LITTLE BIG MAN (1970)

[Scott]

LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) - Just seen this one a couple days ago. It's now one of my favorite Westerns. The film stars Dustin Hoffman and is like a mix between a Woody Allen movie and DANCES WITH WOLVES. The film had me cracking up all the way thru it. The Chief was to much. The things he said were said so well. The General Custer character was just out of his mind. Hoffman even re-does his famous THE GRADUATE scene. Like the one were Mrs. Robinson tries to seduce him. You don't have to like Westerns to enjoy this one.

My "to view" list below is based on available rentals to view in the future:

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
McCabe and Mrs Miller
Andrei Rublyov (1969)
Navajo Joe (Western)
The Professionals (Western)
Cable Hogue (Western)
Mountain Men (Western)
Purgatory (Western)
Yojimbo (Kurasawa)
Kugemesha (Kurasawa)
Vamp (Grace Jones)
Birth of a Nation (Film History)
John Wayne Films
Puppet Master III & IV
Jason Goes to Hell
Phantasm III (and maybe part II, kinda forgot how that goes)
Lepracaun II & III

Searching For These:

A Bullitt for the General
The Great Silence
Companeros
Keoma
Fist Full of Lead (a.k.a. Get your Coffins Ready, Sartana is Coming)
Texas, Adios
El Topo
The Holy Mountain
The Man in the White Suit
On The Beach (Flix showed it recently, but I missed it)
Four of the Apocalypes


Upcoming Releases:

28 Days Later
Gangs of New York
Pirates of the Carribean
About Shmidt

[ErikJ]

I saw this movie back in high school for US history. It shows a lot of history that we take for granted. Like Gen. Custer, He was an idiot. Or even the indian culture.

[Feathertop]

I liked this film but I'm not as enthusiastic about it as the other 2 who have posted about it.   It was mildly irritating how the film mistakenly has Wild Bill Hickok getting killed BEFORE Custer buys it at the Battle of Little Big Horn instead of after, like it should be. (Ironically FLASHMAN AND THE REDSKINS had the events in the right order, but an all-American product like this film got it wrong. Maybe the novel it was based on had the chronology, I don't know. I've never read it. )
The FLASHMAN novels would make a good read for anyone who enjoyed this movie, though! History, sex and action all thrown together seamlessly!

[yaddo42]

This is a long time favorite of mine, proof that you can make a western featuring American Indians without portraying them as the usual stereotypes of old westerns, or as some kind of idealized naturalist wonderkids, like in some of the other revisionist westerns "Dances With Wolves". But rather as the human beings they are with strengths and failings and individual personalities.

The book also gets the chronology out of order, because the events of the Battle of Little Big Horn are the culminating events of the book. It is the last of Jack Crabb's "rememberances" recorded in the novel, although the narrator expresses his disappointment that Crabb dies before he can record other unusual tales that Jack hinted about to him. There is a sequel to the novel, written about twenty years later, but I haven't read it.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Although, I generally loathe westerns, this is actually a great flick.  Watched it about five years ago in Film Literature class.  Superb film, that I hope to get on DVD someday.

Random Question About This Film:
The reporter in the very beginning, the one who tapes the conversation, what is his name?  He was also in The Sentinel and Nightmare Before Christmas (evil scientist).  I've done a search on IMDB but must be overlooking him.  Any help guys?

[The Burgomaster]

This is an excellent movie. The only problem I have with it is Dustin Hoffman's old-man make-up. A lot of people thought it was great . . . I thought it looked like make-up. Other than that, I highly recommend it.

[JohnL]

>The reporter in the very beginning, the one who tapes the conversation, what is
>his name? He was also in The Sentinel and Nightmare Before Christmas (evil
>scientist). I've done a search on IMDB but must be overlooking him. Any help
>guys?

William Hickey was in all three;

Nightmare Before Christmas, The (1993) (voice) .... Dr. Finklestein
Sentinel, The (1977) .... Perry
Little Big Man (1970) .... Historian

His IMDB page is here;

William Hickey

[yaddo42]

I think the makeup looked good for it's time. But I also think much of the attention it got was over the transformation of Dustin Hoffman, people weren't expecting him to be so unrecognizabled. Those scenes are still a credit to Hoffman's ability as an actor, he really was physically immersed in the role. The first time my sister saw the movie she couldn't believe that was Hoffman instead of an elderly actor.

[Scott]

The Indians are portrayed well as Yaddo said.

Hoffmans make-up was ok.

Is the Indian chief the same person as in OUTLAW JOSEY WALES? He seemed familiar. Great dialogue. Again I liked this film a lot.

[JohnL]

>Is the Indian chief the same person as in OUTLAW JOSEY WALES?

Nope. The chief in Outlaw Josie Wales, Ten Bears, was played by Will Sampson, the guy who played in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest & Poltergeist II.
 
Will Sampson

[yaddo42]

I think Scott meant  the character Old Lodge Skins from "Little Big Man", played by Chief Dan George. He portrayed Lone Watie in "Outlaw Josie Wales".

[JohnL]

>I think Scott meant the character Old Lodge Skins from "Little Big Man", played
>by Chief Dan George. He portrayed Lone Watie in "Outlaw Josie Wales".

Oops. My mistake, I've never seen Little Big Man.

[BoyScoutKevin]

The author of "Little Big Man" is Thomas Berger. Who did write a sequel to it called "The Return of Little Big Man," which dealt with the further exploits of Jack Crabb. And it is more like 35 years later between the two books. "Little Big Man" being written about 1964, and "The Return of Little Big Man" being written about 1999.