“It makes me sad. A world without Human Beings has no center to it.”
Entered into The Guinness Book of World Records as “the greatest age span portrayed by a movie actor” for Little Big Man in which Dustin Hoffman portrayed a character from age 17 to age 121. In order to get the raspy voice of a man who is over 120 years old, Hoffman sat in his dressing room and screamed at the top of his lungs for an hour. The role of Chief Old Lodge Skins was initially offered to Marlon Brando, who turned it down. The marching tune played when the 7th Cavalry is attacking Indians on the Washita River and during the Battle of Little Big Horn is an Irish jig titled “Garry Owen”, the official song of the U.S. Army Seventh Cavalry (General Custer’s cavalry). Coincidentally, near the site of Custer’s Last Stand, is a village named Garryowen. Little Big Man was a critical and commercial success and ushered in a new era in Hollywood’s characterization of Native Americans. Other films followed including The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976) that attempted to show U.S. history from a more balanced perspective. For his part, Chief Dan George (1899-1981) was honored with a New York Film Critics Award as well as an Academy Award for best supporting actor. He was 71 years old. As a member of the Coast Salish nation, the success of Little Big Man gave Chief George a platform from which he was able to call public attention to the plight of North America’s indigenous peoples in the twentieth century. Dustin Hoffman was nominated for Best Actor. The film made $31,559,552 in domestic box office.
