Customer Reviews

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Altman has made some very good movies, and some very bad ones, often right next to each other. Viewing this film right after the highs of "Nashville" will surely lead to a serious Altman letdown. Historically, of course, coming out during the Bicentennial and right after that great film, expectations that were very high were mostly dashed, and this film quickly joined other Altman stinkers in the "not good" Altman film repository, right next to "H.E.A.L.T.H."

But time has been very kind to this Altman sleeper. I found Newman's performance exhilarating and comic, and Joel Grey hilarious and knowing. Like many of Altman's films, this one is about the mythmaking of contemporary pop history, and the "necessary illusions" required by the audience to buy into and celebrate these myths. Although the particular target here is western pop history, Altman's aims are much broader: the legacy of Native America abuse, the need of the audience to create and celebrate "hero myths," and the schematic critique of star-worshipping history, written by the "winners." Frank Kaquitts plays the critical role of truth-teller, and is understated and very funny as Sitting Bull, who joins Buffalo Bill's troupe with his interpreter, attempting to add some reality to Cody's wildly distorted (and wildly popular) western shows.

While the script of Altman and Alan Rudolph has some typical Altman flaws, fat, and excess, the benefit of time and careful reflection has served this little gem well.

well, all I can tell you is having grown up in western oklahoma with lots of real indians this is the best movie about INDIANS i have ever seen. Not only do real Indians play Indians (as opposed to Italians playing Indians) but they actually sound and feel like real Indians. I saw this movie over twenty years ago and it has haunted me ever since. Although I really don't think Buffalo Bill was as big a fraud as he is portrayed here (in fact the Indians in his Wild West show LIKED him and remarked on his generosity and compassion) I think of him (in this movie) as a symbol of how we (whites) view ourselves and of our tendency towards superficiality and phoniness.

But above all, I think this movie made a powerful statement about Native American spirituality that rings true. Sitting Bull WAS a profoundly spiritual person. He WAS mistreated and murdered by greedy and shallow people who couldn't appreciate his profound depth.

To me, this was a movie about Sitting Bull and the greatness of Native American spirituality and I hope it haunts you the way it has me.

I can't believe it's not more well known.

While not approaching the level of "Nashville" or "McCabe & Mrs. Miller," this film employs all of the Altman tricks (overlapping dialogue, a cast of thousands) to bring forth a scathing attack on America's reliance on myth and the need to rewrite the past with lies and hypocrisy. At every turn, Altman gives us images of a culture so immersed in show business and deception that it is no longer able to distinguish between reality and fantasy. While that in itself is hardly an original concept (especially for Altman, one of our greatest satirists), it works here because the film was released in 1976, the very year America was congratulating itself for a job well done. The best image remains the last, a reinforcement of America's need to dominate and win at all cost, even though such victories might be tainted by cheap shots and blatant unfairness.

"Buffalo Bill and the Indians" was a riveting movie. Bored? Hardly. Joel Gray came close to stealing this picture, as he has many times, as Bill's business partner. While the historical Cody wasn't anywhere near the charlatan Paul Newman and Altman have made him, his portrayal reminds us all not to believe our own press.

Cody and many of the other men of that era -- James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok springs to mind -- had lived eventful lives, lives that fascinated Easterners, reading the Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls or seeing one of the Wild West Shows or plays about the west. Cody and Hickok were prone to give the people what they wanted, playing their characters pretty near to the hilt. They had a sense that their time was passing and the things which had made them famous, the exploits that had made their lives seem adventutous, were coming to an end. You get this sense of approaching, inevitable obsolescence in Newman's portrayal, especially as the film nears it's end.

I have waited for this film to be available in a decent version and I wasn't dsiappointed.

See the film. Make your own decisions. There are several fine performances and Newman and Altman don't quite let Joel Gray steal the picture. They allow fine performances from many actors, especially Geraldine Chaplin as Annie Oakley, to shine through.

Jamie Fraser-Paige

First of all, this is a very ugly disc. So ugly that you have to watch it on an older tube TV. There are awful distortions during big movements and some scenes look very low rez. It's not the quality of the source print that I'm talking about (which is okay), it's a really bad transfer to DVD. It's not anamorphic widescreen at all, it's letterbox. It says anamorphic here in the Amazon descriptions, but I don't think it makes this claim on the box. The too-short documentary about the making of Buffalo Bill actually looks FAR BETTER than the movie itself as far as crisp detail and the absence of compression artifacts.

