Genres

Visitors Review

Petri Pelkonen 2013-05-18 06:28:46

His western story; old man reminisces

A historian wants to know the story of a 121- year old man, JackCrabb.He tells how he became a member of the Cheyenne tribe, how hebecame the apprentice of a snake-oil salesman, how he knew Wild BillHickok and General George Armstrong Custer.Little Big Man (1970) is awestern directed by Arthur Penn.The movie is based on the 1964 novel byThomas Berger.Dustin Hoffman is amazing as Jack Crabb, both young andold.Faye Dunaway is very fine as Mrs. Pendrake.Chief Dan George isgreat as Old Lodge Skins.Martin Balsam is terrific as Mr.Merriweather.Richard Mulligan does great work as Custer.Jeff Corey isvery fine as Wild Bill Hickok.Caroline Androsky is very good asCaroline Crabb.M. Emmett Walsh is seen as Shotgun Guard.The movie is adifferent kind of a western movie.It's something never seen before.Themovie is full of drama, like in those battle scenes.Then it can befunny, like when Mrs. Pendrake gives a bath to Jack.Or when Jack has tobed his Indian wife's three sisters.And his gunslinger name The SodapopKid is just hilarious.I recommend you'd listen to the story of JackCrabb.This is a big story of a little man.

2013-05-17 09:08:48

Best movie I ever watched

This review is from: Little Big Man [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) Really good movie, and as a western, it will never go out of date. Not like the new stuff where they feel they have to throw fists full of blood at your face to get a reaction out of you.

Jamie Butler Reeves 2013-05-16 20:22:29

The sodapop kid strikes!

I have to admit... I LOVE THIS MOVIE and have since the first time I sawitas a kid. No other western - if it indeed is a true western? - tells thestory of the white man's disrespect for the ORIGINAL Americans, withoutthetear-teasing guilt or the cheesy wigs chasing the stagecoach.It is the story of an amazing man and his encounter with the Cheyenne. Wefollow young Jack Crab through his LONG life, and WHAT a life. Jack isabducted by Indians, raised by the preacher's ultra sexy wife, becomes thefastest gun in the west, sells dodgy "medicine" and joins General CusteratLittle Big Horn.A MUST SEE if you ask me.And to top it off, the blues great John Hammond provides a fantasticscore.A very hard to find album, but worth the effort and money... As is themovie.Have to rate it 10 folks!

2013-05-16 08:20:02

THE OLD WEST LIVES

An excellent fictional picture of the trials and tribulations of an old man from childhood until he is and old man of 121. How he was raised by Cheyenne Indians, his entry back into the white world and various stages of his life including Custer's Last Stand. Great movie rent it buy it or wait for it to be the movie of the week on TV

Hitchcoc 2013-05-16 04:11:04

A Western with a Sense of Humor

This will always be one of my favorite movies. I love long, episodicplotssuch as this. The character of Jack Crabb has such dimension and so growsfrom one incarnation to another, that he is worth watching from beginningtoend. This was Dustin Hoffman in his pre-pretentious "I'm such a big starIwon't listen to anyone" period and he is an absolute joy because he justplays the character as it should be played. I love that he can becowardlyone moment, confused the next, heroic the next. He goes through phases inhis life. Of course, the neatest part of the whole movie is the portrayalof the Indians. They are multi-dimensional and wonderful in theiracceptanceand joy with their world. Maybe everyone should see this movie to see howthese "human beings" have been driven from what they were to what they arenow. I have a top ten list of movie moments and on it is the scene whereold Lodge Skins goes off to die because it "is a good day." As he liesthere a drop of rain hits him in the eye and he decides that "sometimesthemagic doesn't work."The death of Sunshine is also so sad. I visited the Custer Battlefields afew years after seeing the movie, and while the place is interestinghistorically, I just couldn't look at it in the same way. The narrationofthe ancient Jack to the overmatched reporter is a delight. I know thatthisis a novel, not pure history, but Thomas Berger must have known thesepeopleand this delicate, beautiful movie is certainly his legacy.

Angi 2013-05-15 04:23:49

A great movie

I really liked this movie. It was funny, sad, and action-filled. I onlyhave one problem with it, that being they should've talked about his lifeeven after Little Big Horn a lot more. I realize this is fiction, buttherewere other things they could've included, and followed his entire life.Sure, it may've been longer, but I personally would be willing to watch itall. There are some movies that don't deserve to be as long as they are.This movie deserves to be longer.

