My favorite Western

Most people will list "The Searchers" as the best western ever made. That movie with John Wayne in a heartwrenching role as a man looking for his Indian abducted niece was a good movie but it's nothing compared to this. "Little Big Man" is the best most consistently entertaining western I have ever watched. Sure it's historically inaccurate(most films about history are)but it's interesting to watch and it takes a view that I find interesting. Most of the westerns have painted Indians as savages and have painted people like George Armstrong Custer as heroes. This film does the exact opposite--The Indians in this come across as normal people while Custer comes across as a bravado lunatic who thought he knew everything.

The story is a fascinating one. Jack Crabb is 121 years old in the mid 1900s telling his story to a historian. He mentions that he is the sole white survivor of Custer's Last Stand and the historian laughs at him saying he doesn't want to hear tall-tales. The historian then makes note of Crabb as a man who wouldn't care about the Indians and how they were basically wiped off the face of the earth. We see Crabb's face in pain and anguish as he tells the historian to shut up, record his conversation and listen.

Crabb then tells his yarn. When he was 10 years old his family was slaughtered by Pawnee and he and his sister Caroline were the only survivors. They were picked up by some Cheyenne Indians and while Caroline ran off Jack stayed for about five years or so and was essentially adopted by the Indians who referred to themselves as "The human beings". They are led by Old Lodge Skins--the chief who adopts Jack Crabb as his own grandson and, after Crabb slays a Pawnee and saves one person's life, is given the Indian name "Little Big Man". he goes into battle against the whites and when captured he is taken back into white civilization to be "civilized".

From here the story touches many of the bases of the western. Crabb has a religious period, becomes an assistant at a medicine show, becomes a gunfighter and meets Wild Bill Hickok, etc. He marries a swede named Olga, tries starting up a store, fails and then meets Custer for the first time who tells him "Go West". He does but doesn't quite make it there as his wagon is hijacked and his wife captured while Crabb gets away scott free. He goes searching for Olga and it is here where the film really asserts itself. Jack Crabb is a man without a society. He is a white man but he is also Indian and in that he fights two sides. In one he sympathizes with the Indians and how the military treats them but in another he is furious because they took his wife.

To give any more of the plot would be to spoil the best moments. I'll just say this--We see a lot more of Custer and we see Crabb go back with the Cheyenne a number of times. He is torn between the two and that is the very fabric of his tale. At the end, we see him again as that 121 year old man on the verge of tears saying that al the Indian ever wanted was to be left alone and to have a place of their own. But battles such as Washita where Custer and his men came in and slaughtered 103 peaceful Indians including women and children made it hard for the Indian to believe anything the USA would say. The Indians unfortunately never had a chance. As the old indian chief Old Lodge Skins says after Custer's Last Stand "We won today. We won't win tomorrow"

This is a wonderful western which has a point to it. Most westerns don't have much of a plot or much of an idea behind them. This one does. It even has a message which is strange. It's simple but true: Who were the real victims? Say what you will about Custer's Last Stand but weren't the Indians here first? They were just trying to stay alive and keep some piece of land for themselves. They won the battle when they killed Custer but lost the war.

The acting here is interesting. Dustin Hoffman, in one of his best roles, plays Jack Crabb and its amazing how he is able to look so old and convincing as a 121 year old as well as being able to play a 15 year old kid with no problem. He's convincing and in yarn like this it is the one thing necessary. If we couldn't believe in Jack Crabb's struggle, the movie would fall apart. Hoffman plays the part admirably. His isn't the best role though. That goes to Chief Dan George who plas Old Lodge Skins. His performance is simple and solid but fills the movie with heart--His character is a representative of the Cheyenne people and just hearing him as he talks of their plight is heartbreaking. Richard Mulligan meanwhile plays Custer. His portrayal is intersting as Custer comes off as a lunatic blowhard. Is that how Custer truly was? Who knows? He surely wasn't a hero though like everyone wants to believe--rather just a man with an overabundance of luck and bravado. Mulligan's performance doesn't always work but when it does it's quite good and sometimes even funny. Also among the cast are Faye Dunaway in a small part as a preacher's wife who Jack later meets at a brothel, Martin Balsam as a medicine man who keeps losing body parts, and Jeff Corey as WIld Bill Hickok. All are quite good.

This movie is historically inaccurate but so were other movies like "Braveheart" and the recent "Gladiator". That doesn't matter so much though because this movie seems to capture the essence of the west. It's one of those movies that leaps off the screen and makes you think.

I have no real problemns with this. Sometimes it goes overboard with its portrayal of Custer and some moments (such as when Crabb is a drunk) don't work but overall this is a fantastic movie that I find to be the best western I've seen. A Great Great movie.