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

Bitter and twisted and a visual marvel. [18 Jul 1996, p.6]

Paul Newman gives one of his best comic performances in Robert Altman's underrated BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, OR SITTING BULL'S HISTORY LESSON, an irreverent western satire that portrays American history as pure showbiz sham and "nothing more than disrespect for the dead," as Sitting Bull claims.

It's a bicentennial companion piece to Nashville, with a fabulous cast that includes Burt Lancaster (superb as dime novelist Ned Buntline), Harvey Keitel and Joel Grey. [22 Jun 1997, p.11]

In place of narrative drive it relies, on the momentum created by ‐ its visual spectacle, its prodigal way with ideas, its wit and its enthusiasm for the lunatic business of making movies.

It appears that the idea here is to expose and debunk the Buffalo Bill legend, revealing it for the promotional distortion which, in some ways, it most certainly has to have been.

The strongest asset is the film's setting, a splendid re-creation of Buffalo Bill's famous tent show. [26 Feb 1989, p.4]

Some of it comes off well, and Newman is superb. But the film shows tiresome signs of its origins as a stage play (by Arthur Kopit), and the good moments aren't quite enough to make up for its overall predictability.