2013-05-13 23:39:30

Good viewing

This review is from: Little Big Man (DVD) This is a classic as far as I'm concerned. Dustin Hoffman is one of the best actors of our day and this movie doesn't fail to entertain.

Carlos Xavier 2013-05-13 06:24:12

Cult Movies 53

53. LITTLE BIG MAN (western, 1970) From his Hospital bedside 121-yearold Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) recounts his exploits to a reporter:Captured by Cheyenne Indians at the age of 10 he's integrated intotheir 'alien' society and made the son of Indian 'Old Lodge Skies'(Chief Dan George). Proving his courage despite his short stature he'sgiven the name of 'Little Big Man'. During the Indian Wars Jack isreturned to white society. There he works as a shopkeeper, gunfighter,and finally used as an Indian Scout. The latter landing him under thecommand of General Custer (Richard Mulligan), who's putting together anarmy to fight the Indians at Little Big Horn.Critique: Extremely enjoyable, epic western directed by Arthur Penn.Praised for its depiction of Native Americans, it has biting satirical(and political) touches, saddled with farcical historical accounts ofthe Indian Wars. The once controversial aspects were meant to representthe ideologies of the time, but it has not lost any of its grit. What I like the most is its unique interpretation of Indians. Never inthe long cycles of American westerns were Indians presented as almostalien, coming across as a mythical people whose ignorance of politicalmaneuvers and technology proved their downfall. A very bitter and sadfarewell swansong to what war and genocide has taken away. Atypical cast delivers strong passages but you won't forget the2-standout roles of General Custer as portrayed by the maniacal RichardMulligan and 'Old Lodge Skies' played by the philosophical Chief DanGeorge. QUOTES: Old Lodge Skies: "There is an endless supply of white men. Butthere has always been a limited number of 'human beings'. We won today,we won't win tomorrow."

johno-21 2013-05-13 08:16:26

It's a good day to see this movie

I saw this movie when it first came out and loved it. I've seen it manytimes in the theater and on television and found it a fascinating tale.I did not read the novel so the movie wasn't a disappointment or adeparture from the book for me as I understand it may have been forothers. Just a great story of the tale as told by Jack Crab about hislife in the west and his many brushes with history in a kind of ForestGump meets Zelig meets Dances With Wolves. It was a twist on history aswe knew it but one scene closely resembles an actual event that tookplace in 1870 when General Sheridan ordered Major Eugene Baker and the2nd US Regiment to attack an encampment of the Blackfoot Confederacy atthe Maria River Massacre in Montana where the Cavalry actually attackedthe wrong encampment of who they were looking for and killed 173 mostlywomen and children while the men were away from camp and took 140 womenand children prisoners. Another scene of the movie deviates from anactual event in the portrayal of George Custer as mentally derangedcommander leading his men to suicide by Indian while having a nervousbreakdown. Custer made a fatal mistake but it didn't happen that wayand in reality he likely would have sought political office andpossibly being popular, ambitious and well connected would have soughtthe Presidency in 1888 or 1892. The over-the top performance by RichardMulligan as the mad Custer is superb. A great cast in this film withDustin Hoffman as Crabb and a great supporting actor in Chief DanGeorge as Old Lodge Skins. Faye Dunway and Martin Balsam in cameo rolesare great. A great collection of characters in this film like LittleHorse the flamboyantly gay Indian and Crab's nemesis Younger Bear whosuffers from some kind of affliction that makes him do some thingsbackwards. This movie is an intelligent dark comedy from directorArthur Penn and is one of Hoffman's finest roles. A little drawn-out inparts. I would give this a 9.5 on a scale of 10 and highly recommendit.

Neil Doyle 2013-05-12 21:23:46

Dustin Hoffman in seriocomic western on events surrounding Custer...

