Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
A cynical Buffalo Bill hires Sitting Bull to exploit him and add his credibility to the distorted view of history presented in his Wild West Show.A cynical Buffalo Bill hires Sitting Bull to exploit him and add his credibility to the distorted view of history presented in his Wild West Show.A cynical Buffalo Bill hires Sitting Bull to exploit him and add his credibility to the distorted view of history presented in his Wild West Show.
- Awards
- 1 win
- Prentiss Ingraham
- (as Allan Nicholls)
- Oswald Dart
- (as Robert Doqui)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPaul Newman has claimed this to be one of his favorite films of his own. The others include The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) and Slap Shot (1977).
- GoofsSitting Bull joined Cody's show in 1885. The performing arena shows several Wyoming state flags, but Wyoming wasn't granted statehood until 1890, and that flag wasn't adopted until 1917.
- Quotes
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody: My daddy was killed tryin' to keep slavery outta Kansas.
Oswald Dart: How'd he do that, sir?
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody: Well, my daddy hated slavery with such a passion, that rather than let the coloreds get in to becomin' slaves, he just fought to keep 'em all out of the state.
- Crazy creditsRobert Altman's Absolutely Unique and Heroic Enterprise of Inimitable Lustrel
- ConnectionsFeatured in Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country (1993)
- SoundtracksQui sola vergin rosa
Composed by Friedrich von Flotow
From his opera "Martha"
Performed by Evelyn Lear
Performance-wise who knew that Harvey Keitel was in this movie at all? He gives a memorably tiny performance, low key and inconspicuously funny as heck. Joel Grey plays one of the parts that would be given to Bob Balaban in more recent years, not really adding much to it. Burt Lancaster gives rich character to essentially a narrator and commentator. Newman's performance doesn't unbalance this film nearly as much as it did Altman's `Quintet' (both genre-wise and scriptwise, it was almost a character study), but it does show why Altman is more successful with a giant cast of B actors, or one main character that is content to listen and react more than speak, than with superstars.
The stage play is much much different. It focuses much more explicitly on the atrocities and hypocrisies committed. Sitting Bull speaks, quite a bit, and believes Buffalo Bill to be his friend. Buffalo Bill is ineffectual, and the one person most responsible for the extinction of the Buffalos the Indians once hunted (it would have been nice if they'd at least mentioned how he got the name Buffalo Bill, he killed thousands and thousands). Of the two, I prefer the movie, but wish Altman had shown a little more responsibility toward historical record.
This is a confusing and complex movie, alternately very subtle and prone to brash sometimes annoying running gags (the mezzos singing in the background are particularly cloying) and it is no surprise that people didn't know what to think of it. I'm just glad it is out on DVD so people can see an excellent representation of it and make up their own minds.
- mockturtle
- Dec 28, 2003
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Buffalo Bill and the Indians
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $7,100,000 (estimated)
- Runtime2 hours 3 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1