The Wild Bunch

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Sam Peckinpah, who directed this 1969 western, offers a vision of America’s mythology of the Old West in transition as it deteriorates from idealism into cynicism. The significance of the title of the movie shows that the group of men are uncontrolled outlaws because they find no connection with a corrupt society, and their only allegiance is to the tribe they have formed. Whatever redemption they feel they can achieve in this fallen state comes from their loyalty to each other.

The first shot is of the Bunch, riding together, like a violent family. They are wild, but they are a unified. There is a shot of grinning children as they feed a couple of scorpions to a colony of ants. The film seems to present a restricted path for existence, with the threat of destruction being the primary force. Individuals perish, and any chance at a worthwhile survival depends upon the strength derived from a cohesive group. The image of the children getting enjoyment out of their sadistic act is disturbing, implying that innocence is dead as violence now begins among the young.

The cruel activity of the children is offset with the gathering of members of the Temperance Union, with a speaker quoting from the bible, which is also undercut by the Bunch riding by. The members of the Bunch are disguised as soldiers. Pike (William Holden), the leader, bumps into an old lady and her packages drops. For an instant Pike’s meanness shows on his face but then he puts on a benevolent look, as he and Dutch (Ernest Borgnine) pick up the packages and escort the woman. Appearances are deceiving, but these men are at least capable of civilized behavior. They are robbing a railroad depot, but Thornton (Robert Ryan) is there with his group of bounty hunters waiting for them. The Bunch spots the bounty hunters. We see the children marching with the Union, almost desecrating the actions of the righteous considering their affinity for destruction. Thornton’s men are just as bloodthirsty as any criminals, eager to start shooting. There is a smile on one man’s face in anticipation of the shootout, another, Coffer (Strother Martin) kisses his gun. The Bunch throw a railroad clerk out into the street while the marchers pass by, as they are not above sacrificing innocents as cover, who get caught in the crossfire. Many of the bounty hunters are shot. These men are not so admirable since their motivation is to collect rewards as opposed to enforcing the law.

There is recognition between Pike and Thornton as they exchange glances. Thornton hesitates and a band player gets in the way and is shot by Thornton, again showing how the violence of the time is wiping out the innocent. Pike’s return shot does not aim at Thornton, but kills the man next to him. We later learn why these two men can’t kill each other. The violence, which may not seem as graphic as today, but was revolutionary at the time, is extensive. The slow-motion shots make it linger, showing the devastating effect of the bullets on a human body. At the same time the cinematography is stylized, distancing the audience from the gruesome reality observed. The effect is similar to the technique that director Stanley Kubrick used in A Clockwork Orange. The mayhem appears choreographed to emphasize the artifice of film, ironically showing that even death can be made to appear artistic.

The bounty hunters, demonstrating how their callous greed undermines their cohesiveness as a unit, argue over who claims the rights to the bandits that were killed. Thornton is angry about the lack of organized planning which leads to the loss of lives. Harrigan (Albert Dekker), who works for the railroad and hired Thornton and the bounty hunters, criticizes Thornton for not killing Pike. One of the Bunch, Crazy Lee (Bo Hopkins), the name definitely fits here, who was guarding people at the railroad office, is cut off from the Bunch. He is unbalanced, asking the captives to sing, licking one of the women, and then shooting them when they try to escape for no reason since the robbery was over. He is shot by the bounty hunters, but even as he dies, he shoots more people, showing his deadly nature, and how the men who are outside the law can attract those that undermine their band of criminal brothers. The townspeople blame the railroad, a supposedly legitimate business, for luring the bandits in with a fake publicized delivery of silver, and thus causing the massacre. Thornton at least does seem outraged by the deaths. Children then imitate the action of the shooters, stressing how systemic the violence has become.

One of the Bunch, Buck (Rayford Barnes) was shot and loses his vision. He says just end it for him, and hardly gets the words out of his mouth before Pike shoots him. If an individual can’t help the group, he is a hindrance, and must be put down. This killing shows the brutal nature of the pact made between these men. Pike says rhetorically and sarcastically that maybe some of the others would like to give the man a decent burial. The thrust here is that their way of life can’t afford the luxury for sentimentality. One man does say he would like to bury him, and another says that too many of their number died. Dutch, Pike’s second in command, chimes in with sarcasm too, saying, “maybe a few hymns’d be in order. Followed by a church supper. With a choir!” The scorn for a religious ritual shows how far these men have distanced themselves from mainstream life.