Highly entertaining saga has Dustin Hoffman as the lone elderlysurvivor of the attack at Little Big Horn, recounting his life historyto a skeptical historian--and it's quite a story, beginning with themassacre of his family in an Indian attack as a ten year-old boy andhis growing up among the Cheyennes who adopt him and call him "LittleBig Man" when he proves he's a worthy "human being" among them.The handsomely produced tale, filmed in gorgeous color on what appearto be actual locales, follows him throughout episodes always spiced bywicked humor. Especially funny is the sequence where he's delivered tothe doorstep of a minister and his wife (FAYE DUNAWAY), a woman whoquotes the Bible but has more earthy matters on her mind when she setseyes on Dustin and assumes the duty of bathing him while promising toavert her eyes at the proper moment.The humor is beneath even the most serious scenes, so that we know thetall tale is being offered as a tongue-in-cheek treatment ofIndian/white relationships, as well as a re-evaluation by Hoffman ofwhat General George Armstrong Custer was really like. Custer is shownas a vainglorious type of man who dislikes having his decisionsreversed, as what happens when he decides to spare the life of Hoffmanat their first meeting--and later, lives to regret it.Although the running time is well over two hours, the story never lacksinterest, with nice use being made of the "Garry Owen" tune that Custerloved. It's used most effectively in the final battle sequence atLittle Big Horn which is really something to see.No expense has been spared to give the film realistic looking settingsand a fine cast of players. JEFF COREY is amusing as Wild BillHickcock, looking very much like Victor Jory behind his beard andmustache and RICHARD MULLIGAN makes a believable Custer. CHIEF DANGEORGE is excellent as a wise old Indian who turns out to be somethingof a prophet with his eerie dreams, and KELLY JEAN PETERS is a spiritedOlga, Dustin's first wife.Summing up: Highly entertaining treatment and a different, lessHollywood view of the American Indian with a brilliant performance byDustin Hoffman--and the age make-up is terrific.

2013-05-11 00:25:18

Should be listed in fiction & comedy

Not what I was expecting. A little too long also. It had funny parts and sad parts, but mostly was a little "low budget" and almost put me to sleep. It was in Dustin Hoffman's early years, so I give him a break there.

2013-05-10 07:37:56

Little Big Man

This review is from: Little Big Man (DVD) I've viewed this movie in it's original release. This release has deleted portios I fuess for time sake. This Still is a very well presented movie. I would recomend it for family viewing PG13

2013-05-09 17:52:52

Beware The Region Codes!

This review is from: Little Big Man (DVD) I didn't really "hate" it. Just couldn't watch it on my DVD player because it had the wrong region code on it. It was made for region 2 which is Europe...needed to be region 1 for North America. Returned it for one with the correct region code.

2013-05-09 05:50:03

Little big man

This review is from: Little Big Man (DVD) Bought is for my ex mother in law and sat down and watched it with her. I could not wait for it to end and gave up and didn't finish it. She loved it.

2013-05-09 01:24:32

Classic

This review is from: Little Big Man (DVD) I have seen it before, had to have the DVD. This movie is a winner on so many levels it is ridiculous.

2013-05-08 14:53:53

Liked it

I like this movie very much. It's got a singular flaw which keeps itfrom being really top rank, but it does a lot of stuff really well. Forone thing, it manages not to be self-regarding about it's protagonist.Crabbe fails at everything, is always the passive one, the victim, thepatsy. The only action he really takes, at the very end, works becauseCuster is a whack-job, not because Crabbe has really been effective.It's sardonic and absurdist, but only heavy-handed in spots. unlike sayPenn's MICKEY ONE, which is so heavy-handed it's basically camp.Because the whole thing's grounded in the tall tale "genre", it comesoff light, amusing. Even the twists on the formula, the attempts tomake Grand Statements, feel like plays on the genre. Martin Balsam, forinstance, the con man who loses a piece of himself with every scam, isobviously in some sense a symbol of The Evils of Capitalism -- but he'salso the kind of figure a tall tale might exaggerate, and so he's moreacceptable than just some avante-gardey grotesque shoved in there. (Thevoice-over really works well in knitting that together -- it's one ofthe more effective uses of voice-over in movies, I think.) Because themovie's in some ways a bleak joke, the performances are fairlyone-dimensional. Dunaway is quite soft/sexy as the church wife and thenhard/sexy as the whore -- Mulligan is way over the top, but this timethrough I liked him better, mainly because I viewed him not as Custer,but rather as "what passes for Evil in an absurd world". Hoffman'sdoing Hoffman -- you never really buy him as anything but a perpetualoutsider, but that's all he's supposed to be, so it works.I think the movie's big flaw is that it gets overly-sentimental aboutthe Native Americans. I think it can't quite keep up it's sardonic tonewhen we're with them, and I think it throws off the rhythm of themovie. I think the real secret direction of the movie is that there isno moral center to the world, just nihilism, but I don't thinkconsciously it really wants to go there, and so backs away andromanticizes Native American life instead. But it doesn't feelbelievable -- those moments are heavy handed and didactic and strained.Suddenly what was complex is now simple: whites = bad, Cheyenne = good.It's interesting that the movie is at it's best away from the NativeAmericans.Well worth seeing, although I last saw it in a revival theater and theprint, a lousy television print, was dreadful. Look for a widescreenrelease, which may reframe director Penn's compositions properly.

