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Summary: Little Big Movie
Review: All right ..... WHY is this film not out on DVD yet? A profound, deep, rambling, touching adventure story to end all such stories, a true labor of love for director Arthur Penn, and the performance of Dustin Hoffman's career (not bad for a second major role). This one is right up there with "Gone With the Wind" as an epic morality tale of the human journey. Another reviewer compared this film to "Forrest Gump" in its scope, which is not too far off the mark, but this story cuts a little more deeply in its cry of outrage at the atrocities visited upon Native Americans as our great ancestors paved their way westward across our infant nation. One of the most heartbreaking and infuriating moments in cinema history takes place as we see Jack Crabbe watching helplessly from a few feet away while his beautiful Cheyenne wife and newborn baby meet cruel, bloody death at the hands of the U.S. Infantry. You realize then that this is more than an epic about Western Heroes; it is a truly subversive landmark film achievement, made at a time when our government's good intentions were up to question ..... subversive because it could break your heart one moment and entertain and tickle you the next with its irreverent view of our Great Society. This is one of those movies that will never wear out its welcome, rather it will be rediscovered with renewed appreciation with age, and one can only hope that when it DOES make it to digital it will be restored with the same care as the recent Hitchcock re-releases, because Little Big Man truly belongs in that league of American film greats. A timeless triumph in every sense.
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Summary: Penn's classic film finally appears on DVD
Review: One of director Arthur Penn's finest films, Little Big Man combines satire with tragedy with a deft, sure hand. The screenplay by the talented Calder Willingham and direction are sharp as nails and actor Dustin Hoffman manages to pull off a coup playing Jack Crabb from teen years (it's actually Hoffman's voice you hear dubbed in as a young teen)to old age (with marvelous make up by Dick Smith). Is Crabb telling tall tales (ironic and appropriate given his small stature and his Indian name)or did much of what he speaks about occur? It doesn't really matter as the telling of the tale is so marvelous.Penn and his collaborators use Jack as a social mirror reflecting the injustice, brutality and pettiness of the wild west. Staying true to the spirit of Thomas Berger's marvelous novel, the cast and crew manage to distill much of the essence of Berger while sacrificing some of the less important details. The loss is, surprisingly, not really felt for many of those who read the novel. The superb supporting cast includes Martin Balsam, Jeff Corey (in a funny, perceptive cameo as Wild Bill Hiccock), Faye Dunaway (as a religious hypocrite who lusts after her adopted son Jack), Chief Dan George (he has some of the funniest lines in the script)and the late Richard Mulligan playing a vain nearly psychopathic General Custer. The digital transfer preserves the original aspect ratio of the film and the nearly flawless print shows very little digital compression problems. This disc is enhanced for 16X9 widescreen TVs. The 139 minute production is presented on a dual layer disc for maximum picture quality. I didn't detect any analog artifacts (or at the very least very few). The color is fairly true to the original release as far as I can tell. The sound presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Stereo Surround has some compression problems and sounds a little bit flat but that could be due to the original recording as well. The packaging says nothing about the sound being remixed for 5.1 so it's difficult to say how much restorage and changes were done to the soundtrack. The drawbacks to this disc are few but important. There's no extras included. I'm sure the original theatrical trailer was available as were interviews with the stars and director during the film's original release. None of these vintage interviews are included. My guess is that Paramount chose to use the budget tp insure a high quality print and good sound. That's fine but it's a pity as Little Big Man is every bit the classic (and deserves the same treatment)as Casablanca, Patton and Dr. Strangelove. Paramount has been somewhat reluctant with many of their releases to DVD to provide extras (witness Chinatown, any of the Star Trek film releases--with the exception of the recently reissued films) Sure, there have been exceptions (The Godfather series)but most of those exceptions have been few and far between. If Paramount can't do justice to these classic films perhaps they should do an initial release and then license them to a specialty house (like Criterion or Anchor Bay)to provide a special features packed edition. Interviews with Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway would have enhanced this classic film. Perhaps neither one of these surviving cast members was interested in participating. Little Big Man is one of Penn's finest films ( along with Night Moves and Bonnie & Clyde). I'm happy to have it available in such a beautiful transfer but wish that more time and care had been taken to provide fans and film buffs with extras.
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Summary: Must Be On Top Ten Westerns
Review: All the others on this page have done a wonderful job of reviewing this movie, so I will not continue. However I think it is a shame that it is not on any Top Ten lists of westerns. All the lists I have seen are heavy with Ford directed movies depicting the Indians as the bad, the yellow scarved cavalrymen as the good, and the obligatory love interest of some chick riding into indian country on the stage. I suppose it is understandable given the times these were made, etc., but most westerns are a notch below Little Big Man. Outlaw Josie Wales should be in the top ten also, but that rant is for another page.
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Summary: Terrific film adaptation of Thomas Berger's novel
Review: Just a few years after success in The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman continued his identification as the Everyman of modern youth in this delightfully rambling, mordant, and affecting picaresque set in the American frontier. Hits all the right notes perfectly in its representation of the contrary and conflicting moods of a person awkwardly attempting to makes sense of the world and find a place in it. Enjoyable in its own right as a marvelous piece of movie story-telling, the film yields greater meaning when viewed with appreciation for the conflicts of the late 60's: the war in Vietnam, the generation gap, Native American and other groups' struggle for freedom and respect. Chief Dan George turns in a magnificent performance as Cheyenne tribal leader Old Lodge Skins, Hoffman's adoptive "grandfather" and the film's spiritual centerpoint. I've watched this movie several times and always come away moved by the beautifully poignant ending with Grandfather and Little Big Man on the mountaintop. You'll want to view this film again and again.
