Review of Little Big Man (1970) by Bobby W — 24 Jun 2008

Dustin Hoffman bumbles his way through the old west, playing every major role the time had to offer: Cherokee brave, gunfighter, snake oil salesman, religious zealot, storekeeper, drunkard, you name it.

Arthur Penn's skillful depiction of the era, in combination with Hoffman's portrayal of the hapless, faintly amoral Jack-of-all-trades protagonist results in a western that tries to tell it like it is, albeit in the post-hippy, apologist style of the time in which it was made, wherein a great many people were feeling at the very least uncomfortable with the conflict in Vietnam and with US imperialism in general.

Previously always portrayed as a noble martyr, Custer is shown as a preening self-serving imbecile, the native Americans as perhaps the ultimate hippy commune, the white townspeople as weak-willed, prejudiced and frightened.

There are no square-jawed heroes in this film, and it's all the better for it. At times hilarious, at others deeply shocking, this is one of the true classic westerns.