SummaryThe 121-year old sole survivor of Custer's Last Stand tells about everything from his adoption by Cheyenne Indians to his marriages and friendship with Wild Bill Hickok. (Paramount Pictures)
Directed By:Arthur Penn
Written By:Thomas Berger, Calder Willingham
Little Big Man
Metascore
Generally Favorable
63
User score
Generally Favorable
7.4
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
57% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
100
Hoffman is uncharacteristically charming in a demanding role; the supporting cast is uniformly excellent, particularly Chief Dan George as a befuddled patriarch who takes the supernatural as a matter of course.
100
Arthur Penn's Little Big Man is an endlessly entertaining attempt to spin an epic in the form of a yarn.
User score
Generally Favorable
82% Positive
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
6% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
12% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Sep 13, 2021
10
A movie everyone needs to see. So glad my dad made me watch it. I could not recommend it more.
90
It also accomplishes that rarest achievement, the breathing of life into an ossified art form. The '70s has its first great epic.
70
Little Big Man is a sort of vaudeville show, framed in fictional biography, loaded with sketches of varying degrees of serious and burlesque humor, and climaxed by the Indian victory over Gen George A. Custer at Little Big Horn in 1876.
60
Episodic western with a great performance from Hoffman.
60
The dual point of view is used effectively, though it's less valid as social criticism (where Penn's observations tend toward facile revisionism) than as an index of the uncertainty that characterizes most of Penn's heroes.
30
The film tries to cover too much ground, even though Calder Willingham's script eliminates or telescopes events and characters from the Berger novel.
Feb 18, 2012
10
Best movie ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jun 18, 2021
9
One of my all time favorite movies. Honest despite being ahistorical. It breaks the stereotypical Western mold with some really great performances. I wish they'd show on TV--but they never do.
Nov 28, 2012
7
In "Little Big Man", Arthur Penn creates a very diverse epic that is a showcase of great performances - Namely, the legendary Dustin Hoffman. Penn used this movie as an anti-establishment message against the United States' involvement in Vietnam and in doing so he creates an incredibly frightening portrait of how the U.S. military treated Native Americans during 19th Century America. That being said, it makes this film all the more provocative. Despite this fact, the movie also posesses a good deal of satire, which I found to be particularly funny actually. Overall, "Little Big Man" is a sprawling, entertaining, powerful epic yarn.
Dec 8, 2022
3
Terrible movie. Near the end I thought I was watch a blooper reel. I was honestly surprised when I found out the movie was still going on. Bad acting, story didn't make any sense.
Production Company:
- Cinema Center Films
- Stockbridge-Hiller Productions
Release Date:Dec 23, 1970
Duration:2 h 19 m
Rating:PG-13
Tagline:Either The Most Neglected Hero In History Or A Liar Of Insane Proportion!
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Laurel Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