Spoilers follow - Buffalo Bill has a great first half-hour and then wobbles all over the place. The movie looks like it's going to be a typical Altman Audio/Visual stew of show business, fire arms, and history. The Wild Bill show looks wonderful, the cinematography is great, the dialogue seems pretty good and the casting inspires some optimism. Then the Indians show up. Sitting Bull and William Halsey are portrayed as noble, mysterious and aloof. The movie spirals into a series of events where they confound the smarmy Bill Cody over and over. The last hour of the movie requires Newman to act more and more flustered by Sitting Bull until he has a really cringeworthy breakdown in front of the ghostly Chief.

Anyway, there's stuff for hardcore Altman fans (I'm one) to watch for. Newman is initially impressive in his role and then sputters. The pageants and attention to details that Altman excels at are well done. Ultimately the themes of showbiz and history wilt before the rambling blah of the noble savage.

Sitting Bull joins Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show after he dreams of meeting Pres. Cleveland there. The (not-so) Honorable W.E. Cody's plans to exploit him are ruined when the chief refuses to participate in false battle reenactments, but insists (through an interpreter) on recreating the Wounded Knee massacre for audiences. Star attraction Annie Oakley allies with Sitting Bull when he's told to pack up and leave, and Bill sorely regrets ever allowing the Hunkpapa warrior into his show. Cast includes 6' 5" Sampson, the Chief in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975).

Director Robert Altman does a fine job of simulating the 1880s. As with many of his pictures, this one lacks smooth pacing. Altman tends to linger on individual scenes as if the viewer has all day to spend. Where the film works best is in its proper mix of hero worship and cynicism, plus in a crucial bit of soul-searching on Bill's part that occurs during a dream (or maybe it's an alcohol-induced hallucination). He converses here with a ghost but gets no responses, as the one-sided discussion is really between Bill and himself.

This penultimate sequence leads into the concluding highly cynical moment, where Bill finally gets his way: he squares off in the arena against Sitting Bull and dramatically bests him. The chief however is in his grave now and his former interpreter, a man apparently willing to do Cody's bidding, has replaced him in the Wild West Show. At the end, Bill Cody succeeds in slanting history to suit himself and by so doing, he loses a final opportunity to embrace honesty and to become something more than a "living legend." His chance to be a real person is squandered. It's all too apparent that Bill only cares about putting on a self-indulgent spectacle meant to dazzle an audience and himself, as well.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(6.0) Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Chief Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) - Paul Newman/Joel Grey/Kevin McCarthy/Harvey Keitel/Geraldine Chaplin/John Considine/Denver Pyle/Frank Kaquitts/Will Sampson/Pat McCormick/Shelley Duvall/Burt Lancaster

This 1984 KEY VIDEO of BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS has HiFi audio and a full screen picture with very 'hot' colors.


SYNOPSIS--
Sitting Bull joins Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show after he dreams of meeting Pres. Cleveland there. The (not-so) Honorable W.E. Cody's plans to exploit him are ruined when the chief refuses to participate in false battle reenactments, but insists (through an interpreter) on recreating the Wounded Knee massacre for audiences. Star attraction Annie Oakley allies with Sitting Bull when he's told to pack up and leave, and Bill sorely regrets ever allowing the Hunkpapa warrior into his show. Cast includes 6' 5" Sampson, the Chief in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975).

Director Robert Altman does a fine job of simulating the 1880s. As with many of his pictures, this one lacks smooth pacing. Altman tends to linger on individual scenes as if the viewer has all day to spend. Where the film works best is in its proper mix of hero worship and cynicism, plus in a crucial bit of soul-searching on Bill's part that occurs during a dream (or maybe it's an alcohol-induced hallucination). He converses here with a ghost but gets no responses, as the one-sided discussion is really between Bill and himself.

This penultimate sequence leads into the concluding highly cynical moment, where Bill finally gets his way: he squares off in the arena against Sitting Bull and dramatically bests him. The chief however is in his grave now and his former interpreter, a man apparently willing to do Cody's bidding, has replaced him in the Wild West Show. At the end, Bill Cody succeeds in slanting history to suit himself and by so doing, he loses a final opportunity to embrace honesty and to become something more than a "living legend." His chance to be a real person is squandered and it's all too apparent that Bill only cares about putting on a self-indulgent spectacle meant to dazzle an audience and himself, as well.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(6.0) Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Chief Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) - Paul Newman/Joel Grey/Kevin McCarthy/Harvey Keitel/Geraldine Chaplin/John Considine/Denver Pyle/Frank Kaquitts/Will Sampson/Pat McCormick/Shelley Duvall/Burt Lancaster