One of the most beautifully filmed movies ever. Arthur Penn's Little Big Man is a lesson in man's inhumanity to man, mixing historical events and characters with fictional ones.I first saw this film in Junior High School, about 1978 and we actually watched it during history class over three days. It was a 16 mm print shown on the classic Bell and Howell school projector.
I was moved from the beginning to the end. It is indeed a western, and yet that's not all there is to this story. If people dismiss this movie as 'just another western', they are missing out on one of the finest films ever made.
I applaud the use of REAL Native American actors in little Big Man. There were so many Hollywood films and TV shows with Native Americans often portrayed by white actors of Jewish, Italian and German heritage.
The US. Government soldiers were murderers and are often portrayed as buffoons. Rightly so. The policies of the U.S. government were so twisted, sick and murderous, I hate to say it, but Custer and his gang deserved what they got at Little Big Horn. What stupidity. Custer is played as a clueless power hungry madman by the wonderful comic character actor, Richard Mulligan.
The use of the 'gay' Indian was genius. The Native Americans accept people of 'two spirits'. They are looked upon as valued members of the tribal family, not shunned and disowned for who they are.
The Native Americans were here first, and we stole their land and broke every treaty we ever made with them. The white man gave them alcohol which turned many into horrible alcoholics. That condition affects many natives on the reservations to this day. Depression, Poverty, Hopelessness. Having your land taken from you at gunpoint, and your people slaughtered. We'd be depressed, too if they had done it to us! I highly recommend this film as a historical western/comedy/tragedy.
Don't dismiss it. It's worth seeing. And owning.
I was moved from the beginning to the end. It is indeed a western, and yet that's not all there is to this story. If people dismiss this movie as 'just another western', they are missing out on one of the finest films ever made.
I applaud the use of REAL Native American actors in little Big Man. There were so many Hollywood films and TV shows with Native Americans often portrayed by white actors of Jewish, Italian and German heritage.
The US. Government soldiers were murderers and are often portrayed as buffoons. Rightly so. The policies of the U.S. government were so twisted, sick and murderous, I hate to say it, but Custer and his gang deserved what they got at Little Big Horn. What stupidity. Custer is played as a clueless power hungry madman by the wonderful comic character actor, Richard Mulligan.
The use of the 'gay' Indian was genius. The Native Americans accept people of 'two spirits'. They are looked upon as valued members of the tribal family, not shunned and disowned for who they are.
The Native Americans were here first, and we stole their land and broke every treaty we ever made with them. The white man gave them alcohol which turned many into horrible alcoholics. That condition affects many natives on the reservations to this day. Depression, Poverty, Hopelessness. Having your land taken from you at gunpoint, and your people slaughtered. We'd be depressed, too if they had done it to us! I highly recommend this film as a historical western/comedy/tragedy.
Don't dismiss it. It's worth seeing. And owning.