Review of Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) by Terri H — 12 Mar 2009

I went in expecting to be moved to snoozing by this one but it turned out to be a thoroughly entertaining and subversive comedy in the same vein as MASH, full of episodic incidents featuring inept authority figures being constantly undermined by a crew of unruly insubordinates. And they're cowboys and Indians! :D.

Altman taps into a really great scenario here, rife for the sort of irreverent piss-taking he seemed to do so well, and he really goes for broke. In equating Buffalo Bill and the roots of his legendary, star-studded Wild West show with contemporary Hollywood tropes, like the prissy star, the smarmy producers, the bitter contract negotiations, etc, the jokes are able to fly pretty thick and fast. Some of it falls decidely flat (the constant opera singing gets very old) but considering its age I'd say the satire is still spot-on, even to this day, so unlike MASH I'd say that it hasn't dated very much at all. Except the music, obviously, but that's the joke, I guess.

In fact, I found myself enjoying this an awful lot more than MASH. Where that film took great pleasure in championing the anarchic antics of its two rebellious protagonists, here we mostly see things from the perspective of the authority figures on the other side. To me, this choice makes a big difference, because in MASH I often found myself questioning the motives of the main characters (thinking they were total dickheads, mostly) and often disapproving of their (dickhead) actions.

In Buffalo Bill, the audience is instead encouraged to more closely observe the corrupt, and often foolish, actions of the characters who are, literally, running the show. In doing so, our sympathies are free to wander to the side of the Indians being mistreated and taken advantage of by the central cast, who for the most part are a bunch of egotistical and inept idiots. This way we are free to enjoy watching them fail and be undermined by the supporting cast without feeling like we're rooting for the wrong side. This time, we know they deserve it.