Synopsis
Buffalo Bill plans to put on his own Wild West sideshow, and Chief Sitting Bull has agreed to appear in it. However, Sitting Bull has his own hidden agenda, involving the President and General Custer.
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Cast
- Paul NewmanThe Star (William F. Cody)
- Joel GreyThe Producer (Nate Salisbury)
- Kevin McCarthyThe Publicist (Maj. John Burke)
- Harvey KeitelThe Relative (Ed Goodman)
- Allan F. NichollsThe Journalist (Prentiss Ingraham)
- Geraldine ChaplinThe Sure Shot (Annie Oakley)
- John ConsidineThe Sure Shot's Manager (Frank Butler)
- Robert DoQuiThe Wrangler (Oswald Dart)
- Mike KaplanThe Treasurer (Jules Keen)
- Bert RemsenThe Bartender (Crutch)
Recommendations
- 80
TV Guide Magazine
Paul Newman gives one of his best comic performances in Robert Altman's underrated BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, OR SITTING BULL'S HISTORY LESSON, an irreverent western satire that portrays American history as pure showbiz sham and "nothing more than disrespect for the dead," as Sitting Bull claims. - 80
The Independent
Bitter and twisted and a visual marvel. [18 Jul 1996, p.6] - 75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Robert Altman's droll 1976 deconstruction of a western icon with Paul Newman in peak form. [12 May 2001, p.E01] - 70
The New York Times
In place of narrative drive it relies, on the momentum created by ‐ its visual spectacle, its prodigal way with ideas, its wit and its enthusiasm for the lunatic business of making movies. - 70
The Observer (UK)
It's a bicentennial companion piece to Nashville, with a fabulous cast that includes Burt Lancaster (superb as dime novelist Ned Buntline), Harvey Keitel and Joel Grey. [22 Jun 1997, p.11] - 60
Chicago Reader
The review format, intercut with demythicizing glimpses behind the scenes, aspires to a cynical Brechtian snappiness, but the drama is too thinly imagined, the meanings too familiar and heavily stated, for this 1976 film to gather any real interest. - 60
Variety
It appears that the idea here is to expose and debunk the Buffalo Bill legend, revealing it for the promotional distortion which, in some ways, it most certainly has to have been. - 50
Time Out
Some of it comes off well, and Newman is superb. But the film shows tiresome signs of its origins as a stage play (by Arthur Kopit), and the good moments aren't quite enough to make up for its overall predictability.
