Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson

Failure to give this a ZERO STAR Rating this gets one...It seems it is more popular to bash
the lives of American Heroes, than give an honest portrayal. With the excuse of filming these
as "Comedies", these type of films have been churned-out since the late '60's, such as "Little
Big Man" and the portrayal of General George Custer. Those of us who actually KNOW about
American History and the contribution made by these men will find this one another waste of
time!

When Altman is good he's great. Like in McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Shortcuts, The Player and, oh yes, MASH. The Amazon review for BB et al should be read before ordering this. Like, flat-footed and obvious, I think they say. Beyond Altman, an akin movie of this time would be Little Big Man, which is sensational, not stupid.

I was filmed in my home town and a very good friend of mine was a extra in the movie and we looked at it to see if we could pick her out. Unfortunatly we did not find her. o-well

Paul Newman stars as Buffalo Bill, the showman of the wild west, with his circus act of performers. Robert Altman is famous for movings that expose how easily people fall for myths and stories, and this is no exception. Bill and his crew are all larger than life, believing in the stories written about themselves. They decide to put Geronimo into their act, thinking that they can stir up their audience into a blood lust against the "evil Indians".

To their surprise, people actually respect the native Americans, and even the president comes out to meet Geronimo for himself. In the end it's only Geronimo that speaks honestly, and he is ignored. He leaves the white men to their problems.

There are a number of famous actors and actresses here - Joel Grey, Harvey Keitel, Burt Lancaster, Geraldine Chaplin. Undoubtedly all signed on to make a movie that had social significance, especially with it coming out in 1976 - America's 200th year of independence. However, they are in essence satiring people who in fact were "heroes" in many ways. Buffalo Bill did in fact do some impressive things in his life. By all accounts Geronimo liked him and enjoyed being with him. For many of the city slickers, these shows were their only glimpse into what the wild west was all about, even in a general portrayal.

Also, the native americans are treated as being supernatural Gods. They get across rivers that are uncrossable, they set up lodgings where they should not be able to. There isn't any relating to them as people, as a culture. I would really have liked to see more of the cross-cultural issues - the different ways in which they related to women, to minorities, to performing in public.

Robert Altman's expertise at framing and then exposing the three dimensions of show business, of presentation and performance, place and status, ala Nashville, Gosford Park, A Praire Home Companion, The Player, The Company and Kansas City (to name a few), gets the interesting, ironical and historical treatment here.
In Paul Newman's Buffalo Bill Cody, legend of the wild west, and extraordinary showman, Altman gives the American man of myth, then chips away at him, all while the rival and counterpart Sitting Bull grows and deepens in merely standing still. Newman's performance is terrific, his eyes never betraying the truth of his limitations, though his histriotics along with those of his minions in his large show, work very well at entertaining and maintaining. Joel Grey, Kevin McCarthy and Harvey Keitel all stand out as Newman's producing partner, press agent and flunky respectively. Their sycophancy echoes the Emperors New Clothes, and is set against Sitting Bull and his right hand man Halsey, who agree to join the wild west history show in order to tell the truth of the matter, ever stoic and unimpressed by the show.
With humor and his trademark layering of sound, dialogue and wit Altman gives us the lesson of what is real and unreal, fraudulent and true, the stuff of history books and shows, and the heart of the matters.