Waste of time

How sad is this?

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I've enjoyed Dustin Hoffman in many of his cinematic roles but none more than his multi-stage role in "Little Big Man". Hoffman morphed from one persona to another; Indian to gunfighter to Army scout to drunk, repeating some of those roles as the story progressed. One was given bit of a history lesson (genocide of the American Indians) in a vehicle that was both simultaneously comedic and horrific, absolutely one of the best Westerns I've ever seen (right up there with Jeremiah Johnson, Missouri Breaks, and Hombre). From time to time I revisit this film and I have the same reactions and same responses as I had the first time I saw it in the very early seventies. This movie has staying power and it will remain a cinematic classic for all time!

One of the best movies and westerns of the 70's and if not for all time. Little Big Man has a slow and dull beginning but it soon emerges into a souring hawk. The movie however cannot completely be described as a western, it might take place in a western time, but it certainly does not build itself up around the usual western motifs. The conflicting sides the main character is thrown into makes for a good solid plot. There are issues that come up in terms of cinematography and overextending scenes but the movie redeems itself through the story, which is both creative and captivating. Overall a great movie that definitely took me by surprise.

Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.This film starts off strong with a relative young William Hickey. Unfortunately, Hickey quickly fades away and is forgotten. Why could he not have been a bigger part of this story? But that personal bias aside, this is a solid film. I am not a big fan of the western genre, but this is not your typical western. Rather than good guys or bad guys, it is one man's story growing up with the Indians before later encounters with George Custer. Apparently this story is based (more or less) on a real story.

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.