 Harrigan yells at the bounty hunters for not stopping the thieves, but he only sees things in terms of dollars and cents, not in the loss of life, and threatens to give a thousand dollars to any man who kills one of their number who quits on the job. The intent of this offer is meant to unite this group but really just appeals to their individual greed, and discourages working in harmony toward a common goal. We learn that Thornton was in prison, used to be one of the Bunch, and Harrigan wonders whether he will try to rejoin them. Thornton says he gave his word, which is still important to him, but Harrigan says if he doesn’t bring the bandits back dead in thirty days, Thornton go back to the Yuma prison. Thornton points out angrily that Harrigan is able to order killings with the sanction of the law behind him. Harrigan, thus, appears worse than the criminals since his violence can be carried out without worrying about consequences. There is a flashback of Thornton being whipped in prison, showing the sadistic nature of the supposedly legitimate institution.

The Bunch crosses the river to get into Mexico. The border, as it was used in A Touch of Evil, can represent an area that exists between traditional concepts of good and evil, and here can also show the transition between a romanticized outlook to a cynical one. Two of the Bunch, Tector (Ben Johnson) and his brother, Lyle (Warren Oates) say they don’t think the old member of their group, Freddy Sykes (Edmond O'Brien), and the Mexican riding with them, Angel (Jaime Sanchez), should get equal shares of what they stole. Because Pike knows that anything that threatens to divide the Bunch will lessen their strength, he says he is either the leader and what he says goes, or he ends things right there. The threat of death is enough to cower the two men. Since the heist at the railroad depot was a trap, there are only metal washers in the bags. Pike admits that he saw Thornton at the depot. They plan their next move, but as Sykes says, they’re not getting any younger. Pike echoes that by saying that they must think “beyond their guns. Those days are closin’ fast.” This elegiac feel is similar to what happens in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where outlaws are constantly on the run from a changing world that threatens their place in the mythos of the Old West. In order to ward off the specter of future demise, the men here just laugh it off as Lyle and Tector talk about being with whores while Pike was setting them up to steal washers.

At their campsite before going to sleep, Pike says to Dutch that the railroad robbery was supposed to be his last job. He says he wanted one big heist and then hoped to “back off.” But his pal says, “Back off to what?” Pike has no reply, because they don’t know any other life, and probably couldn’t leave the one they have behind. In a way, their actions and the changing world has trapped them. He asks Pike about other plans, and Pike says there are a lot of garrisons along the border waiting for payrolls. Dutch says the authorities will be waiting for them, and Pike defiantly says he wouldn’t want it any other way. Dutch shows his allegiance to Pike, saying he wouldn’t want it any other way either about confronting the law. Pike has a flashback of him and Thornton (the name might suggest he represents a “thorn” of guilt in Pike’s side?) at a brothel, and Thornton saying they have to move on. Pike says that it’s okay because “Being sure is my business.” But the authorities burst in on them and Thornton is shot and cuffed. Pike escaped and now probably feels guilty about miscalculating their safety and leaving Thornton behind, which makes him bitter about betrayal.

They cross an area of desert and then Sykes causes them to roll down a dune and get unhorsed. Tector threatens to kill the old man, but Pike stops him, and announces his code by which he believes they should live. He says, “We’re gonna stick together, just like it used to be! When you side with a man, you stay with him! And if you can’t do that, you’re like some animal, you’re finished. We’re finished! All of us!” The rest of the world might be in chaos, and a man might help contribute to that breakdown of society, but within the nucleus of the tribe, there is a thread of order through loyalty that keeps one elevated above becoming totally savage.

As Pike tries to mount his horse, a stirrup breaks and he falls down, hurting his leg. Tector and Lyle ridicule Pike, saying maybe they shouldn’t be following a man who can’t get on his horse (as mentioned in past posts, the horse is a traditional symbol for manhood). Despite his pain, Pike manages to mount his horse, and there is admiration on Dutch’s face for the toughness of his leader. As they ride, Sykes asks how Crazy Lee, his grandson, performed at the robbery. Pike didn’t know the young man was Syke’s relative, because the old man wanted Lee to make it on his own. Pike says he did ‘fine.” Even though they are on the wrong side of the law, thieves still care how one of their number handles himself professionally. Pike shows some compassion here, not telling Sykes how undependable Crazy Lee acted.

The Mexican member, Angel (an ironic name which shows an inverse world where the thieves are more noble than the legitimate people in power), invites them to his village and warns them not to disrespect him in front of his people. Angel has not totally accepted his role as a criminal. The others laugh at his hypocrisy, since he is a bandit, which the villagers do not know, and they defy him humorously by saying suggestively they want to get to know his sister, mother and even grandmother. The Bunch’s wildness is contrasted with the domestic and agrarian lives of the villagers. We have here a similar situation that was presented in The Magnificent Seven. An old Mexican, Don Jose (Chano Urueta) says the Mexican soldiers, instead of protecting the citizens, stole from them. Their leader, Mapache (Emilio Fernandez) hanged Angel’s father and took his girlfriend, Teresa (Sonia Amelio). Don Jose says Angel idolized her “like a goddess to be worshiped from afar.” But, she went with Mapache, “drunk with wine and love,” according to the old man, who says these are sad times for Mexico. He sounds a bit like Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men, another film that bemoans the loss of old standards of behavior. Don Jose describes Teresa as being like a ripe mango. Cynical Pike says that Angel dreams of love, while Mapache eats the mango. In that sentence we see the defeat of romantic idealism as it is consumed by carnal desire.