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Summary: This Western Has It All
Review: 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
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Summary: Timeless Film
Review: Little Big Man is one of my all time favorite movies fro many reasons. Dustin Hoffman gives what I believe to be his greatest performance as Jack Crabb. His range here is incredible as he portrays a man torn between two cultures and his life weaves back and forth between the white world and the indian world in which he was raised. His performance is funny when appropriate and yet filled with pathos and emotion when the necessary. An absolute masterful job of acting.
The Cheyenne scenes are moving and Ghief Dan george who plays Crabb's adoptive grandfather provides the film with gravity as he consistently demnonstrates wisdom and dignity despite the increasingly difficult circumstances that his tribe finds themselves in.
I don't know the actor's name who plays Custer but he provides just the right amount of comic bravado to make Custer seem to be a pathetic character who's hubris led to his troops demise. While this may or may not be an historically acurate portrayal it certainly fits the mood of the film.
Other famous western personalities such as Wild Bill Hickock are included in the story as Jack Crabb's life zig-zags it's way through the west. A fabulous ride and a very memorable film to be enjoyed again and again.
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Summary: In Your Face, Dances with Wolves
Review: I remember just how disgusted I was watching Costner court the permed up caucasian woman and all I could think was, I wish I were watching Little Big Man again. No movie that I know has ever painted the American Indian culture as vividly, or as empathetically. And given that, the movie goes on to succeed on every level it exists, the dramatic, the romantic and the comic. I can't tell you how this movie ranks in the pantheon of great film, but I can say with absolute certainty it is the most enjoyable film I have ever watched. I find the ending both moving and deeply funny and look forward to that scene every time.
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Summary: This film has held up well
Review: I recently watched Little Big Man for the first time in 20 years. I was surprised how well it has held up. In fact I believe it to be a superior movie when compared to Dances With Wolves which perpetuates the myth of the Noble Savage, especially in the depictions of living conditions. The Plains Indians suffered a brutal and primitive existance survived by becoming one with their environment. I think Little Big Man depicts this while Dances With Wolves does not.
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Summary: A true classic
Review: The humor, the adventure and the history. Dustin offers a true classic Hollywood performance as he traces the sad tale of the abuse of a great native american culture. A must own DVD. A movie to be enjoyed throughout the ages.
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Summary: My Son , this Movie Makes My Heart Soar Like a Hawk
Review: I remember seeing the original theatrical release of Arthur Penn's "Little Big Man" in the early 1970's. Now over thirty years later it has been released in DVD form and it is a film, that is both funny and tragic as ever.In the film, 121 year old Jack Crabb (played humorously by Dustin Hoffman) recounts his life (in narrated backflash) growing up among both the Cheyenne Indians and the white man in the old wild West.We follow the Crabb character as he goes through various phases as a Cheyenne warrior, a medicine show conman, a gunfighter, entrepreneurial business man, drunkard and finally a mule skinner/U.S. Army scout. Crabb is a man trapped between two cultures. He hilariously stumbles through the old west trying to find a place among his own kind, even though his heart is still with the Cheyenne Indians who adopted him. The movie leads up to Crabb's eventual, critical participation in the 'Battle of Little Bighorn', otherwise known as 'Custard's Last Stand'.The film is humorus as it shows how little people change over history. Just as today, people of the historical old West were driven by such things as love, lust, vanity, power and money.Unfortunatly they also were driven by bigiotry, hatred and violence.One of the main themes of "Little Big Man" is the terrible, almost genocidal treatment of the American Indian at the hands of the U.S. government.It's somewhat ironic, that the Cheyenne in the film refer to themselves as 'the human beings', yet the white men seem to treat them as anything but that. Arthur Penn (director of "Bonnie & Clyde") has created a sprawling, well directed, historical tapestry of a film, which makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time.The movie is a star vehicle for the then young, Dustin Hoffman. Like "The Graduate", this film shows off, what a wonderful comic performer Hoffman can be.The large cast has many standout performances. Faye Dunaway is hilarious as Jack's religious, yet lascivious, adoptive mother, Mrs.Pendrake. The same goes for comic actor, Richard Mulligan, who puts in a very funny performance playing General George Armstong Custard as a pompous egomaniac, who's vanity leads to his imfamous place in history.But by far, one of the best performances in the film comes from Chief Dan George, who play's Hoffman's wise and mystical, yet somewhat scatological adoptive, indian grandfather.The character is intersting, because he always seems to be able tell us the obvious truth of the moment.He understands that this time in history is the begining of the end for his people. I love the speech he makes in which he explains, that "there are endless amounts of white men, but only so many 'human beings'" (indians).Its's a shame Chief George didn't get an Academy Award for his wonderful performance.The DVD for this movie has a good picture and sound transfer, but is absolutly bare bones in extras (not even a trailer). Still, it is great film, which I highly recommend.
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