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Little Big Man (1970)

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No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0

audience

83

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 16,677

My Rating

Movie Info

Recounting how the West was won through the eyes of a white man raised as a Native American, Arthur Penn's 1970 adaptation of Thomas Berger's satirical novel was a comic yet stinging allegory about the bloody results of American imperialism. As a misguided 20th-century historian listens, 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) narrates the story of being the only white survivor of Custer's Last Stand. White orphan Crabb was adopted by the Cheyenne, renamed "Little Big Man," and raised in the

PG-13,

Western, Action & Adventure, Classics

Calder Willingham

Apr 29, 2003

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Cast

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All Critics (28) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (24) | Rotten (1) | DVD (11)

Might it be a serious attempt to right some unretrievable wrong via gallows humor which avoids the polemics? This seems to be the course taken; the attempt at least can be respected in theory.

June 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An endlessly entertaining attempt to spin an epic in the form of a yarn.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Arthur Penn offers a new take of the culture clash between the White men and Native Americans in this revisionist. satirical, tone-shifting Western starring Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway.

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

Penn seems to have little feel for the Western genre, but despite that the amazing thing is that this mock epic Western came out as well as it did.

April 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

This outraged reconfiguration of an all-American genre may be set in the Wild West, but it's also very much a bulletin of its time.

August 30, 2003 Full Review Source: PopMatters
PopMatters

Easily one of the most entertaining (and presently overlooked) Westerns of the early 1970s.

August 26, 2003 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
eFilmCritic.com

A picaresque masterpiece about an inimitable American anti-hero whose wild adventures are delivered into our hearts and minds with the robust vitalities of comedy.

May 9, 2003 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice
Spirituality and Practice

truly magical movie that works well

May 9, 2003 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews

One of Dustin Hoffman's best films, one of Arthur Penn's best films, and one of Hollywood's best films.

May 3, 2003 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

One of the great films of the early 70s.

May 2, 2003
Creative Loafing

An American classic, Little Big Man seeks to rectify Western history with this engrossing account of the colorful life of 121-year-old Jack Crabb.

March 10, 2003 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle
Austin Chronicle

Audience Reviews for Little Big Man

Historical revisionism at some of it's finest (and most stinging).

Based on a satirical novel, this is a bleakly dark dramedy/western about a 110 year-old man named Jack Crabb who tells his life story to a misguided 20th Century historian.

Crabb is a white man who was raised by Native Americans from a young age. He grows accustomed to their humane, enlightened way of life, but eventually strikes out on his own to see the world. He gets involved in many notable historical events (a concept later revisited in Forrest Gump), mostly involving Custer, the white conquest of the west, and the dark side of American imperialism. It's not always a petty sight, but it definitely rings true.

This is a great movie, and definitely one of those times where I'm surprised (but happy), that it was a mainstream affair. It definitely fits into the scholarly movement going on at the time where revisionism was going strong, shedding light into events from previously ignored perspectives, and presenting a more balanced view of history.

The cinematography is excellent, the direction is strong, the ambitions and goals noble, and the performances excellent. Hoffman delivers a wonderful turn here, and it's easily one of his best, even though it is sadly overlooked a lot of the time. The dark, quirky humor balances out with the material nicely, and this is a really eye opening film.

Please give this one a look. It's not only a gem of the 70s, but a really important masterpiece of cinema in general.
December 19, 2012
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

The last survivor of the battle of Little Big Horn reminisces about his life in this off beat comic western starring Dustin Hoffman. The film obviously belongs to Hoffman himself as the entire story revolves around him and his life and he's an engagingly bemused anti-hero as he witnesses the atrocities and hypocrisies of the changing face of the old west, but what gives it real character is the supporting cast of oddballs who flit in and out of his sphere. These include yet another hilarious and charming performance from Chief Dan George as his adopted grandfather, a smouldering Faye Dunaway as the western equivalent of Mrs. Robinson and Richard Mulligan who plays Custer as a self-obsessed, pompous boob. It's very much a film of its time, sharing much of the flavour of anti-establishment fiction of the era and employs sly wit and gentle humour rather than the sentimentality and melodrama of the likes of Dances With Wolves in its depiction of the appalling mistreatment of the Native American population. One of the strangest westerns you'll ever see certainly, as well as one of the most interesting and fun.
November 7, 2006
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

    1. Old Lodge Skins: Does she show enthusiasm when you mount her?
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    1. Shotgun Guard: Goodby, Hello.
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    1. Jack Crabb: Might I ask who I are addressin'?
    – Submitted by Geoff B (18 months ago)

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August 31, 2006:
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Foreign Titles

  • Pequeño gran hombre (ES)
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