Lyle and Tector playfully go with some of the village women to help with the cooking, and Pike says with a laugh that he finds their behavior hard to believe. But, Don Jose says that, “We all dream of being a child again. Even the worst of us. Perhaps the worst most of all.” Pike basically admits that his band is among “the worst,” thus understanding that Don Jose means that there is a part of the men of the Bunch that yearn for a return to a less cruel world. But, as we saw the behavior of the children at the beginning of the story, innocence is gone.

Angel keeps wanting to know where Mapache is, but Pike menacingly says he has to let his desire for revenge go or they will leave Angel behind. Angel must choose between two ways of life, and he says he will stick with the “wild” one. As they leave the town, the people sing a farewell but it is mournful and could be a funeral dirge for what is to come. One woman gives Dutch a rose, and he exchanges looks with Pike that seems to say that they are not accustomed to this sweetness. But, it can also represent a flower placed on a coffin.

They go to General Mapache’s headquarters to do some trading. Another general arrives in an automobile, and it is the first time the thieves have seen a car. Pike heard of them and when Sykes talks of airplanes, Pike confirms their existence. He heard that they will be used in wars. Thus, the violence of this new technology, sanctioned by the legal authorities, will cause the extermination of lives in large numbers, so that the outlaws do not seem so evil in comparison to what governments allow. They observe that Mapache has plenty of silver that he has extracted from the inhabitants. So, Dutch says, he’s just another bandit, and in his own way worse because he pretends to be a person on the side of the law. The line between legal and illegal thievery has become blurred with transgressions occurring on both sides of the law. But Dutch says that they are better because they don’t degrade people by hanging them, and calls people like Mapache “scum.”

Two women are brought to Mapache and one is Teresa, Angel’s girl, who has now become corrupted. She laughs at Angel, sits in Mapache’s lap, and kisses him sexually in the ear. Angel yells out the word “whore” in Spanish and shoots Teresa, since the condemnation of betrayal is a major theme in the film. There is the old sexist idea here of classifying women as either virgins or whores, as was noted in the conversation between Pike and Don Jose. The film shows women used by men for sex, and they are viewed as dispensable. However, women in the story many times appear to be ready, with a smile on their faces, to succumb to the men, and can be treacherous. To the movie’s detriment there is no effort given to develop a female character in this story beyond being compliant vessels for male pleasure. The Bunch gets out of this situation by saying Angel’s action was all about jealousy. Mapache and his men seem to go along with that explanation. After being questioned by one of Mapache’s German military advisers, Mohr (Fernando Wagner), Pike assures them that he and his men do not agree with hardly anything the American government stands for. In this way, Pike sort of announces the Bunch’s own declaration of independence from any allegiance except to themselves. They are asked to have dinner with Mapache and his officers.

There is a quick scene where the bounty hunters are riding with Thornton at the lead. Coffer says something about shooting Thornton, as a joke, and slaps his leather holster, alarming Thornton, who falls back so as not to be an easy target. It reminds us of the children who played at shooting guns, and makes a connection to how the urge for violence starts early. It also shows how the loyalty among the members of the illegal Bunch is stronger than that between the legal, but selfish, bounty hunters.

Mapache and the Bunch eat dinner while there is the funeral procession for Teresa winding around them, showing the contrast between a religious ritual for the dead and the illegal plotting of the living. Mohr wants the Bunch to go after a railroad, and says that General Huerta, who has taken over the military and is fighting the outlaw, Pancho Villa, wants to hypocritically show good relations with the American government while his henchman, Mapache, backs a robbery of an American train. Mohr says that they have received intelligence from Mapache about the delivery of armaments by the U. S. Army. Lyle demands women and they are brought to him and his brother, showing the objectification of the females here for sexual purposes and illustrating the men’s indulgence of selfish desires. Mapache doesn’t trust Angel and wants to exchange him for another man in the robbery attempt, but Pike, again showing the importance of sticking together, convinces Mapache that he needs Angel.

