Little Big Man

Arthur Penn's (Bonnie and Clyde) Little Big Man (1970) is yet another entry in the spate of revisionist Westerns of the late '60s/early '70s, which challenged the old-fashioned triumphalist views of the Old West. Think Forrest Gump meets Dances With Wolves, filtered through Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and you have a good idea of the kind of film this is. It's certainly well-made and entertaining, but dated and only sporadically successful in making its point.

The 122-year old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), "the last white survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn", tells his story to an obnoxious historian (William Hickey). Crabb and his sister (Carol Androsky) were orphaned when their parents were killed by bloodthirsty Pawnee Indians, and they were rescued and raised by a tribe of Cheyenne led by Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George). Crabb is captured by US Cavalrymen, adopted into wife society by the Bible beating Reverend Pendrake (Thayer David) and his lascivious wife (Faye Dunaway), works with conman (Martin Balsam), undertakes a gunslinging career which leads to several encounters with Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Corey), and ends up a scout with the 7th Cavalry led by the vainglorious George Armstrong Custer (Richard Mulligan), who stupidly leads his regiment into a massacre.

Little Big Man is a mediation on Western myth-making. Jack Crabb is the ultimate unreliable narrator, an ancient codger telling tall tales into a microphone, and right off the bat it's clear we should take him with a grain of salt. As such, it's hard to fault the film for its historical inaccuracies, from its Vietnam-informed portrayal of Custer and the 7th Cavalry to the unlikely number of historical personages (Custer, Hickok, Buffalo Bill) Crabb encounters to his masturbatory encounter with a trio of Indian widows. However, the film's falling back on cliches of all sorts, from the lecherous, hypocritical Christians to the murderous cavalry and noble Indians, is more problematic.

The film thematically bears a curious resemblance to John Huston's The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1973), another revisionist film. Little Big Man's episodic plot is certainly better-structured and more consistent than Bean's, its scenes and plot being somewhat coherent, but it suffers from the same oft-overbearing irreverence and smugness as Huston. The humor is often broad and self-serving, not funny so much as mocking, particularly its bizarre portrayal of Custer as an insane, stupid egomaniac, giving a speech while his troopers are slaughtered around him. In this regard, along with the Pocahontas-esque noble Indians, the film goes a bit too far in correcitng the ledger. The movie is much better in its serious moments; the snow-driven Washita Massacre is a truly harrowing sequence, and the scenes of Crabb adjusting to Indian life are strong scenes. For all its good scenes, however, the film never truly transcends the mythos of the early '70s.

Penn's direction is assured, handling the action scenes well and wonderfully capturing the gorgeous Montana landscapes. The movie has strong set pieces throughout - the battle scenes, particularly the aforementioned Washita scene, are generally well-handled, though the Little Big Horn climax is a bit of a let-down. The movie handles the Natives fairly well, aside from an occasionally over-eloquent speech and a bizarre homosexual Indian (Robert Little Star) who is anachronistic and probably in bad taste, though the American characters are mostly cartoons. John Hammond's catchy blue grass music score is wonderful.

Dustin Hoffman's casting in the title role is highly problematic, to say the least. The talented Method star of The Graduate, Straw Dogs and All the President's Men, at the peak of his stardom, is simply not cut out to play an adopted Indian/Indian fighter/hermit/gunslinger/Old Man; his attempts at a corn-poned Southern accent, mixing with his usual New York deadpan, result in perhaps the most bizarre accent outside of Anthony Hopkins' Texas Leprechaun voice as Richard Nixon. It's not that Hoffman's performance is bad per se, but that he's miscast beyond all hope.

The supporting cast fares better. Faye Dunaway has an extended cameo as the sultry, sensual Mrs. Pendrake, who believably goes from bored preacher's wife to whore. Martin Balsam and Jeff Corey contribute fun cameos as larger-than-life Westerners. The Indian cast is solid, save Little Star's character; particular honors goes to Chief Dan George (The Outlaw Josey Wales), the perfect mixture of sagely wisdom and down-to-earth wit and humor. Richard Mulligan's caricature Custer is beyond absurd, and is too ridiculous to draw the laughs it's designed to.

Little Big Man is a fun, irreverent Western that perhaps goes too far in its efforts. It's certainly worth a look for Western fans, but it's far from the classic its reputation suggests.