Big Man | Little

Critics often note that the film reimagined Native life as a "countercultural idyll," turning the Cheyenne into "surrogate hippies" who practiced free love and environmentalism to appeal to the 1970s audience. Vietnam in a Cowboy Hat

Rather than a martyr, General Custer is portrayed as a vainglorious, "raving lunatic," a shocking reversal of the historical narrative at the time. The Technical Feat Little Big Man

The movie is based on the 1964 novel by Thomas Berger , a satirical picaresque that helped establish the "Revisionist Western" genre in literature. Critics often note that the film reimagined Native

Released during the height of the Vietnam War, the film is widely viewed as a protest piece. Released during the height of the Vietnam War,

Chief Dan George, who played Old Lodge Skins, became the first Indigenous North American actor to receive an Academy Award nomination.

The harrowing depiction of the U.S. Army attacking Native villages was a direct cinematic parallel to the real-world My Lai Massacre .