Little Big Man (1970) and Midnight Cowboy (1969)

I've been wanting to see this movie forever, and finally did and really liked it! It reminded me of Dances with Wolves from 1990, primarily because it's about a white man raised by an indigenous tribe. Dustin Hoffman was an interesting choice to play this part. He was a big box office star from this time period, and he brings alot of that everyman essence to this part which I think is important for this role.

At the start of the film we meet Hoffman's character - a 120 year old man being interviewed by a reporter (William Hickey) interested in his long life and his supposed acquaintanceship with Civil War General Custer in the 1800s.

The old man lives in a nursing home; I have a relative who just moved into such a place, and they can be lonely places. I could understand why this old man would want to talk and tell his life story to someone who will listen. And he's had a long life, a really long life. He talks about being raised by a Cheyenne tribe, and later befriends historical figures Bill Hickock and General Custer. These sequences are episodic, but I really seeing him brush with historical figures. This was an idea that was used somewhat similarly later in the movie Forrest Gump, but I think works really good in this film.

I like how the old man narrates the movie throughout; this gave me the feeling that I was always being told the old man's story and not someone else's. He talks about the various "stages" of his life.... "My Indian Years", "My religious years", "My Outlaw Days", etc.  Faye Dunaway has a small supporting part where she plays a religious man's wife who becomes a prostitute later on.

I couldn't believe that it was Richard Mulligan playing a dramatic role as General Custer; I only knew him for his comedy roles on TV but he is really good in this.

There is also great standout performance by a Native American actor in the film - Chief Dan George. His part is significant as Hoffman's father figure and wise mentor who has some interesting (and racy) dialogue. I imagine that the audience of 1970 would like his line where he says, "Does she show enthusiasm when you mount her?" (referring to Hoffman's spouse).

It's unfortunate that the movie's marketing posters (as shown above) make this movie to look like a comedy, with Dustin Hoffman made to look like Don Knotts in The Shakiest Gun in the West. This is a really profound drama (with occasional comic relief), that was ahead of its time showing the perspectives of both indigenous and white peoples. Equally unfortunate is the lack of accolades that year - no Oscars...not even a Best Picture nomination. In 1970, the big winner was "Patton", which was a more traditional war film with a hero that audiences could probably relate to more. Little Big Man was unfortunately overshadowed by it, and I don't think audiences were quite ready to embrace such a film yet. Not until Dances with Wolves 20 years later.

I also re-watched Midnight Cowboy which I haven't seen in more than 20 years but remember liking it overall, especially the chemistry of the two leads (Voight and Hoffman). I forgot that there was a sequence where they go to a hippy artists' party in New York, and there are some real cameos by Andy Warhol protégés. After attending a Warhol art exhibit recently, I've been reading some of his biographies and a book of his journal entries; interestingly in one entry he wrote that he wanted to do a cameo in Midnight Cowboy but couldn't do it because he was in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound (in the summer of '68).

I loved seeing all the on-location scenes of New York; I kept my eye peeled for any interesting posters that would have been of the times. I saw one poster/billboard with Jonathan Winters on it. And another poster was a movie ad for "Doctor Doolittle" starring Rex Harrison, which was interesting. Flash forward 50 years and we have yet another remake of "Doolittle" in theaters starring Robert Downey Jr (I'm planning to skip since it doesn't look all that appealing to me).

Another scene in Midnight Cowboy that I had forgotten about happens at the end where Joe Buck beats the old man in his hotel room, almost killing him (his actual death isn't shown but it's implied he might have killed him). This makes me feel less sympathetic toward the character, and even reminded me of what Brad Pitt does at the end of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (my least-favorite sequence in that movie); now I'm wondering if Tarantino intended that scene to be an homage to Midnight Cowboy.

Read a blog post about this movie by Avvaganda.com here

Killer of Sheep (1978) and director Charles Burnett in person

On July 26, 2019  I attended a screening of Killer of Sheep at the University of Chicago, sponsored by several film student groups. I've never seen the movie, but knew of its reputation as a landmark independent film about African American life in the 1970s inner city, and knew that it's a movie that is often shown to college students.