Pike, Dutch, Angel, and Sykes are in a type of sauna, getting a bath, and Angel says that he doesn’t want to steal for Mapache so he can kill and steal from his people. Pike says that he should just think about the money, and then he can buy land for his people, maybe even move them away. Angel says no one will drive his people off of their land. Angel is showing that there can still be a connection to one’s heritage and people, but Sykes says that you can’t be loyal to the village and also to the Bunch. His philosophy mirrors that of Pike and Dutch, who don’t subscribe to any other form of kinship than to their immediate band of thieves and their acquisition of wealth. Sykes says he will drink to many things, but most of all “to gold,” which shows where their priorities rest. Angel asks would Pike give guns to a man who would kill his parents or siblings. Pike, showing how he no longer feels a connection to relatives, says that a lot of money “cuts an awful lot of family ties.” Angel, however, says he would like to give guns to his people for protection. Dutch says why not give a case of the arms to Angel. Angel agrees to give up his share of the gold for one case of ammo and guns. He still feels a bond to something beyond this loyal, but materialistic, band of thieves, is important to maintain.

Thornton tells Harrigan that he needs better men and knows where Pike and his men will strike. Thornton says that the American troops aren’t experienced enough. Dutch notices Pike’s old leg injury and Pike finally tells him how he received the wound. A flashback shows that Pike was involved with a Mexican woman whose husband she said was never coming back. The husband returned and found the two ready to have sex. The man killed his wife and shot Pike in the leg. He said he never found the man, but still thinks about getting back at him. This story is another instance that shows Pike’s regret about not seeing trouble coming and another person suffering the consequences because of his lack of foresight.

The Bunch target an American military train at a water stop. Pike’s men quietly board it, getting the drop on the guards. The Bunch detach the locomotive and cargo from the rest of the train. But, Thornton is on board and he and his men ride after the locomotive, and start shooting. Angel, living up to his name here, saves Dutch from falling off the train. They unload the cargo and Pike puts the locomotive in reverse, as he and his men get off and ride away. The front section crashes into the rest of the train and shows the inexperience of the soldiers, as Thornton had said, as they chase their horses. The Bunch rides over a bridge and then dynamite it so as not to be pursued. The bounty hunters catch up as the fuse is lit, but the wagon carrying the arms breaks through the bridge. The bandits free it as a shootout commences and the explosion takes place, allowing the thieves to get away.

There is a short scene where Lyle and Tector say they won’t have to worry about Thornton now. But old man Sykes warns them that Thornton will still come after them. To ward off that negative feeling, they share a drink of whiskey from a bottle which shows the bond between them. Even Angel is included in this scene of camaraderie. They join together in laughter when no whiskey is left for Lyle.

That scene contrasts with the next one at the bounty hunters’ camp where the men voice self-centered complaints, talking about losing horses or catching a cold. Thornton yells at them for having shot at the soldiers instead of the thieves, which adds symbolically to the blurring concerning who are the good or bad guys. Mapache, retreating from a confrontation with Pancho Villa, is handed a communication by a child dressed in a military uniform, the image of a child looking like a soldier again stressing the loss of youthful innocence. The message says that the Bunch has the guns and Mapache says to his subordinate to make sure the Bunch turn over the arms, which shows how he is not necessarily willing to honor the deal of gold for arms.

Pike and Dutch watch in hiding as Thornton and his men try to track them down. Thornton is so disgusted with his remaining bounty hunters that he says, “We’re after men. And I wish to God I was with them.” His words show how he respects Pike and his gang as embodying what it takes to be real men, having courage, cunning, and intelligence. His attitude adds to the ambivalent feelings about the Bunch, who have some admirable attributes, but who are still dangerous outlaws. Pike, demonstrating his intelligence, doesn’t trust Mapache, saying that he thinks he might just take the guns and kill them. He wants to set up explosives that could destroy the arms if Mapache doesn’t pay up. Angel and Lyle discover a Gatling gun in the armaments they have stolen. The weapon is another sample of the escalation of destruction as the move into the modern age progresses.

With Angel’s help, the Mexicans, who are there to collect the guns that Angel promised them, ambush the Bunch. But the Mexicans apologize for not trusting them, saying their mistrust of others has kept them alive. The Bunch just laugh as they acknowledge how these mountain Mexicans can handle themselves, showing their respect for these men who have stuck together for the benefit of them all. The Bunch head toward Agua Verde. They encounter Mapache’s army of men. Pike shows the fuse leading to the dynamite that is rigged to blow up the arms. The officer sent by Mapache says he and his men are not afraid, but when Pike lights the fuse and shows the Gatling gun, they back off. Trust is hard to come by in this world, and betrayal is always a possibility. Pike says he will negotiate at Agua Verde.

