Little Big Man
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Movie Reviews of Little Big Man
Movie Review: "I wasn't just playin' Indian - I was livin' Indian!"
Summary: 5 Stars
Little Big Man is framed as a retrospective narration by Jack Crabb, who at age 120-plus, is the oldest living survivor of Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn, and in the 1960's (?) is being interviewed by a newspaper writer.
As kids, Jack and sister Caroline are the only survivors of an Indian attack, and they are taken to an Indian village and meet "Old Lodge Skins", the chief. Caroline expects to be raped later (and is somewhat disappointed when she is not) and rides away at night. The Cheyenne ("human beings") adopt Jack. Due to his small stature, Jack is named "Little Big Man" after he saves Younger Bear from a Pawnee attack.
In a battle againt the cavalry, just before he is about to be killed, Jack ID's himself as a white man, and is put in the care of Reverend Pendrake, whose wife (Faye Dunaway) takes an interest in Jack. He is taught to to read and write, and takes up religion with Mrs. Pendrake. After he finds Mrs. Pendrake and a soda-shop man in bed, that ends his religion phase.
Jack takes up with Mr. Meriwether, a con-man, and ends up getting tarred and feathered by a group led by his own sister. Jack moves in with Caroline and she teaches him to shoot ("Go snake-eyed"). Jack becomes a flashy gun-fighter known as the Soda Pop Kid after his drink of choice. He meets Wild Bill Hickok ("Might I ask who I are addressin'?") but gives up gunfighting after Hickok kills a man in a bar. Caroline subsequently disowns him, so Jack gets a partner and becomes a store owner, and marries Olga, a large Swedish woman. Jack's partner is a crook, and they goes bankrupt.
General Custer is passing by, takes pity on Jack and advises him to "go west" with his personal guarantee of safety - cut to Indians raiding a stage coach and riding off with Olga. Jack looks for her unsuccessfully while heading deeper into Cheyenne country, where he is ambushed. He convinces the Indians of his identity, and returns to their camp. He tells Old Lodge Skins about Custer.
Jack then rides off, and joins up with Custer to be a scout to find his wife. Custer is snobby and gives him a job as "mule-skinner". He rides in a massacre against an Indian village which he tries to stop, then escapes himself. He meets "Sunshine" as she is about to give birth in the bushes, and returns to the Indians with her. Old Lodge Skins is now blind from a wound. Jack stays with Sunshine and she hooks him up with her 3 sisters, so he now has 4 wives as Old Lodge Skins once predicted. It turns out his competitive Indian arch-enemy has married Olga.
After the birth of a son, the Indians are attacked and Sunshine and the baby are killed. Custer orders Jack hanged, but Jack identifies himself and talks his way out of it. Later at camp, Jack has the opportunity to kill Custer but chickens out. Custer insults him and Jack goes back to the white man as a common drunk. He meets Hickok again and learns Hickok was seeing Mrs. Pendrake, now a widow and prostitute. Hickok gives some money to Jack to give to the widow for a train ticket, then is shot and killed. Mrs. Pendrake flirts with Jack, but Jack just puts Hickok's money on her stomach and leaves.
Jack becomes a drunk again, and sees Meriwether (now with a hook and peg-leg) but does not join him in buffalo hunting. He has reached his low-point, and goes into the wilderness to become a hermit. He sees an animal's gnawed off foot in a trap and "snaps". He goes to a cliff to commit suicide, but hears the passing cavalry.
He decides to "meet the devil head on", and joins Custer again. Custer wants to use him as a "perfect reverse barometer" to out-fox the Indians. He asks Jack's advice on a proposed attack, which results in Custer's famous last stand at Little Big Horn.
Jack rejoins the Indians. Old Lodge Skins gives a moving speech, and goes to the hilltop to die. The narration leads us back to the present as old Jack Crabb winds up his story.
Originally R-Rated, the movie was re-rated PG-13, for violence and some sexual situations. The movie runs 138:35 minutes not counting end credits (listed as 139 on DVD, 147 at IMDB). I know they've cut the entire part of sleeping with the three extra wives when shown on TV.
Spectacular cinematography including the snow-covered great plains. Nice harmonica/guitar-based score. Excellent acting by all, and direction by Arthur Penn. Richard Mulligan as Custer is one of the best characters on film. Some of the movie dealing with the massacre of the Indians is truly sad, but the movie also contains a lot of ironic humor. Movies don't get better than this. DVD has widescreen movie, setup/subtitle options, and chapters.
