-- As Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid showed, humour can work well in a Western without it having to be a full comedy. Little Big Man's attempts to mix humour and drama, however, are often clumsy. Faye Dunaway's Christian woman who hides her horniness with piousness is an obvious and tiresome character. Cal Bellini's gay Native American, although a progressive idea, is a caricature. And Carole Androsky's regret at not being ravaged by Indians is archaic "humour" at its worse (It unfortunately pops up as recently as 1980, in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories.)
-- The climax, the Battle of Little Big Horn, could have been an exciting, even epical, scene, but it was poorly staged. Maybe more time and money were needed, but it feels flat and too much emphasis was put on Custer's descent into complete madness.
The most effective scene in Little Big Man is the Washita River Massacre, in which Custer's 7th Cavalry wipes out an entire village, including women and children. An unflinching and cruel scene, it evokes the American phase of the Vietnam War, specifically the My Lai Massacre. (ASIDE: In a morbid example of symmetry, the two massacres occurred exactly 100 years apart.)
Article comments
1 - ctrl-z
"Little Big Man" is a great movie classic. If your train of thought gets derailed by anything longer than a scene in an MTV video...don't bother writing a review.
2 - D
There was no massacre at Washita, Penn's movie isn't accurate. Please read books about US history such as Jerome Greene "Washita 1868", University of Oklahoma Press, 2004
3 - Mihos
This was the second movie I saw in a theatre. The first was A Man Called Horse.
I guess it will always be a favorite. Interesting that you write about its aging.
Never thought of that before a movie aging.
I seem to recall there being good guys and bad guys in both camps. A great film and a classic in my opinion.
4 - Bennett
"Little Big Man" has long been on my Greatest Movies Of All Time list. I think your review is a shallow misrepresentation of an incredible entertaining, and profoundly sad film.
The scene before the battle of Little Big Horn is a perfect example of Hoffman in total control of his craft.
I find it difficult to imagine anyone thinking that this work of art "jumps around".
But wait... the date of this review is from January, and you haven't posted since....
Never mind.
5 - Raven Woods
Ah, excuse me...there was no massacre at the Washita River in 1868? I think that thousands of Cheyenne men and women would beg to differ with you. If there is any account that states othewise, it is nothing but more propaganda intended to whitewash American history in favor of Europeans. The Cheyenne chief Black Kettle, his wife, and many hundreds of others, including women and children, died as a result of that attack, which incidentally was led by Custer. This is not a falsehood or inaccuracy, but a fact.