Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Arthur Kopit (play)
Alan Rudolph (screen story and screenplay) ...

Release Date:

24 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Western | Comedy

Plot:

A cynical Buffalo Bill hires Sitting Bull to exploit him and his add credibility to the distorted view of history presented in his Wild West Show.

Plot Keywords:

Sitting Bull | General Custer | Buffalo Bill Cody | Translator | American Indian

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Paul Newman	...	The Star (William 'Buffalo Bill' Cody)
Joel Grey	...	The Producer (Nate Salisbury)
Kevin McCarthy	...	The Publicist (Maj. John Burke)
Harvey Keitel	...	The Relative (Ed Goodman)
Allan F. Nicholls	...	The Journalist (Prentiss Ingraham) (as Allan Nicholls)
Geraldine Chaplin	...	The Sure Shot (Annie Oakley)
John Considine	...	The Sure Shot's Manager (Frank Butler)
Robert DoQui	...	The Wrangler (Oswald Dart) (as Robert Doqui)
Mike E. Kaplan	...	The Treasurer (Jules Keen) (as Mike Kaplan)
Bert Remsen	...	The Bartender (Crutch)
Bonnie Leaders	...	The Mezzo-Contralto (Margaret)
Noelle Rogers	...	The Lyric-Coloratura (Lucille DuCharme)
Evelyn Lear	...	The Lyric-Soprano (Nina Cavallini)
Denver Pyle	...	The Indian Agent (McLaughlin)
Frank Kaquitts	...	The Indian (Sitting Bull)

Also Known As:

Buffalo Bill and the Indians

Runtime:

123 min | Finland:105 min (1979) | 135 min (video release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | West Germany:6 (f) | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-8 | Norway:12 | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Morley, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis

Trivia:

Based on Arthur Kopit's play "Indians," which ran for 96 performances from October 13, 1969 to January 3, 1970. It was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Play in 1970, losing to "Borstal Boy."

Quotes:

President Grover Cleveland: Where will you sleep, Buffalo Bill?
Ed Goodman: You can sleep with me, Uncle Will.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody: No, Ed, I will sleep out on the prairie underneath the moon and listen to the lullaby of the coyotes. You see, I ain't always been a comfortable man.
President Grover Cleveland: You know, it's a man like that that made this country what it is today!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

another Altman de-mythological exploration mixed with show-biz satire, but it's very underrated with a great Newman performance

A lot of reviews on this site keep this down as something of a misfire from director Robert Altman, that it might have been too easy a target or that it's being too cynical. Can there be enough cynicism in looking at the history of Old-West Americans and American Indians? After so many years of Westerns showing things as black and white- of John Wayne Vs. Tonto and the like- there needed to be a good dose of reality, but not just by any run of the mill filmmaker. Altman is able to sympathize with the Indians while at the same time adding a certain mystery to them (how they cross the river, come back from the mountains). On top of this he makes a very strong, funny comment on celebrity and mythology in a somewhat typical de-mythological style. It's not entirely an anti-centennial statement (his real centennial movie is Nashville), but one that criticizes things while still staying true as a semi-serious comedy.

In fact, this has a few of the funniest scenes in any Altman picture. Take when Annie Oakley (Geraldine Chaplin) is performing her 'stunt' with her partner, and throughout the picture it's been a dicey and tense act with it never being as clear-cut as it should be; Annie is always talking to herself in mid-shot, asking to try it again if she misses. Then when it comes time to do the 'stunt' in front of President Cleveland, she shoots her partner right through the shoulder, with it (mostly) being passed off like nothing happened. Little asides like this that build up- or, for example, a hatred for birds that inexplicably Bill has against the cheery German singer who owns it, leading up to a frantic shoot-em-up against the bird's cage until it escapes. Sometimes it's simply "funny ho-ho" humor, the kind that one might have a quick chuckle and then see back to what's going on. But it's brilliant "funny ho-ho" comedy, where manners are tested to the extremes in the face of Buffalo Bill's troupe and the unmovable Sitting Bull and his 'voice' played by Chief from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

There is actually something of a firmer story for Altman than usual, though that goes without saying it's like a belt thrown on once in a while with a pair of pants. Buffalo Bill is riding on his reputation, and hosts a big-time show that is a good lot like the circus only real physical prowess and weirdness replaced usually by good-old-fashioned American storytelling, which is, basically, that Indians killed a lot of people and then Buffalo Bill struck back. When Sitting Bull actually comes to the act to be apart of it, he has some conditions to be in it, *many* conditions, some easy (i.e. setting up camp across the river), some that test Bill's patience (i.e. changing the whole story of Sitting Bull to show Bill killing masses of Indians). Meanwhile, President Cleveland is coming for a special visit, Bill's drinking gets bigger, and he loses the thread of his own presumed skills like when he can't bring back Sitting Bull and his group when the "escape" to the mountains.

This all leads up to a conclusion that has a double-side to it. On the one hand the very end should feel kind of conventional, where Buffalo Bill faces off against Sitting Bull (or rather another actor playing him), and 'wins' in front of the cheering audience. On the other hand this is preceded by a tragic note, and a very strange, near perfect dream scene where Buffalo Bill confronts and constantly shifting-position Sitting Bull, confronting him as well as his own ego and reputation. At the end of it all, Altman isn't saying outright America is evil or anything; it's that there are some serious wounds caused not simply by the obvious Americans vs Indians but by over a century of holding up icons to the sky without the slightest gray area or real humanization past superhero status. And in the midst of all this, in the work of Altman's usual good ensemble (Keitel, Joel Grey, Chaplin are very good, Lancaster good if in a superfluous mouth-piece role), Paul Newmna shines incredibly in a role that requires him to be star-like but to also get into the shallowness and inner demons of the character. It might even be one of the best performances he gave in his career: he's magnetic in personality, naturally comic, and haunted to a degree. A-