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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A History Lesson, Of Sorts., May 19, 2005
I too first saw this film in a theatre in 1976 after its release; I was with a few other people and to this day none of them probably care for this movie.
I read a lot on the west and have several books about Buffalo Bill Cody, so I wanted to see what Mr. Altman had done with this movie. I can not argue with anyone who doesn't care for this picture, would not try to couch my review so that they would.
Though I realize that the film doesn't give a total picture of what was going on at this time in the still unsettled west it does have a quality of those times to it. Buffalo Bill here is not the young, agile Army Indian Scout of old, nor the brazen hero awarded the Medal of Honor, he has been tempered both by age and the bottle; but let no one doubt that he in fact had done many things that were historical. He was notable and respected in his time, and more over he was a capable western man and scout. Later he was bankrupt not only in money but also in spirit; and his final show days with the 101 Wild West show are pitiful to this day.
One needs to remember, too, that shortly after Sitting Bull left Wild Bill's show, he was savagely murdered by his own Indian Police tribesmen at Pine Ridge Reservation. Though the movie doesn't bring this out, and that was not never its intent, the 'west' was yet an unsettled area in some places, with several places being very dangerous. There are some western writers who claim the Apache were still making raids out of the Sierre Madre into the 1930s.
But men like Buffalo Bill and Frederick Remington who realized not only that the western times were changing, saw their 'west' disappearing, being replaced by something alien, with which they were totally unfamiliar. Each man attempted in his own way to keep "their" west alive in order that later people could visually see and understand it as they had experienced it. Today both men have come in for more than their share of disrespect. In the several college history of art courses I took, not a single painting of our American west was ever to be found in either text book or on mid-term exam.
Some of the flux existing in these times has been captured brillantly on film by Mr Altman, whether that was his intent or not. Even Burt Lancaster's character, Ned Buntline, is at odds & ends and seems to be very much adrift in that new west that is replacing the old west. Even his blue G.A.R. uniform of Civil War days harkens back to a more familiar time, and as he rides off for the final time he doesn't have a clue where he is going.
I treasure this movie and watch it not only for its surrealism, symbolism, and realism, but because it does attempt to show the physical being and personalities of the Wild West Show itself. I'm old enough to have heard and read of what this show looked like, but thanks to Altman's sets I can more plainly realize it, and realize it in blazing color.
I think and have always thought that this is a very worthwhile movie.
Semper Fi.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Misunderstood, June 26, 2000
Robert Altman's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians (or Sitting Bull's History Lession)" has largely been forgotten while his other films from this period have been rediscovered as classics. While maybe its time for this one too. The "Why" of why this film such a critical bomb is not hard to decipher, Altman is continuing his critique of the West that started with "McCabe and Mrs. Miller". Yet this film is even more scathing. Bufflo Bill is an illiterate buffoon and President Cleveland works as a reminder that there were politicians back then. What I think really worked against Altman here, wasn't his treatment of this historical period but the changing of his own. In 1976, audiences were getting tired of these self-conscious films that were popular just five years eariler. "Buffalo Bill" stuck between "Jaws" (in '75) and then "Star Wars" (in '77) was a hard sell as the country was getting more conservative. Beside this, "Buffalo Bill" like a lot Altman films is a great film. He continues his pioneering use of overlapping dialogue and widescreen cinematography. And oh, did I mention it was funny, a second viewing really helps catch all of Altman's wry wit. Newman fooling around with ballet dancers is hilarious. And you can't tell me that the extra "Or Sitting Bull's History Lession" isn't a homage to Kubrick.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific Newman Performance in Lesser Known Altman Flick, July 1, 2006
Robert Altman's expertise at framing and then exposing the three dimensions of show business, of presentation and performance, place and status, ala Nashville, Gosford Park, A Praire Home Companion, The Player, The Company and Kansas City (to name a few), gets the interesting, ironical and historical treatment here.
In Paul Newman's Buffalo Bill Cody, legend of the wild west, and extraordinary showman, Altman gives the American man of myth, then chips away at him, all while the rival and counterpart Sitting Bull grows and deepens in merely standing still. Newman's performance is terrific, his eyes never betraying the truth of his limitations, though his histriotics along with those of his minions in his large show, work very well at entertaining and maintaining. Joel Grey, Kevin McCarthy and Harvey Keitel all stand out as Newman's producing partner, press agent and flunky respectively. Their sycophancy echoes the Emperors New Clothes, and is set against Sitting Bull and his right hand man Halsey, who agree to join the wild west history show in order to tell the truth of the matter, ever stoic and unimpressed by the show.
With humor and his trademark layering of sound, dialogue and wit Altman gives us the lesson of what is real and unreal, fraudulent and true, the stuff of history books and shows, and the heart of the matters.
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