.The movie runs 147 minutes and was shot in Alberta, Montana and California.GRADE: C

mark.waltz The American Indian, Native American, predecessors living here before the arrival of the Europeans, whatever name is acceptable by those who had already discovered where they were rather than those who simply renamed what was already there. This is a sensitive salute to the people of the land, spiritual in their own natural way, that may not have needed Christians from Europe to tell them how to live their lives and worship. To these "human beings", the white man is a dangerous fool, yet they are not above showing those truly interested in how their traditions had shaped their lives long before they were basically decimated by the military moving their way into territory already taken through nature, not through a paper deed.For Jack Crabb, the 110 year old survivor of Custer's Last Stand, he means to tell the truth about his findings, having been brought up by the Cheyennes after all but him and his sister were massacred by the Pawnees. Dustin Hoffman essays this part with sensitivity and grace, convincingly aging from teen to octogenarian, tells his story to the seemingly exploitive reporter, played by a younger, but very recognizable William Hickey. Jack was basically raised by the Cheyennes until captured by the military and turned over to a minister and his much younger wife (Faye Dunaway, looking striking here), then ending up with a traveling medicine salesman (Martin Balsam) before heading back to see the people who raised him, especially the wonderful adoptive grandfather, played warmly by Chief Dan George in a well-deserved Oscar Nominated performance.You can see why the natives referred to the Caucasians the way they do, and over a century later, you may want to shake your head at the evil that many white men do in the name of conquest, power and greed. This is a film to make you really think of where our world has gone in just a short period of time since our ancestors separated from England and took over what is now known as North America. The lives of the Cheyennes are a noble one, from the adoptive brother who resents Hoffman for having saved his life and owes him a life, after which he feels he can freely kill Hoffman without being considered evil, to the sweet and honored homosexual native who stayed at home with the women yet was never shamed for it by the warriors in his tribe.There's also the various women in Hoffman's life, from his very masculine sister (who seems to long to be ravished by a man, any man), his Swedish wife who ends up being kidnapped by Indians in a raid on their stagecoach (and ends up in the most ironic of places), and Ms. Dunaway, teaching Hoffman the values of chastity yet not quite following that rule herself. Then, there's the single or widowed young Cheyenne women who all openly lust for Hoffman in their quest to become mothers, and this leads to the battle lead by George Armstrong Custer (played by the usually comic Richard Mulligan in a way that will totally surprise you) where everything comes together that changes the destiny of history for the natives given land by the government but suddenly forced to fight to keep it.Sometimes, the film seems like it was edited in a way that cut out several key scenes, probably deemed necessary at the time by its extreme over-length. Even at almost 2 1/2 hours, it never seems to drag, unlike the similar "Dances With Wolves" which flowed from situation to situation and always seemed to be concluding before heading into a new area of its story. The wonderful Jeff Corey has a nice small role as Wild Bill Hickcock, and like Dunaway, Balsam and Mulligan, you always hope they will turn up in later scenes to further spice things up for the wonderfully hero essayed excellently by Hoffman who even here as a young actor shows the chops of a veteran.

fung0 This is a film that only seems greater the more times I see it.To those who've seen it and loved it, I strongly suggest picking up Thomas Berger's book, upon which the film was based. As you'd expect, the book is superior. It's able to go into much more detail, and thereby provide a much stronger satirical dimension. Berger was in fact mocking both Native American and European-American outlooks, showing how each side was superior in some ways, laughably inferior in others.To those few 19th Century throwbacks who feel this film is somehow 'propaganda' against the White Man, I suggest picking up a good book of American history. You'll discover that, if anything, this film glosses over the genocidal butchery and repeated betrayals of trust that were perpetrated against the Native Americans.To be sure, none of us living today bears the guilt of those times - we have our own atrocities to apologize for. Nor can we judge the people of those times by our own standards. Europeans believed implicitly that the natives were racially inferior, and therefore didn't see their extermination as murder. In the novel, this is more obvious - Berger tries to show us the White Man through Red Man's eyes... and vice versa. He's not passing judgment, but seeking understanding.The film has less ability to delve into these subtleties, but is superb in its own right - a true epic, that holds up both visually and dramatically. And which is anchored by a truly brilliant performance by Dustin Hoffman. It's a very different kind of 'western,' which showed that the genre could remain both relevant and entertaining while shedding it's childish 'cowboys and Indians' roots.