"There is an endless supply of White Men, but there has always been a limited number of Human Beings."
Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George)
Forty years ago, a film hit the theaters that was, in many ways, a departure from movies to which American audiences were accustomed.
In "Little Big Man," a 139–minute comedy/drama, 121–year–old Jack Crabb (played by Dustin Hoffman) tells his life's story, in which he was raised as an Indian and resisted numerous attempts to re–assimilate into the white world — and, in so doing, tells the story of the American West.
But it's not a literal history, although it does speak of actual events, like Custer's Last Stand and the killing of Wild Bill Hickok. It is a revisionist history that is not as racist in its handling of native Americans as were the actual soldiers of the 19th century. But it is typical, in many ways, of films of that period, which often expressed in subtle, symbolic ways opposition to American military policy, particularly in Vietnam.
Vietnam, of course, was never mentioned in "Little Big Man," but the film's racial portrayals represented a stark reversal from the past — and, in so doing, made statements about America's foreign policy and its treatment of non–Caucasians. The Indians, for example, were given a much more favorable treatment than was common in previous films — while the soldiers (and other whites) were treated as antiheroes.
The film told a tale that contradicted the concept of Manifest Destiny, the doctrine that permitted Americans to justify expansion into the West. Director Arthur Penn said that the depiction of the slaughter of native Americans was intended to evoke comparisons to the Holocaust.
That is not to say, however, that "Little Big Man" fails to teach viewers any little–known facts from North American history. The accuracy of the depictions of Custer's Last Stand and Wild Bill Hickok's killing may be disputable, but the movie, in its own way, introduces modern audiences to the "contrary," which was the name given to those Indians who chose behavior that was intentionally opposite the behavior of others in their tribes.
A contrary, for example, might choose to speak in a way that expressed the opposite of what he meant, or he might ride his horse backwards. One of the characters in "Little Big Man" lived as a contrary for awhile.
In many ways, the movie was like "Dances With Wolves," the Academy Award–winning film that came along a generation later — although, in my opinion, "Little Big Man" was a much better film.
And you can see it this Thursday on Turner Classic Movies at 8:30 p.m. (Central).