In a year of Oscar insanity, Little Big Man had one nomination - Supporting actor for Chief Dan George - and "Airport" got 10 nominations and won a couple. Obvious a reflection of the political problems of the times.
"Sometimes grass don't grow, wind don't blow, and the sky ain't blue"
Movie Review: "My heart soars like a hawk."
Summary: 5 Stars
LITTLE BIG MAN was one of the earliest (1970) and best films to take a revisionist stance regarding the American frontier experience. Dustin Hoffman plays Jack Crabb, the 121-year-old sole survivor of Custer's Last Stand at the Little Big Horn.
LITTLE BIG MAN is a spectacular, beautiful film in that it has the viewer laughing uproariously one moment, bitterly weeping the next, and then angry, wistful and despairing in turns. Running the entire emotional range of any human being, LITTLE BIG MAN may well be one of the finest movies ever crafted. A fresh look at the frontier experience when it was produced, LITTLE BIG MAN is attractive for it's innate regard for the natural world and it's consideration of the Native American experience. A film with a strong antiestablishment cant to it (as are many films of the late 1960s and early 1970s), authority, in the form of the United States Military, is unyeilding, unthinking, and given to mindless destruction, a reflection of the Vietnam War era.
As the film opens, Crabb, a nursing home resident, is being interviewed by a somewhat pompous young historian. When the historian disparages Crabb the "Indian fighter"'s supposed attitude toward the Native Americans, Crabb launches into a long reminiscence of his life among the Cheyenne. As it transpires, Crabb, the victim of a Pawnee raid, was rescued by the Cheyenne ("The Human Beings") as a child. Raised among them, he is given the name of Little Big Man by his Indian grandfather, Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George) who becomes the young man's mentor and teaches him the ways of the Human Beings, a spare, straightforward philosophy of respect for the natural world, a worldview in which every Human Being has a place.
Captured by Buffalo Soldiers in a pitched battle against his band, Crabb is returned to white society. He soon discovers that the people of his birth live by a highly complex code of hypocrisy. In an episodic but hugely funny set of segments, Crabb is first adopted by the fanatically religious Pendrakes, where he soon becomes the amorous target of his adopted mother (Faye Dunaway in one of her sexiest roles). Running away from Mrs. Pendrake's advances, he takes up with the piratical Allardyce T. Merriweather (Martin Balsam), a snake-oil salesman. When they are tarred and feathered by an outraged citizenry, Crabb leaves Merriweather's company, soon after becoming a gunfighter ("The Soda Pop Kid"). During his time as a feared gunman, Crabb meets and befriends Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Corey) and Buffalo Bill. After being present at Hickok's death, Crabb turns in his gun, becomes a storekeeper, and marries Olga, a Swedish immigrant. The two go West at the advice of the megalomaniacal General Custer (Richard Mulligan in one of his best roles).
Despite Custer's obvious hatred of the Indians, Crabb, now unsure of himself as a person, finds Custer's hard and fast certainty admirable. Thereafter, the pull of Cheyenne values, as typified by Old Lodge Skins, and American values, as typified by Custer, begin to tear Crabb in two.
When Olga is kidnapped by Indians, the angry Crabb does briefly become an Indian fighter, but after witnessing an unprovoked slaughter of his own Cheyenne band, he reverts to his lifestyle as a Human Being. As a Human Being, Crabb is witness to the slow and inexorable defeat of his adopted people. Present at minor battle after minor battle, and then at genocidal disasters like the Washita River, Crabb loses his friends, his Indian wives, his children, and ultimately, his identity. Never able to commit fully to either the American world or the Cheyenne world, Jack Crabb becomes a tragic figure.
In the end, his initial respect for Custer becomes loathing. When he is hired on by the Seventh Cavalry as a scout, he tells Custer of the Indians' rage and prophesies a disaster in Custer's future. Custer, who has become near-messianic in his own mind, dismisses Crabb's dark pronouncements and decides to attack the 7,000-strong encampment at Little Big Horn with only a few hundred men. The slaughter that followed is legendary.
Rescued from certain death by Cheyenne who recognize him, Crabb returns to Old Lodge Skins and his band, though it is clear that "the Human Beings will soon walk a road that leads nowhere." Yet there is Hope. As Old Lodge Skins says, "Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn't. You wanna eat?" Life goes on.