Pike rides to meet Mapache and once he is paid part of the money Pike tells him where to find some of the guns and ammunition. He says that the rest are with his men and if he doesn’t return they will blow them up. Pike is no fool, and has made sure that he gets the gold before allowing himself to be vulnerable. He promises the machine gun as a gift, to sweeten the deal. Back at the Bunch’s camp, the men light some dynamite and throw it to where Sykes is ready to relieve himself. He breaks the fuse, but is furious. Even at play, these men are dangerous. Pike brings them the first payment and starts the next delivery. Back at Agua Verde, Mapache now has the machine gun, but doesn’t know how to use it. The Germans keep yelling that it must be mounted on a tripod, but the soldiers accidentally start the gun firing, and they can’t control it. The gun continues to fire, terrorizing the town's inhabitants. The scene is symbolic of how technology advances beyond its inventors’ ability to control it.

Mapache distributes the guns as Angel and Dutch approach with info on the final load as they get paid. Dutch has to explain why one crate of weapons is missing, and he says they lost it on the way. But Mapache says he found out from the mother of the woman who Angel killed, Teresa, that Angel stole the guns. She probably wanted to get back at Angel for what happened to her daughter. Angel tries to ride away but is caught. Dutch, knowing he can’t free Angel, plays along, saying he has to go and Mapache can deal with the “thief,” which is an ironic statement, since they are all thieves.

Back at the Bunch’s camp, Pike says that they can’t go after Angel, even though Lyle points out the man’s courage, and Dutch says he didn’t admit that the Bunch was complicit in giving away some of the guns. Sykes says that they should go after Angel, and he rides off with some horses. But Thornton and his men are out there and shoot him in the leg. Dutch says Thornton should be damned to hell. Pike, because of his guilt about how he left Thornton to get caught, defends Thornton because he gave his word to pursue the Bunch. Dutch yells that he gave his word to a railroad, and what matters is “who you give it to!” He is stressing the bond between men, not to some abstract, supposedly legitimate company. Lyle wants to fight Thornton, but Pike says they are low on water. They should go to Agua Verde, pay Mapache one bag of gold for sanctuary, and Thornton won’t go there. To show Pike’s hard nature, he is willing to sacrifice Sykes so that Thornton will waste time pursuing him. Thornton sees through the plan, leaves one man to look for Sykes while he and the rest pursue the Bunch. One of the mountain Mexicans finds Sykes, suggesting that he probably will help him.

As Pike thought, the general is celebrating his acquisition of the guns. They see Mapache dragging Angel around behind the car. Pike wants to buy back Angel, but Mapache says he doesn’t need gold, and continues to drag Angel around. Mapache says that the Bunch should just enjoy the drinking and the women. Pike says they may as well. Thornton and his men are on the Bunch’s trail but American Army troops are after them because of the bounty hunters shooting the soldiers at the train robbery. After being with prostitutes, the next morning, Pike seems disgusted with the situation and tells the men “let’s go,” which is code for fighting. Lyle shows his commitment by saying, “Why not?” Outside, all Dutch has to do is look at the others and he smiles, knowing what they are about to do, and laughs as they arm up. These men are so bound together that they don’t even have to speak to communicate once their minds are made up.

As they walk, the soundtrack stresses percussion, and there is marching music, as if they are off to war. Pike says to Mapache, “We want Angel,” the Mexican’s name adding significance here as these flawed men, like the gunfighters in The Magnificent Seven, seek redemption by fighting for one of their own. But, they must do it their way, through violence against the true evil men. Mapache says he will give him up. Angel is half-dead and a soldier finishes him by cutting Angel’s throat. That’s the last straw for Pike, who opens fire, shooting Mapache. The Bunch look at each other knowing this is how they are going out and they are okay with it. An orgy of stylized violence consisting of regular action and slow motion follows. Dutch uses grenades and they use the Gatling gun. But there are too many soldiers. One woman shoots Pike in the back, again showing female treachery, but the Bunch also uses a woman as a shield to show how they, too, use women for their own purposes. As Pike fires the machine gun to set off dynamite, a boy shoots Pike, again emphasizing the spread of corruptibility to the youngest in society.

After the bunch and the others are killed, Thornton and his men arrive. We see vultures landing on the dead, and the parallel is made to the bounty hunters as they pick off spoils from the remains of those killed. Thornton comes across Pike’s body, clutching a weapon, even in death. Thornton takes Pike’s revolver as a memento of his one-time friend. Thornton, showing his disgust for the bounty hunters, stays behind, not wanting to be part of the scavenging men. There is gunfire in the distance as Thornton rests. Sykes shows up with the mountain men, and says the bounty hunters didn’t get far as the mountain men got them. Sykes says he and the mountain men have work to do and offers Thornton a chance to join them. Thornton, smiling, joins Sykes, hoping to be part of a new Bunch that lives by a code of loyalty.

