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Little Big Man
Directed by	Arthur Penn
Produced by	Stuart Millar
Written by	Calder Willingham
Starring	Dustin Hoffman Faye Dunaway Chief Dan George Martin Balsam Richard Mulligan
Distributed by	Cinema Center Films
Release date(s)	December 14, 1970
Running time	139 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

Little Big Man is a 1964 novel and a 1970 movie. It is black comedy about a boy raised by the Cheyenne Nation and simultaneously an American in the frontier territories. A major part of the film involves contrasting the way the Americans live and the way the Native Americans live.

Based on a 1964 novel by Thomas Berger, the movie starred Dustin Hoffman and Chief Dan George. It is a "revisionist" Western where American Indians receive a more sympathetic treatment than the soldiers, who are depicted as lunatics or violent barbarians.

Despite its comedic approach, it contains many dramatic moments and a clear social commentary about prejudice and injustice. The film has been referred to as the precursor to Forrest Gump.

Contents 1 Story 2 Historical basis 3 Awards 4 Trivia 5 External link

The story is presented as dying centenarian Jack Crabb recalls several facets of his long and unusual life for an on screen biographer (William Hickey), including being a gunslinger, homesteader, snake-oil salesman, scout for General George Custer, witness and survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and sidekick to Wild Bill Hickok.

The central theme, however, is his adoption by the Cheyenne, enabling him to view both the white and Native American cultures of the 19th century with equal puzzlement.

Young Jack and his older sister Caroline (Carole Androsky) survived a massacre of his wagon train that included both his parents. He later found out the Pawnee were responsible for that, and says, "I ain't had no use for 'em since." He is raised by the Cheyenne leader Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George) and taught the Cheyenne language. (This is denoted on screen whenever Jack seems to speak perfect English, rather than his usual twangy dialect.)

Caroline runs off, leaving Jack to be raised by the Cheyenne or as they call themselves "the Human Beings". It proves a somewhat idyllic life, though Jack unwittingly makes an enemy of Younger Bear (Cal Bellini). Jack is given the name "Little Big Man" since though he's short, he is very brave, volunteering for battle against the United States Army. The battle does not go well, however, and Jack is captured. He is quickly recognized as a white boy, and put in the care of a Reverend Pendrake (Thayer David) and his wife Louise (Faye Dunaway), who is quite taken by young Jack. However Jack can't quite accept the dichtomy between Louise's pious attitude and her sexual appetite and leaves.

Jack decides to become the apprentice of a snake oil salesman named Merriweather (Martin Balsam) and though he learns a lot, he and Merriweather are tarred and feathered for selling fraudulent products. It turns out Caroline was one of those participating, leading to a rather odd reunion. Caroline decides to mold her brother into a gunslinger, the Sody Pop Kid (so called because of his chosen beverage). Jack runs into Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Corey), who takes a liking to the younger man, but when Hickok kills a man in self defense, Jack loses his taste for gunslinging, and Caroline leaves him.

Jack decides to open a general store and get married to a Swedish woman named Olga (Kelly Jean Peters). However, Olga's grasp of English is limited and Jack's partner in the store is a thief who leaves Jack with a load of debt, forcing him to close the store. George Armstrong Custer (Richard Mulligan) just happens to be on the scene and suggests the couple start their lives again out west. Jack decides this is a good idea, though Olga is afraid. However, their stagecoach is ambushed by the Cheyenne and Olga abducted. Jack says he covered three states to look for her.

He is reunited with Old Lodge Skins when a Cheyenne party comes across Jack; they at first try to scalp him (they believe Little Big Man fell in battle) and stop only when Jack explains in Cheyenne what happened. A now blind Old Lodge Skins is overjoyed Jack has returned, but Younger Bear, who has become a "contrary" (a warrior who leads an unusual lifestyle in which everything is done in reverse or opposite) is still clearly bitter. Jack does finally find Olga, who is now married to Younger Bear, but since she does not recognize him, and not wanting to hurt Younger Bear further, he makes no mention of it.

