Little Big Man (1970)
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, (more)
- Director(s):
- Arthur Penn
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- PG13
- Category:
- Westerns
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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 ways of the "Human Beings" by paternal mentor Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George), accepting non-conformity and living peacefully with nature. Violently thrust into the white world, Jack meets a righteous preacher (Thayer David) and his wife (Faye Dunaway), tries to be a gunfighter under the tutelage of Wild Bill Hickock (Jeff Corey), and gets married. Returned to the Cheyenne by chance, Jack prefers life as a Human Being. The carnage wreaked by the white man in the Washita massacre and the lethal fallout from the egomania of General George A. Custer (Richard Mulligan) at Little Big Horn, however, show Crabb the horrific implications of Old Lodge Skins' sage observation, "There is an endless supply of White Men, but there has always been a limited number of Human Beings." ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 139 mins
Complete Cast:
- Dustin Hoffman - Jack Crabb
- Martin Balsam - Merriweather
- Chief Dan George - Old Lodge Skins
- Kelly Jean Peters - Olga
- Cal Bellini - Younger Bear
- Alan Howard - Adolescent Jack Crabb
- Robert Little Star - Little Horse
- Steve Shemayne - Burns Red In The Sun
- Jesse Vint - Lieutenant
- Helen Verbit - Madame
- Bert Conway - Bartender
- M. Emmet Walsh - Shotgun Guard
- Bud Cokes - Man at Bar
- Ken Mayer - Sergeant
- Thayer David - Rev. Silas Pendrake
- Lou Cutell - Deacon
- Faye Dunaway - Mrs. Pendrake
- Richard Mulligan - Gen. George A. Custer
- Jeff Corey - Wild Bill Hickok
- Carol Androsky - Caroline
- Ray Dimas - Young Jack Crabb
- Jack Mullaney - Card Player
- Don Brodie - Stage Passenger
- Alan Oppenheimer - Major
- Leonard George - Crow Scout
- William Hickey - Historian
- James Anderson - Sergeant
- Emily Cho - Digging Bear
- Phil Kenneally - Mr. Kane
- Jack Bannon - Captain
- Ruben Moreno - Shadow that Comes at Night
- Aimee Eccles - Sunshine
- Director(s):
- Arthur Penn
- Writer(s):
- Calder Willingham
- Producer(s):
- Gene Lasko, Arthur Penn, Stuart Millar
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- PG13(Western Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children)
- Categories:
- Westerns
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions
- Subtitles:
- Check All Versions
- 1970 - Little Big Man - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