It was a really good film; I really enjoyed it. It's very simple, no traditional plot structure. But I love the scenes of ordinary life, centered around one family living in South Central Los Angeles. The father (Stan) works in a slaughterhouse. There are some great scenes with his wife, kids, and friends, as well as some other characters we meet for only a scene or two, but they're memorable (including some people Stan meets in a liquor store). More often than not, characters plan to do something promising, only to have their dreams shatter, which of course happens in real-life.

The director, Charles Burnett, appeared in person afterwards and talked about the making of the film; it was a college project for him that took several years to finish because of licensing rights to songs (there are alot of good songs in it). He also talked about how almost everyone in the film was one of his friends. He lived in Watts, Los Angeles in the '60s, so he was very familiar the community.

Q&A with Burnett at the University of Chicago

There was also a time of Q&A which was really interesting, too; about a dozen people had questions. One person commented that the film was reminiscent of Italian neo-realism, and asked Burnett if any films of that era influenced him. He said, yes, and mentioned that he had numerous opportunities to see a lot of international films on the college campus and elsewhere in LA. He remembered going to all of the latest film from well-known international directors, and said some of them came to his campus to speak occasionally; one was Satyajit Ray. Burnett talked more about his college days, and said that he often had discussions with his friends and classmates about what constitutes "a black film". With Black Sheep, he said he intended for it to be a film about the community for the community to see, and only expected it to be shown locally. Someone else asked him about what he thought about being part of the "New Rebellion" of black filmmakers; he said that he doesn't like labels, but he praised other filmmakers part of the movement.

Now I really want to see his follow-up movie, My Brother's Wedding. I have seen To Sleep With Anger and The Glass Shield many years ago and want to watch them again as well.

Also, I found an interesting review from the New York Times from 1978, below.

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'Killer of Sheep' Is Shown at the Whitney: Nonprofessional Cast

By Janet Maslin | November 14, 1978

"Killer of Sheep," which opens today at the Whitney Museum, is a film to make one mindful of the difference between genuinely abstract art and iciness for its own sake.

The program notes say that Charles Burnett, the director, thinks the idea of the film "is to try to recreate a situation without reducing life to a simple plot," but his film has just enough of a story to make it taxing.

The action, which of course is hardly supposed to be action at all, revolves around a black man whose only measure of prosperity is the fact that he's well enough off to give things to the Salvation Army. He is remote and depressed. His wife is bored and sexually frustrated, and she's depressed, too.

He has two children, whom we see eating breakfast and scratching and walking around the neighborhood. He has a lot of young and reasonably attractive male friends who live with grotesquely bloated women; sometimes the men get together and fix cars, or worry.

The central character works in a slaughterhouse, hence the none-too-apt title.

To all this monotony and alienation Mr. Burnett brings an estrangement of his own.

The film consists of loosely linked glimpses of the characters' lives, punctuated by occasional cuts to the slaughterhouse. It is acted by non-professionals, who call attention to the falseness of many of the situations.

It is beautifully photographed in black and white, and very spare.

The dialogue, which is read with either insufficient or excessive emphasis by the nonactors, is often buried under a soundtrack of vintage blues, making it doubly hard to follow.

Even the slaughter of the sheep is numbingly uneventful.That may be Mr. Burnett's very point, but he makes it so studiedly that the character's estrangement from his surroundings overlaps too conveniently with the director's arty detachment from his material.

And for all its air of starkness, "Killer of Sheep" is more often arid than it is genuinely economical. Mr. Burnett obviously has a keen eye for tiny moments — the way a child pulls up a sock, the way a man's hands move on machinery — but he doesn't demonstrate the kind of coherence that might give them larger meaning.

 Nonprofessional Cast KILLER OF SHEEP, by Charles Burnett, Principal performers are Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, and Angela Burnett. At the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue. Running time: 87 minutes.

Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)

I thought this movie was OK. Dustin Hoffman plays a folk musician/songwriter.

He deludes into a depression, then completely breaks down, becoming reclusive, anti social, and un emotional. Then some eerie sequences of people floating through the air with close up and fades. All the while he's tormented by an unknown, unexplained man - the titular Kellerman - spreading lies about him.

Barbara Harris (who later went on to star in Freaky Friday and Nashville) is in a few scenes; she plays one of his lovers who wants nothing to do with him.