Little Big Man (1970)

`Little big' is an oxymoron. `Little big man' the film is another cinematic oxymoron: a tragi-comedy.

Most of Penn's movies are double-edged swords presenting serious subjects with a twinkle in the eye--`The Miracle Worker' seems to be an exception to the rule. Penn seem to have a strange knack of picking subjects that seem to be governed by forces greater than themselves-leading to alienated situations. My favorite Penn film is the 1975 film `Night Moves' which ends with the boat going round in circles in the sea.

This work of Penn and novelist Thomas Berger follows the same pattern. The main character Crabb is buffeted between the Red Indians and the whites by forces beyond his control. Only once is he able to control his destiny--to lead Custer to his doom, because Custer in his impetuosity has decided to act contrary to any advice from Crabb. The religious and social values of both seem vacuous. The priest's wife may seem religious but is not. The adopted grandfather cannot die on the hilltop but has to carry on living. The gunslinger is a cartoon. Historical heroes like Wild Bill Hickok are demystified into individuals with down-to-earth worries.

It is surprising to me that many viewers have taken the facts of the film and novel as accurate--when it is obviously a work of fiction based on history. The charm of the film is the point of view taken by the author and director. The comic strain begins from the time Jim Crabb's sister is not raped by the Indians right up to the comic last stand of Custer. The film is hilarious as it presents a quirky look at every conceivable notion presented by Hollywood cinema: the brilliant acumen of army Generals, the Red Indian satisfying several squaws, the priest's wife turned prostitute who likes to have sex twice a week but not on all days, the quack who has turned to selling buffalo hides as he sees it as a better profession even if he has lost several limbs, etc.

The film is a tragedy--a tragic presentation of the Red Indian communities decimated by a more powerful enemy, tragic soldiers led by megalomaniac Generals, heroes reduced to fallible individuals, all heroes (including the Red Indians) whittled down to dwarfs.

The film is a satire of a dwarf who claims to have achieved a great revenge on Custer, a dwarf who could not assassinate Custer, the dwarf in many of us. It is a great film, but often misunderstood. Penn is a great director, whose greatness cannot be evaluated by this one film but by the entire body of his films. What he achieved in this film outclasses films like Tonka (1958) and Soldier Blue (1970), two notable films on similar themes. Chief Dan George, Dustin Hoffman, and cinematographer Harry Stradling Jr have considerably contributed to this fine cinematic achievement, but ultimate giant behind the film is Arthur Penn.

He has presented yet another example of looking at a subject and seeing two sides of the coin that appear as contradictions but together enhances our entertainment.

Fmovies: This will always be one of my favorite movies. I love long, episodic plots such as this. The character of Jack Crabb has such dimension and so grows from one incarnation to another, that he is worth watching from beginning to end. This was Dustin Hoffman in his pre-pretentious "I'm such a big star I won't listen to anyone" period and he is an absolute joy because he just plays the character as it should be played. I love that he can be cowardly one moment, confused the next, heroic the next. He goes through phases in his life. Of course, the neatest part of the whole movie is the portrayal of the Indians. They are multi-dimensional and wonderful in their acceptance and joy with their world. Maybe everyone should see this movie to see how these "human beings" have been driven from what they were to what they are now. I have a top ten list of movie moments and on it is the scene where old Lodge Skins goes off to die because it "is a good day." As he lies there a drop of rain hits him in the eye and he decides that "sometimes the magic doesn't work."

The death of Sunshine is also so sad. I visited the Custer Battlefields a few years after seeing the movie, and while the place is interesting historically, I just couldn't look at it in the same way. The narration of the ancient Jack to the overmatched reporter is a delight. I know that this is a novel, not pure history, but Thomas Berger must have known these people and this delicate, beautiful movie is certainly his legacy.

My parents purchased a VHS copy of Little Big Man for me when I was 14 and, because it was a western, I didn't touch it for two years, in spite of their belief in its greatness. When I finally watched the film, I was astounded to find a film that was funny, angry, violent, and moving simultaneously. It turned out that my parents were, in fact, correct. Little Big Man was great.

I've gone back to the movie several times since that first viewing and it continues to entertain and affect; for me, a film that has emotional resonance well after the first viewing is rare and, though it does not always point to greatness, it often does.

Every element of the film is fantastic. The acting, by Hoffman and Dan George in particular, is amazing, as is Penn's direction. The story picaresque and always fascinating. There simply is no weak component to this movie.

I must also commend the film as a literary adaptation. I am not the most supportive critic of the Thomas Berger novel upon which the film is based. I find its thematics confused; it cannot decide whether or not it wants to revise western mythology or further it and, in that way, it fails for me. Calder Willingham's adaptation removes the ambivalence inherent in the novel and thereby writes one of the first and greatest revisionist Hollywood Westerns.

Little Big Man is a great movie, as I have said, and it deserves much more notoriety than it receives. This is, I fear, a film that too few people of my generation know. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it as an excellent and entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.

Little Big Man fmovies. Slow paced? Clearly this comment came from somebody with Attention Deficit Disorder or someone raised on MTV. Actually quite a bit happens to this classic satircal western. The writing, direction and acting are marvelous. The transfer to DVD beautiful. It lacks extras which is a pity as (of this writing)Arthur Penn is still around to the best of my knowledge.

I have to admit... I LOVE THIS MOVIE and have since the first time I saw it as a kid. No other western - if it indeed is a true western? - tells the story of the white man's disrespect for the ORIGINAL Americans, without the tear-teasing guilt or the cheesy wigs chasing the stagecoach.

It is the story of an amazing man and his encounter with the Cheyenne. We follow young Jack Crab through his LONG life, and WHAT a life. Jack is abducted by Indians, raised by the preacher's ultra sexy wife, becomes the fastest gun in the west, sells dodgy "medicine" and joins General Custer at Little Big Horn.

A MUST SEE if you ask me.

And to top it off, the blues great John Hammond provides a fantastic score. A very hard to find album, but worth the effort and money... As is the movie.

Have to rate it 10 folks!

One night while channel flipping, I thought I saw a familiar face but too young to be recognized without a second look. I double check my vision and was convinced that the young boy in the movie was Dustin Hoffman prehaps in his early twenties or late teens. I saw him at the Academy Awards (98) this year and his complexion has changed a bit given the thirty years difference. From Little Big Man to Rain Man, Hoffman will be forever be immortalized as a Hollywood legend. Little Big Man is an exceptionally well done movie (the cast, the direction, and the great acting of Hoffman, chief Dan, and of course the sexy Faye). This is more than a movie, it was an adventure of a lifetime. You are pitched into his world and feel his every joy and every agony as he progresses through every stages of his life. Some say cats have nine lives but I think Little Big Man must have at least a hundred. This movie centers around the hostilities between the White Men and the Indians with climatic event "The Last Stand". Without giving away the movie, I must say the line "Run Sunshine run!! Run!!" captivated my soul. The movie is like a good book you just can't put it down. I recommend this movie to everyone.