Next time, brief impressions on some recent films.

Little Big Man

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

This 1970 film directed by Arthur Penn is the first major revisionist Western movie that reverses the view of the Native American as a savage and the white man as civilized. It delivers its theme by having a 121-year-old protagonist who is the only living survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn tell the story of how he moved back and forth between living with the whites and the Indians.

Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), in person altering makeup and raspy voice, relates his adventures to a historian (William Hickey). Jack and his sister, Caroline (Carole Androsky), are the only survivors after Pawnee Indians attack their wagon train (later Jack has no use for the Pawnee because they pandered to the whites, allowing themselves to be used as scouts for the cavalry). A Cheyenne brave rescues them and takes the children back to his village. Jack’s sister’s attitude is the accepted notion of the time that the Red Man is a savage and will rape her. In fact, they do not even realize she is a girl, and offer her the peace pipe as the eldest male family member. She seems a bit insulted that she wasn’t assaulted. Jack says that the Indians treated him as a special guest. His sister escapes, and the 10-year-old Jack innocently believes that she was going for help. But, it is the white person who abandons him and the Indians who adopt Jack as their own. They teach him to hunt, to use red paint to protect his skin, and how to read a trail. He is considered a grandson by the Chief, Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George).

The Chief gives him the name of Little Big Man because even though he is small in stature, he has a big heart, and Old Lodge Skins tells him a mythic story about a small warrior whose courage was big. The positive moral here is that it is what is inside a person that matters. The whites don’t try to understand the Native Americans, but instead lump them all together and condemn them because they look and act differently. When Jack punches one of the older braves, the older boy is startled because the so-called barbaric tribe members don’t know how to beat another, as whites do. The bruised Indian, Younger Bear (Cal Bellini as the adult), is shamed because Jack says he is sorry for him, indicating pity. Jack later kills a Pawnee and saves Younger Bear’s life, forcing him to owe Little Big Man a life.

The accepting nature of the Cheyenne (which is translated as “human being,” ironically contrasting the nature of the Indians with that of the whites) is seen in how they accommodate Little Horse (Robert Little Star as the adult), who likes to be with the women, and grows up to be gay. In fact, Jack notes that the Cheyenne would not force any boy to fight if he was not so inclined, which shows how the tribe respected individuality.

The Cheyenne find that the white soldiers have slaughtered a Native American camp, including women and children. When Little Big Man asks Old Lodge Skins why whites would commit such cruel acts, the old man says, “Because they are strange. They do not seem to know where the center of the Earth is.” Here, the Chief indicts the whites for not having a moral center. He decides to wage war on the soldiers to teach them a lesson, but as Jack narrates, his grandfather’s idea of war and that of the soldiers were not the same. The Cheyenne just wanted to humiliate the enemy by “counting coup,” being the first to tap the opponent with a stick. The soldiers shoot to kill, and the Cheyenne believe Jack was killed. Instead he saves himself by showing that he is a white man. Here, and other times, Jack is not a noble person, willing to die for his tribe. He is pragmatic, doing what he can to survive.

The soldiers hand Jack over to the Reverend Silas Pendrake (Thayer David) to make sure he will now receive a Christian moral upbringing to counter the supposed barbaric life he has lived up to that point among the Native Americans. However, the first thing the “civilized” reverend says is that Jack is a liar, and endorses violence by saying “We shall have to beat the lying out of you.” Pendrake falsely condemns the Indians for not knowing anything of what is morally right, eating human flesh, and communing with the minions of the devil. Despite his warnings and beatings about the temptations of the flesh, the portly reverend is a glutton, always wanting to satisfy his hunger. His wife, Louise Pendrake (Faye Dunaway) is an extreme hypocrite, preaching the virtues of denying physical pleasure while indulging her lust by touching the grown-up Jack while washing the filth off of him, but revealing her dirty thoughts. She warns him of how the girls will be after him, likely vicariously thinking of her own wants, and trembles when she says “and that way lies madness,” showing how she already is in that state, made crazy by a religion that wants to repress her sexual drives. She tells Jack that “purity is its own reward,” and undermines the statement by kissing him on the lips. Jack actually believes in the religious teachings, and confesses to a true love for Mrs. Pendrake. But, while on a visit to the soda shop, he comes across her having sex with the proprietor (Jack, before spying on the couple, plays with a faucet in the shape of an elephant, the long trunk an obvious phallic symbol). Jack says, “She was calling him a devil and moaning for help, but I didn’t get no idea she wanted to be rescued.” Given the level of hypocrisy, Jack says after what he saw ended his religious stage.

