Little Big Man
- IMDb link: 0065988
- IMDb rating: 7.5 (40,331 votes)
- Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Western
- Director: Dustin Hoffman, Arthur Penn
- Cast: Chief Dan George, Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam and others
- Release date: 23 Dec 1970
- Release year: 1970
- Runtime: 139 minutes
- Country: United States
- Keywords: revisionist western, native american, based on novel, historical fiction, told in flashback, 1870s, native american chief, 1860s, voice over narration, little big horn
Plot:
Annoyed by a know-it-all, cheeky journalist during an interview, 122-year-old Jack Crabbe (Dustin Hoffman) begins to tell the story of his adventurous life. On the trek to the West, his family is killed by the Cheyenne; ten-year-old Jack is taken in by the Pawnee, grows up as an Indian boy and is given the name "Little Big Man". Chief Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George) treats him like his own son. At the age of 16, soldiers bring Jack back to the white settlers, where he is to receive a Christian education. However, Mrs Pendrake (Faye Dunaway), the preacher's attractive wife, quickly robs Jack of his belief in the good in people. Jack gains further experience with the swindler and quack Merriweather (Martin Balsam), later ending up back in the Indian camp, where he starts his own family. But the era of the Indian wars is not conducive to such plans - the warmonger General Custer (Richard Mulligan) destroys the idyll. During his long life, Jack changes sides several more times and encounters some important figures in American history - but this history is not always the one found in books and known to his interviewer.