One day Jack comes upon a young Cheyenne woman named Sunshine (Aimée Eccles) whose husband had been killed and must now raise his child alone. Jack agrees to help out and Sunshine becomes his new wife. This happiness is short lived though as Custer and his men attack and slaughter the Cheyenne, including Sunshine. Old Lodge Skins and Jack escape. Jack tries to infiltrate Custer's camp to exact revenge, but though he gets as far as Custer's tent (Custer recognizes him and has him do odd jobs about the camp) he loses his nerve. Custer, more irritated than anything, exiles him from the camp. ("Your miserable life is not worth the reversal of a Custer decision.")

Disheartened, Jack becomes the town drunk in Deadwood, South Dakota. He is drunkenly dancing on the streets for drinking money when Hickok sees him and gives him cash to clean up. It seems that Hickok has an ulterior motive for this: he wants Jack to help out a widow friend of his who must leave town. Jack agrees and goes straight to the bar. He has not even started his drink when he hears shots - Jack McCall (Rory O'Brien) has just shot Hickok. Hickok has time to tell Jack not to tell Mrs. Hickok about the widow before he dies.

Jack goes to see the widow - who turns out to be Louise Pendrake, now a prostitute! Louise does not recognize Jack at first, but when he reveals himself, she is overwhelmed with emotion. She offers herself to him, but Jack, determined to fulfill his word to Wild Bill, gives her the money she needs to start a new life. Though Louise is clearly heartbroken to hear of Bill's death, and not really wanting to leave Jack either, she does decide to honor Bill's dying wish.

After this, Jack becomes a trapper and a hermit. He is ready to commit suicide when he sees Custer and his troops and decides on a new revenge. Incredibly, when Jack offers his services as a scout, Custer accepts, believing anything Jack says will be a lie - he'd be, as Custer puts it, a "reverse barometer". But Jack is leading them into a trap at the Little Bighorn. When Jack truthfully tells Custer of the overwhelming force of Indians he will face there, Custer responds, "Still trying to outsmart me, mule skinner? You want me to think you don't want me to go! But the subtle truth is you really don't want me to go!" and leads the Seventh Cavalry to its doom. Jack is saved - by Younger Bear - and brought to Old Lodge Skins.

At this point, Old Lodge Skins has decided to use his magic to end his life. In a moving speech he tells the spirits he is tired of life and asks to use his magic one last time to die. Instead, it begins to rain. Old Lodge Skins sighs, "Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn't." They return home to have dinner, with Old Lodge Skins explaining why his new wife is named Doesn't Like Horses.

At this point Jack's narrative ends and he tells the biographer to get out.

The film's depiction of a lunatic Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at the Little Big Horn, is interesting in that the many quirks and vanities depicted were mentioned by contemporaneous observers. Custer's tactics at Little Big Horn were, at best, extremely unwise, and at worst, the decisions of a man not in full possession of his faculties.

The movie also portrays the Battle of Washita River as a Custer-led massacre despite the historical record being unclear. As depicted, the scene probably has more in common with the Sand Creek Massacre, where Colorado militia troops killed more than 150 women, children, and elderly men who had sought and been promised peace.

Chief Dan George won awards for his film role from the Producers Guild of America, the National Society of Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. He was also nominated for an award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Golden Globes.

Hoffman won third place with the Producers Guild of America, and was nominated for an award by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

• To get the voice of a 121 year-old man, Dustin Hoffman sat in his dressing room and screamed at the top of his lungs for an hour.^{[citation needed]}

• Hoffman holds the record for portraying the greatest age span of a single character; he plays Jack Crabb from the ages of 17 to 121.

• A historical Little Big Man (a Native American man) bears no resemblance to the Hoffman character. The historical Little Big Man is known for his involvement with the capture and possible assassination of Crazy Horse.

• The 121 year-old man makeup was created by Dick Smith from foam latex and included revolutionary (for the time) old age eyelids that could actually blink along with the actor. Unfortunately, due to editing, and much to Smith's chagrin, no blinks are visible in the finished film. Hoffmann was quoted as saying of the makeup, "I defy you to put on that makeup and not feel old".

• Little Big Man at the Internet Movie Database