|
|
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304411391
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
ISBN: 6304411391
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: September 01, 1998
Running Time: 123 minutes
Sales Rank: 30784
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: June 24, 1976
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Robert Altman was often ahead of his time--once at the cost of being behind himself. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, a snorting exposé of the U.S. predilection for buying into heroic myths, opened on July 4, 1976. Clearly the film was positioned as the ultimate bicentennial event, Altman-style. But Altman had already delivered that a year earlier: the splendiferous, deeply disenchanted yet exhilarating Nashville. Both Nashville and Buffalo Bill are films about America-as-show business, hucksterism, and the rare miracle of performance. But everything Altman got so thrillingly right in Nashville, which teems with life and mystery and widescreen dynamism, came out flatfooted and obvious in Buffalo Bill, a cramped, smirky inside joke that ends up being on the joker.
The setting is the base camp for Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, where the blustering Indian fighter of legend is gearing up for his latest national tour. Apart from sharpshooter Annie Oakley (Geraldine Chaplin) and her great friend, the Sioux chieftain Sitting Bull (Frank Kaquitts), the show is populated by phonies and opportunists. Biggest phony of all is Cody (Paul Newman), whose fame has been based more on the penny-dreadful scribblings of Ned Buntline (Burt Lancaster) than on any real accomplishments; even his long blond tresses are fake. Altman and cowriter Alan Rudolph (working from a play by Arthur Kopit) thump their insights about the Establishment's feet of clay as if they were breaking-news bulletins instead of countercultural clichés. Only the occasional ineffably mysterious Altman zoom shot offers relief. --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - ANOTHER CRAPPY '70's FILM DISMISSING AMERICAN LEGENDS
Failure to give this a ZERO STAR Rating this gets one...It seems it is more popular to bash
the lives of American Heroes, than give an honest portrayal. With the excuse of filming these
as "Comedies", these type of films have been churned-out since the late '60's, such as "Little
Big Man" and the portrayal of General George Custer. Those of us who actually KNOW about
American History and the contribution made by these men will find this one another waste of
time!
Rating: - YOU CAN DO BETTER, ALTMAN-WISE . . .
When Altman is good he's great. Like in McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Shortcuts, The Player and, oh yes, MASH. The Amazon review for BB et al should be read before ordering this. Like, flat-footed and obvious, I think they say. Beyond Altman, an akin movie of this time would be Little Big Man, which is sensational, not stupid.
Rating:  - interesting
I was filmed in my home town and a very good friend of mine was a extra in the movie and we looked at it to see if we could pick her out. Unfortunatly we did not find her. o-well
Rating:  - Intriguing Idea But A Bit Shallow
Paul Newman stars as Buffalo Bill, the showman of the wild west, with his circus act of performers. Robert Altman is famous for movings that expose how easily people fall for myths and stories, and this is no exception. Bill and his crew are all larger than life, believing in the stories written about themselves. They decide to put Geronimo into their act, thinking that they can stir up their audience into a blood lust against the "evil Indians".
To their surprise, people actually respect ... Read More
Rating: - Terrific Newman Performance in Lesser Known Altman Flick
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 ... Read More
|
|