He takes up with a swindler, whose outright dishonesty and lack of moral pretense is refreshing to him in contrast with that of Mrs. Pendrake. Mr. Merriweather (Martin Balsam) sells snake-oil, offering it up as a magical elixir. He says that Jack has this streak of honesty in him, instilled by Old Lodge Skins, that prevents him from exceling as a fraud. He says to his apprentice, “He gave you a vision of moral order in the universe and there isn’t any.” His nihilism and cynicism show in his words about how easy it is to get people to believe lies: “a two-legged creature will believe in anything and the more preposterous the better: whales speak French at the bottom of the sea. The horses of Arabia have silver wings. Pygmies mate with elephants in darkest Africa. I have sold all those propositions.” Could he be talking to us today about how politicians function? In any event, Merriweather keeps losing parts of his body, including his ear and a hand. He later loses an eye due to cheating at cards, and when Jack meets him further in the story, Merriweather proposes the rape of the land by killing dwindling buffalo herds for their hides. At that point he has lost a leg. His physical infirmities reflect his moral decay due to his exploitative capitalistic ways.

While working with Merriweather, the two are tarred and feathered by local town folk for the deadly potion the duo are selling. One of the locals is a woman who turns out to be Jack’s sister Caroline. She wants to teach him how to shoot. He doesn’t know anything about guns, to which his sister questions what kind of upbringing did he have with the Indians. To her, a “man ain’t complete without a gun.” Again, the so-called civilized world of the whites is satirized as violence is shown to be an intrinsic part of that society. It turns out that Jack is a natural at shooting. He enters the gunfighter stage of his life. Instead of looking intimidating, he dresses in an over-the-top way, in a fancy black outfit. His boots break through a plank of wood while walking on the street. He is known as the “soda-pop kid” and barely reaches the table as he props his boots up. He runs into Wild Bill Hickock, who rightly says to the young man, “you ain’t got the look of murder about you.” Jack’s life among the Cheyenne taught him to respect life, and that is why he is so awkward as a gunfighter. After seeing how nervous Wild Bill is, who is on the alert against being shot by men proving their white world worth by besting him in death, and witnessing Bill’s bloody killing of an opponent, he sells his guns. Disgusted with his not embracing violence, Caroline leaves Jack, abandoning her brother once again. So much for the white society’s loyalty to family.

After rejecting the religious path, the role of a swindler, and the gunfighter profession, Jack then tries another aspect of white society, that of a husband and businessman. Again, he fails. His partner robs him of all his money, emphasizing the dishonesty of the white world. It is interesting that he chooses a mail order Swedish woman, Olga (Kelly Jean Peters) as his spouse. Even though Jack is trying to exist in the American white environment, he marries a foreigner who doesn’t speak the language of that world. Perhaps his Indian roots subconsciously reject his trying to fit into the white American established order. Jack first encounters General George Armstrong Custer (Richard Mulligan) when he is being evicted from his home. Custer actually shows some sympathy for the deprived man and advises him to go west. Jack says his wife is scared of Indians, but Custer assures the couple he will protect them. Ironically the next scene is an attack by Indians on the stagecoach on which Jack and Olga are riding. A brave carries Olga off. Olga has the same attitude about the so-called uncivilized Indian that Jack’s sister has. However, we later find that she becomes the wife of Younger Bear, Jack’s Cheyenne enemy, and she seems right at home in the Native American world since she is much better suited to the non-standard American lifestyle, being a foreigner.

 Jack looks for Olga by venturing into Indian territory, and convinces Cheyenne braves that he is Little Big Man. He meets with Old Lodge Skins again, who has second sight. He says he had a dream of Jack at the soda fountain, playing with the elephant faucet. He also has a premonition about Jack having three or four wives, which is contrary to the Cheyenne tradition of monogamy. Since Olga is not yet with the tribe, Jack again goes back to the white world, hoping to find his wife by becoming a scout for Custer. The general reveals his self-righteousness when he says he can tell a man’s profession just by looking at him, and says that Jack is no scout, but instead is a mule skinner, a profession Jack knows nothing about. The bigotry of the soldiers becomes apparent when one tells Jack that it would be kinder to put a bullet in the brain of a woman who had been captured by Indians. When the soldiers raid an Indian village, they are merciless, killing women and children. Jack is horrified, and tries to stop them. An ironic scene follows when Jack, trying to escape, encounters the Cheyenne brave Shadow That Comes in Sight (Ruben Moreno), the man who originally brought him to the Cheyenne as a child. The brave does not recognize Jack, and tries to kill him. A soldier shoots Shadow before he can kill Jack. As Jack says, “An enemy had saved my life from the violent murder of one of my best friends. The world was too ridiculous to even bother to live in.”