2013-05-04 22:45:05

This Western Has It All

Advertised as a comedy when originally released, LITTLE BIG MAN is much, much more than that. Director Arthur Penn's sweeping film depicting the clash of the Indian and white cultures will have you chuckling one moment, then shaking your head sadly at man's inhumanity to man the next. Dustin Hoffman as the ever industrious Jack Crabb takes this movie on his shoulders and carries it superbly. To say that the actor shows some "range" in this role is the epitome of an understatement: from portraying an adolescent teenager to a fragile 121-year-old-man (phenomenal makeup job), from snake-oil salesman to mule skinner, Hoffman brings Jack's fascinating life to splendorous glory. And Hoffman is funny--darn funny--with a wonderful knack for physical comedy. In addition to Hoffman, LITTLE BIG MAN offers other savory treats. Richard Mulligan is absolutely delightful as a narcissistic General George Armstrong Custer--the stunning Faye Dunaway positively wicked as naughty Mrs. Pendrake. Chief Dan George, who portrays Old Lodge Skins, Jack's adopted Cheyenne grandfather, delivers countless one-liners, yet lends a quiet, heartfelt dignity to his role. In fact, this is a movie one will wish to savor again and again--a beautifully crafted, well-made film that is timeless in its ability to entertain.--D. Mikels

MICHAEL Sprague 2013-05-04 02:01:39

A classic, funny no matter who you are.

This is one of the greatest movies of all time. It should be in everyone's library for those rainy days when you just can't decide what to watch.

2013-05-02 20:55:07

An American Film Classic

This review is from: Little Big Man (DVD) A true American classic. It explores the violence, narcisissm, greed, sexual dysfunction, and the plain old human dumbness that made this country great. Sounds like a total downer, right? No. This story is wrapped in the glow of the Old West with a beautifully filmed, concisely scripted series of tales that follow Dustin Hoffman who represents modern America, caught up in the sins and lies of our fore-fathers, as he grows from child to man as a white man living among the Indian tribes. The Indians are not portrayed steroetypically as savages or as The Noble Braves. They are people too, people filled with self doubt, greed, longings for power and love and a desire to survive and to maintain their culture. Just as the whites are not portrayed as blind greed powered scythes sweeping down the cultures that lie before them as we supposedly conquered the west. The white man is portrayed as brave, as callow, as confused, as sexually repressed, as truely caring people. People, like their counter parts in the Indian culture, caught up in something so big that they find it impossible to sweep away the veil of confusion that hangs before their eyes when they view the world around them. This film is like our history, at times enlightening, at times confusing, sometimes enthralling, other times repulsive, sometimes joyous, but more often as life really is, filled with sadness and confusion and frustration. Those emotions we feel every day of our lives. As man has done every day since his first sentient thought. This movie is a treasure, much like King Kong, Citizen Kane, The Wild Bunch, The Godfather, Saturday Night Fever, West Side Story, Pinnochio, The Day The Earth Stood Still and Dirty Harry. All films that stood at the lead of changing cinema of their times. They were among the first to reflect new ideologies, new mind sets, new experiences in our culture in their stories, their look and their audeience appeal. When this comes out on DVD, I hope it is done with justice, with the extras and the opportunities to learn why this film is so important to our cinema through the extras such as voice overs and narrations to be enjoyed once we have absorbed the film itself. Grab this one right away, you will always find it worth watching from the first time to the last time you choose to view it. This film is Amercia personified, both the good and the bad. Nuff Said.

steffan-3 2013-05-02 08:40:29

One of the best indian-western ever!

I love western, and Little Big Man is one of the best. Like many otherwesterns from those ages, it has aged well. It`s funny, dramatic,excitingand sad at once. Many don`t like the comedian element in this movie, butIthink it`s great and it works well (Like Forrest Gump and Terms ofEndearment, who also are great). Check it out, I sure didn`tregret!My rating: 10/10