mike48128 Review of Little Big Man

Little Big Man (1970)

Jack Crabb's Tall Tales: Not as Funny as Before

[6/10 · 9 September 2013]

My tastes have changed over the years. The last time I saw this was the edited-for-TV version and now recently, uncut on TCM. I liked it before; I didn't like it this time. It's like watching M*A*S*H in that it lulls you into thinking it's a comedy and then it gets very bloody and graphic. Gunfighter battles and Indian massacres. At least one part of the story is true: Custer did wipe out 210 innocent "Human Beings" (as the tribe calls itself) for almost no reason at all. However, most of the colorful parts of the movie seem to be tall tales. (Example: he makes love to 4 Indian squaws at once.) It reminds me of Cecil B. DeMille's "The Plainsman" in that the storyline is illogical. He meets up with the same colorful characters over and over again: Mr. Merriweather (Martin Balsam). Mrs. Pendrake (Faye Dunaway), who becomes a whore. "Olga", his fiery red-haired ungrateful wife, who becomes an Indian squaw for his "sworn enemy" Indian brother. Wild Bill Hickok, who dies unexpectedly. Chief Dan George, as "Grandfather", was nominated for an Oscar and deserved it. At the end an outstanding "dazed and confused" portrayal by Richard Mulligan as an egotistical and crazy General Custer. (Was the real Custer really that stupid?) Too long and too contrived for me. Dustin Hoffman's acting is very uneven. It's brilliant at times yet unpolished and unfunny.