Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson

Synopsis: Buffalo Bill plans to put on his own Wild West sideshow, and Chief Sitting Bull has agreed to appear in it. However, Sitting Bull has his own hidden agenda, involving the President and General Custer.
Genre: Comedy, Western
Director(s): Robert Altman
Production: United Artists
  1 win.
 
IMDB:
6.2
Rotten Tomatoes:
82%
PG
Year:
1976
123 min
275 Views


Ladies and gentlemen

your attention please.

What you are about to experience

is not a show for entertainment.

It is a review of the events

that made the American frontier.

In less than 15 years, this nation

will celebrate the 20th century.

We do not know

what awaits us in the future

but we do know

the past that laid the foundation.

And that foundation

was not built from heroes

but from the anonymous settler.

Their home was but a shack

roofed in with sod.

One door shut out the wind and storm

one window greeted the dawning day.

These brave souls

survived not only nature

but the savage instincts of man.

Paving the way

for the heroes that endured.

Get the rifle!

So welcome to the real events

enacted by men and women

of the American frontier.

To whose courage

strength, and above all, faith

this piece of history is dedicated.

Or:

Cease action!

From the beginning... one... two...

Are you in costume?

I want everybody in costume now.

Mr. Salsbury!

Yes?

What is it?

A horse stepped through him.

Don't touch him.

Get Eats Rabbit to the dispensary.

His name is Brown Horse.

Be careful with him.

Tell Joy not to get on the horse

from the back. Doesn't look authentic.

I was thinking of setting the hut

on fire. Not a bad idea.

So one day

I was walking through the camp.

I saw this

scrawny looking kid under a wagon.

I take one look at him

and I know I can make him a star.

I ask him his name.

He says, "Cody, Bill Cody."

I say, "What do you do?" He says

"I'm a scout and a buffalo hunter."

Well, I want to write about somebody.

I had all these new plots for Hickok

but I was mad at him.

So I say to the kid

"Your name is now Buffalo Bill

and in 6 months, the whole country

will know about you."

At a church service in Deadwood

I met and rubbed elbows with

a young man named William F. Cody.

I was so impressed

by his skill as a marksman

by his success as a hunter

that I named him

"Buffalo Bill."

Nate, take a look.

She's doing good with her left hand.

Show him, honey.

Beautiful. Just like the old missy.

The stories were a big success.

The kid is scared to death

about the legend I created

but ex cited about his new fame.

And I say one thing

just one thing

"Bill, any youngster figures

to set the world on fire

best not forget

where he got the matches.

I want you to back me up

on this one against Bill.

Which is why you've gotta make it

clear to Bill how serious it could be.

Are you listening to me, Nate?

Ex cuse me, we're trying to have

a conversation about Annie Oakley.

I don't want to push you, but I am her

husband and have a solemn duty...

Dammit, are you gonna tell him or not?

Maybe you

should tell him yourself, Frank.

What can I do for you?

All right, I will.

Major Burke's in there with him...

Oh yeah? It's damn important.

Good to see you, Frank.

My glass suddenly got empty. Could you

put a couple of fingers in there?

Thank you, Frank.

My pleasure. If you don't want to

play Mexicans I've got other people.

We still want to be part of the show.

You do? As Mexicans? No...

I used to play a colored.

Do I look like a colored? No, sir.

When I had to play a colored

I was a colored.

Good you can be

Rodriguez and Ricardo.

Or "Los latiguerros Mexico"

that has to do with whips.

Frank would you mind gettin' out

of my... Conference, Bill.

...my conference here

and waitin' like the others?

Ed!

Yes, sir?

I thought I said no interruptions.

You gotta honor my wishes.

Adios, pard. Wish me luck.

You got me, you don't need luck.

And anything historical is mine.

Everything historical is yours, Bill.

Going past the dispensary?

Yeah, come on.

Major! Yes?

"Bull's eye. Heroic villains.

Revolutionize. Injuns. Whites."

What's the plot, Major?

You string those pearls together

and write a unique Buffalo Bill fable.

Let me read it when I get back.

I'll even give you the legend.

Enemies in '76, friends in '85.

Ah, Shakespeare of the half dime.

Sit down.

Something's up, Ned. Bill sent

Burke out of here on the fly.

Any ideas?

Burke gave me a few clues.

Injuns and whites

heroic villain, 50 bucks a week

foes in '75, friends in '86.

Foes in '75...

Friends in '86...

Bill's in the big time now.

He can afford to spend $50 a week.

Now tell me

what Injun villain is worth that much?

Sitting Bull!

Is he tame?

What about the army?

The army would love it.

They can't shoot him.

Not until the Sioux sign the treaties.

So they make a fool of him

in a Wild West show.

A rock ain't a rock once it's gravel.

What'd he mean by "rock and gravel?"

That he's lost his power.

Authors always have their literalisms.

I hear the new act

is General Custer's brother.

That's not what we heard.

What'd you hear?

We know who it is, Eddy.

Who?

Sitting Bull.

Is he interested in the show business?

If he wasn't

he wouldn't have become a chief.

In my youth I fought

with a young brave of the Sioux tribe

named Standing Bull.

And I beat him.

When he sat on the ground

after the fight was over

and swore revenge on me

by all the Gods of heaven and hell

I laughed at him

and called him "Sitting Bull."

I tell you, there's

no business like show business.

People say that Bill's destroyed his

reputation by drinking. It ain't so.

He wouldn't

let anything harm his troop.

So you can put those stories to rest.

But Bill's drinking

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Alan Rudolph

Alan Steven Rudolph (born December 18, 1943) is an American film director and screenwriter. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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