Movie Review: "Little Big Man was either the Most Neglected Hero
Summary: 5 Stars
in history or a Liar of Insane Proportions!"This is Dustin Hoffman's tour de force; his transformation from a young man into a very, very old one, and it is entirely believable and great to watch. All the cast members are terrific, and Jeff Corey and Robert Mulligan my favorites. When Hoffman joins Custer's 7th as a scout/mule skinner he deliberately gives Custer the information that causes him to make the ill-fated decision to ride into the waiting arms of several thousand Sioux/Cheyenne and consequently, history. His own scout,the Native American named White Man Runs Him, warned him on the day before the Battle: "Tomorrow we go home by a different path."
Interesting note:
"One of the facts surrounding the battle that has been largely overlooked is that it wasn't just Bluecoats against Indians. It was Indians against Indians. Without the Crow and Arikara scouts aiding the military, the Bluecoats would not even have been able to find the Sioux and Cheyenne. On June 17, when Crazy Horse and his warriors attacked General Crook's detachment at the Battle of the Rosebud, the battle favored the Sioux, although Crook called it a draw. He withdrew from the field to lick his wounds, taking himself out of the hunt for the ''hostiles,'' and neither Gibbon and his men, Terry and his men, nor Custer and his men knew that he had returned to base. But this is the real kicker about that battle: the Crow and Arikera scouts saved General Crook and his men from an even more absolute whipping.
This, and other poignant details, are explored in a new book, ''Little Bighorn Remembered,'' by Herman J. Viola. He is the Curator Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution and noted author of fifteen books on American Indians over the past quarter century. He is now the adopted brother of Joseph Medicine Crow, whose grandfather White Man Runs Him was a scout for Custer, helping him to find the large gathering of Sioux and Cheyenne at the Little Big Horn."
The most haunting part of the entire movie, for me, was the massacre of Native Americans as a result of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. When the 7th rides into the camp they are accompanied by the stirring tune of "Garryowens" and slaughter men, women and children in one astounding, riveting scene, that horrifies and hypnotizes. You know it actually happened, it is historical and that makes it have far more impact, and it is very hard to watch, yet impossible not to.
All the Native Americans portrayed are done so with great care and I liked the friend of Hoffman's who later became a "Contrary" and walked backwards and spoke backwards, and the one who was more female than male and allowed, quite generously and without prejudice of any kind, to remain with the women and children, and to dress like a woman.
The elephant spigot in the drugstore was great, (that Old Lodge Skins saw in a dream) as was Faye Dunaway's portrayal of the good Christian wife with a side of lust.
When Custer loses it on the Battlefield, it is something to see, and he literally goes insane in front of us. In accounts of the actual battle, there were reports of soldiers going insane and killing themselves first before the Sioux could get to them; not a bad idea, considering the way in which they were butchered. Another interesting factoid was that the battle itself took about twenty minutes, and was not the long, drawn out episode sometimes portrayed. An old Sioux watched from afar, and said the battle lasted as long as it took him to finish his pipe. There were mutilations too, and Custer was the only one relatively untouched; when the squaws came to the battlefield they pierced his ears so in the next life he would "hear better, for he had been warned not to attack the Sioux again."
All in all, a wonderful movie and really transports you to a another time, long gone.
Movie Review: Penn's classic film finally appears on DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
One of director Arthur Penn's finest films, Little Big Man combines satire with tragedy with a deft, sure hand. The screenplay by the talented Calder Willingham and direction are sharp as nails and actor Dustin Hoffman manages to pull off a coup playing Jack Crabb from teen years (it's actually Hoffman's voice you hear dubbed in as a young teen)to old age (with marvelous make up by Dick Smith). Is Crabb telling tall tales (ironic and appropriate given his small stature and his Indian name)or did much of what he speaks about occur? It doesn't really matter as the telling of the tale is so marvelous.Penn and his collaborators use Jack as a social mirror reflecting the injustice, brutality and pettiness of the wild west. Staying true to the spirit of Thomas Berger's marvelous novel, the cast and crew manage to distill much of the essence of Berger while sacrificing some of the less important details. The loss is, surprisingly, not really felt for many of those who read the novel. The superb supporting cast includes Martin Balsam, Jeff Corey (in a funny, perceptive cameo as Wild Bill Hiccock), Faye Dunaway (as a religious hypocrite who lusts after her adopted son Jack), Chief Dan George (he has some of the funniest lines in the script)and the late Richard Mulligan playing a vain nearly psychopathic General Custer.
