Little Big Man

Little Big Man (1970)

  • 96% of critics liked it
    (25 reviews)

  • 83% of users liked it
    (16,677 ratings)

Recounting how the West was won through the eyes of a white man raised as a Native American, Arthur Penn's 1970 adaptation of Thomas Berger's satirical novel was a comic yet stinging allegory about the bloody results of American imperialism. As a misguided 20th-century historian listens,… More

Play Trailer

PG-13,
Directed By
Written By
Calder Willingham
Genres
Western, Action & Adventure, Classics
In Theaters
Dec 14, 1970 Wide
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

  • , Variety

    Might it be a serious attempt to right some unretrievable wrong via gallows humor which avoids the polemics? This seems to be the course taken; the attempt at least can be respected in theory.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    An endlessly entertaining attempt to spin an epic in the form of a yarn.

  • Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

    Arthur Penn offers a new take of the culture clash between the White men and Native Americans in this revisionist. satirical, tone-shifting Western starring Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway.

  • Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

    Penn seems to have little feel for the Western genre, but despite that the amazing thing is that this mock epic Western came out as well as it did.

  • Elbert Ventura, PopMatters

    This outraged reconfiguration of an all-American genre may be set in the Wild West, but it's also very much a bulletin of its time.

Read all 6 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Chris W


    Historical revisionism at some of it's finest (and most stinging). Based on a satirical novel, this is a bleakly dark dramedy/western about a 110 year-old man named Jack Crabb who tells his life story to a misguided 20th Century historian. Crabb is a white man who was raised by… More

  • xGary X


    The last survivor of the battle of Little Big Horn reminisces about his life in this off beat comic western starring Dustin Hoffman. The film obviously belongs to Hoffman himself as the entire story revolves around him and his life and he's an engagingly bemused anti-hero as he… More

  • Stella D


    one of the more unusual westerns ever made and one of my favorite films as a kid. starring dustin hoffman as a supposedly 121 yr old man, the only white survivor of the battle of the little big horn. ranging from black comedy to drama to slapstick and back, it's a highly… More

  • Michael G


    Dustin Hoffman turns out a great but overlooked performance as a 121 year-old man who tells his life story. Little Big Man is a good movie but has a tone that changes way too much for its own good. It hits everything from black comedy to slapstick to heartbreaking. Just like with the… More

  • Richard B


    Diluted Medicine, Man, Having just completed the source novel by Thomas Berger, I thought I'd see the film again after all these years. I'm glad I did, though it was not a pure pleasure. The ambition of the film stands out - they really did try to capture the… More

Read all 12 featured audience ratings

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Cast

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