Shadow was protecting his daughter, Sunshine (Aimee Eccles), who was giving birth during the battle. Her name offers the promise of hope, but it is a fleeting possibility given the times. Jack witnesses the child being born, finds out that Sunshine’s husband was killed, and he wants to trade her to find Olga. He again joins up with Old Lodge Skins, who is now blind from wounds sustained in battle. He recounts all of the Cheyenne who have been “rubbed out” by the white man. After his experiences, and now hearing his Indian grandfather’s account of suffering, Jack hates the white man. He settles down with the Native Americans on land the President and Congress have promised to be a safe haven for the Indians. Sunshine is now his mate, and they are expecting a baby. She says her sisters are now there and their husbands have been killed. Old Lodge Skins’ prophecy about him comes true, as his wife asks him to perform husbandly duties on her sisters in a humorous copulating scene under the tent. 

Old Lodge Skins has another dream, more ominous, in which the horses are crying, trying to tell him something. They discover that the message is that the soldiers, ordered by Custer, are coming to wipe them out, showing how the whites can’t be trusted to keep their promises. To the ironically contrasting upbeat marching music derived from an Irish jig, the soldiers systematically kill men, women, and children, including Sunshine and her newborn baby. In a bit of magical realism, Jack escapes with Old Lodge Skins, whom he convinces is invisible because he did not see soldiers in the dream, so they can’t see him. The Chief grins as he walks right through the soldiers to the river. Penn provides us with mirroring shots of Sunshine and Jack falling to the ground as he seems to die inside watching his woman and child expire. Jack poetically sums up the death of that promised hope by saying, “Sometimes the grass don’t grow, the wind don’t blow, and the sky is not blue.”

Jack wants to kill Custer, goes to his camp, and convinces him to hire Jack. He enters Custer’s tent with a knife, but the general intimidates him. Custer realizes that Jack came to kill him, but that he lost his nerve. He says since he is no Cheyenne brave, Jack isn’t worth hanging. Jack is so humiliated that he can’t return to the Cheyenne; so, he becomes a worthless drunk. He again encounters Wild Bill who is married and wants Jack to give money to a widow with whom he has been intimate. At that very moment, a youth kills Wild Bill for having shot his father, which emphasizes again the violence of the white society. Jack finds the widow, who turns out to be Mrs. Pendrake, who has indulged her lust by becoming a prostitute. With a bit of divine justice, she finds the profession boring since the sex occurs day and night. However, with the money Wild Bill has given her, she promises to leave for Washington. The film suggests that she will spread her corruption, like a venereal disease, into the body politic, as she promises to wed a senator, and will religiously continue her unfaithful ways, telling Jack to look her up if he ever visits the nation’s capital.

Jack is so alienated from the white world and unable to return to the Indian one, so he becomes a mad hermit, and one day is ready to kill himself. But, he hears that same jaunty marching music performed by the American troops. He vows to “look the devil in the eye and send him to hell.” He again goes to Custer’s camp. The general keeps him alive to use him as a “reverse barometer” since he believes Jack will only tell lies. Custer wants to provide him with the way he should deal with the Indians. He needs one more decisive victory before running for President of the United States. Just before the Battle of Little Big Horn, Custer asks Jack what he should do. Jack says, “I had him.” But, he wasn’t “armed with a knife, but with the truth.” He tells Custer that there are thousands of Indians in the valley who will wipe him out. So, he says to him he should go in there, “if you’ve got the nerve.” Custer wrongly thinks Jack is trying to outwit him, not wanting him to go against the Indians and getting a victory. Of course, he and his men were wiped out. Jack is rescued by Younger Bear, who finally has paid back the life he owed Little Big Man.

Jack meets with Old Lodge Skins, who says that they won a victory today, but he knows they will lose the war. In a statement condemning the whites for their lack of humanity, he says, “There is an endless supply of white men. There has always been a limited supply of human beings.” Without “human beings” the world has no center for him. So, he wishes to scale a mountain, die, and join the burial in the sky. However, he cannot will his own death, and after resting on the ground with his eyes closed, he reacts to rain falling on his face. When Jack reassures him that he is still in the world, his sad response, mirroring the doomed fate of the Native American situation, is “I was afraid of that.” The movie ends with the 121-year-old-Jack finishing his story, a man of longevity, but whose years were filled with unhappiness.

In one of his speeches, Old Lodge Skins sums up the moral divide between the Native American world view, which cherishes all of existence, and the spiritual emptiness of the whites’ selfishness: “The human beings, my son, they believe everything is alive. Not only man and animals. But also water, earth, stone … That is the way things are. But the white man, they believe everything is dead. Stone, earth, animals. And people! Even their own people! If things keep trying to live, white man will rub them out. That is the difference.”

The next film is Jules and Jim.