The digital transfer preserves the original aspect ratio of the film and the nearly flawless print shows very little digital compression problems. This disc is enhanced for 16X9 widescreen TVs. The 139 minute production is presented on a dual layer disc for maximum picture quality. I didn't detect any analog artifacts (or at the very least very few). The color is fairly true to the original release as far as I can tell. The sound presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Stereo Surround has some compression problems and sounds a little bit flat but that could be due to the original recording as well. The packaging says nothing about the sound being remixed for 5.1 so it's difficult to say how much restorage and changes were done to the soundtrack.
The drawbacks to this disc are few but important. There's no extras included. I'm sure the original theatrical trailer was available as were interviews with the stars and director during the film's original release. None of these vintage interviews are included. My guess is that Paramount chose to use the budget tp insure a high quality print and good sound. That's fine but it's a pity as Little Big Man is every bit the classic (and deserves the same treatment)as Casablanca, Patton and Dr. Strangelove. Paramount has been somewhat reluctant with many of their releases to DVD to provide extras (witness Chinatown, any of the Star Trek film releases--with the exception of the recently reissued films) Sure, there have been exceptions (The Godfather series)but most of those exceptions have been few and far between. If Paramount can't do justice to these classic films perhaps they should do an initial release and then license them to a specialty house (like Criterion or Anchor Bay)to provide a special features packed edition. Interviews with Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway would have enhanced this classic film. Perhaps neither one of these surviving cast members was interested in participating.
Little Big Man is one of Penn's finest films ( along with Night Moves and Bonnie & Clyde). I'm happy to have it available in such a beautiful transfer but wish that more time and care had been taken to provide fans and film buffs with extras.
Movie Review: One of most Memorable Films of the 70's
Summary: 5 Stars
Adapted to the screen from the Thomas Berger novel, Little Big Man tells the sweeping story of Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) told by the character himself interviewed in an old folks home as a centenarian. (Well over 100 years of age).
If there was one word to describe this film it would have to be charming, because it crosses many genres: drama, comedy, western, adventure, war, historical, biographical etc. One of the top twenty films made in the seventies, aside from The Godfather & Godfather 2, this movie would have to be one of the most memorable.
Jack Crabb's story of his life is a collection of anecdotes from the time he was kidnapped by Indians and raised as one of their own, to then be thrown back into the "white" mans world.
Really this film reveals the American Indians' civil and sane view of life over the white man's narrow and aggressive natures during that time.
Leaving his tribe, Jack Crabb is placed with the Pendrake family, the father is the town's paster and his beautiful though sexually frustrated wife played wonderfully by the beautiful Faye Dunaway. It is here, witnessing Mrs. Louise Pendrakes adulterous nature that he first begins to discover the insanities and hypocrisies of the "white man".
The saddest part of the film is Crabb's return to the Cheyenne, where he marries a lovely squaw and eventually has a child.
It is here he reunites with "Grandfather" or "Old Lodge Skins" (Chief Dan George) who deservedly won the Oscar that year for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The only way to describe "grandfather" is wise, simple, funny and confused about the white man's ways. He asks Little Big Man many questions about the white man's behaviour and customs and Jack Crabb, most of the time, does not have an answer.
The United States Calvary one morning descends upon the native village and massacres every man, woman and child. This raid was led by the infamous George Armstrong Custer, (Richard Mulligan) and is based on true historical events. Crabb's wife and baby are brutally killed by the soldiers though Crabb escapes to return to the white man's world as a drunk.
Many mishaps and circumstances finally lead Crabb to join the Seventh Calvary under Custer's command as a scout, and is known in the regiment as "mule skinner". It is here that Crabb seeks revenge for the murder of his family.
Grabb takes part in the famous battle of The Little Big Horn, as the soldiers are massacred, his life is saved once again because of an Indian from his past recognizes him before he is scalped.
My favourite and more than likely the funniest scene in the film is "Grandfather's" death, where he "knows" it is time for him to die and move to a better place. He lies down, closes his eyes and it begins to rain. He opens his eyes and asks if he has arrived to the great pastures...funny yet heartfelt.
It has been said that the seventies was the decade where good filmmaking lost its way.
Viewing Little Big Man once again, this statement is false beyond a doubt.
"Little Big Man" is a truly great film to own and view time and again.