LITTLE BIG MAN
CBS DVD; $14.95John Ford spent an unconscionable percentage of his career portraying Native Americans as murderous savages (The Searchers, anyone?), finally offering up a belated apology with the listless Cheyenne Autumn (1964). One wonders what he would have made of Little Big Man, an eclectically epic anti-Western that turns Ford’s red-hued racist conventions on their ear. Little Big Man tells the loopy life tale of Jack Crabb (played by Dustin Hoffman, who dexterously juggles farce and tragedy and convincingly ages from 17 to 121). Jack is either the Wild West’s greatest unsung hero or the world’s most loquacious liar. Captured and raised by the Cheyenne as a young boy, he goes through numerous metamorphoses: from young would-be Indian brave to earnest Christian evangelist, from trigger-shy gunslinger to cavalry scout, and, finally, back to his adopted tribe and wise grandfather, Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George). As he did in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, director Arthur Penn deftly mixes slapstick and unflinching violence to create a chaotic but always colorful canvas. Adapting Thomas Berger’s sprawling cult novel, Penn sometimes strives a little too hard for a contemporary patina (his lisping gay brave may prove a point, but does nothing to curtail another kind of stereotyping altogether), but his cinematic quest for redemption is potent and changed Hollywood’s portrayal of the “human beings” — as the Cheyenne refer to themselves — forever. Little Big Man suffered an ignominious fate upon its initial release; the Western genre was all but dead by 1970, superseded by new indie films like Easy Rider. The DVD has fared no better. There is literally no bonus material — not even a theatrical trailer — and scant publicity attending its release. No matter. Little fanfare, Big Movie.
This article appears in June 13 • 2003.