Despite being revered as one of the nation’s greatest artists, Robert Altman was known to engage in telling stories that showed a different side of the United States of America. He was not entirely enamoured with many of the popular and idealistic concepts that swirled around the national consciousness, and used many of his films to critique and comment on mainstream conceptions of American society, whether those in the past or during the contemporary era. One of his more fascinating experiments comes in the form of Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson, which is loosely based on the play Indians by Arthur Kopit, which aimed to look at the relationship between the two titular figures, both of whom are nothing short of social and cultural icons in American history, individuals who define the very concept of heroic endeavours and represent a very critical moment in the history of the country. William Cody, otherwise known by his moniker of Buffalo Bill (a title he earned through his fondness for hunting buffalo) is the central figure in this fascinating account of the past, in which Altman creatively crafts a fictionalized portrait of one of the country’s most intriguing individuals, a man whose entire life was condensed into his touring show, “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West”, which he ran for decades, a small segment of this time being the foundation for this story, which supposedly features the arrival of Sitting Bull, another iconic figure in American history, who in turn becomes one of the main attractions of the show. Another truly terrific effort from a director whose fascination with the past, particularly those moments not often shown in more mainstream productions, the film is a unique, funny and insightful glimpse into a specific moment in the culture, which the director carefully curates to be both complex and thrilling – and even at its lowest moment, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson is still a worthwhile effort from a truly creative and innovative director.

Altman was not entirely lacking in reverence when it came to portraying American culture, but his films did navigate the cutting edge in regards to how it looks at certain ideas. Perhaps his most daring directorial pursuit was making Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson in 1976, a major year in the country’s culture, as they were celebrating their bicentennial, which was mostly portrayed favourably through wildly patriotic works that shone a massively positive light on the past, erasing some of the less-than-ideal details in the hopes that everyone would blindly focus on the more valiant efforts of the country’s heroes, rather than some of their more controversial actions. Releasing a film that did the opposite was a risky choice, with the story being one that openly criticizes the concept of heroism on the part of supposed moral paragons like Buffalo Bill or his many colleagues that populate the nation’s history and are portrayed as heroic when in reality they were as savage as the people against whom they openly waged war. This film is actively involved in the process of deconstructing the myth of the American hero, focusing on the life and times of one of its most endearing historical figures, the brave and dedicated Buffalo Bill, who not only served his country with dedication in the first half of his life but spent the rest entertaining audiences around the world with tales of his exploits, which were built less on fact and more on the outward desire to portray himself as some great saviour, someone to be celebrated and adored like any of the other folkloric heroes that define the country’s history. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson is not an entirely truthful piece – it makes sure that we know that these events are filtered through a fictional lens. Even though it is based quite heavily on reality, the story presents a more creative account of the titular heroes and their collaborative efforts, with historical revisionism being a very effective tool in Altman’s exploration of the mythology that surrounds these characters.

In casting the part of Buffalo Bill, there could be few choices more appropriate than Paul Newman, an actor whose constant pursuit of interesting characters was interwoven by his status as arguably the finest American actor of his generation, albeit one who never settled too comfortably into the status quo that he couldn’t be slightly more experimental with the roles he chose. On the surface, playing the part of Buffalo Bill in any context would have made sense for Newman, especially at this stage in his career, where he was still at his peak, just having grown slightly older, and now taking on more challenging roles that allowed him to expand on the kinds of characters he had rarely played in his youth. A grizzled, cynical Buffalo Bill is an interesting concept, but Newman interprets this version of the character (which is an important point to emphasize, since the film wants the audience to be constantly aware of the fact that it is a fictionalized account, probably as a means to not mislead anyone from believing this is in any way a primarily truthful version of his life) with wit and candour, turning in a performance that is perhaps slightly too good for the film in which he is appearing. He’s joined by a typically sprawling cast, which was one of Altman’s specialities, casting actors from a wide range of different backgrounds as the primary players in his story – Geraldine Chaplin, Harvey Keitel, Joel Grey and Burt Lancaster (as Ned Buntline, who famously wrote about Buffalo Bill and started the mythology that surrounds him, making his credited title as “The Legend-Maker” all the more appropriate) all play pivotal roles, and work well with the director to bring the story to life. However, it’s Frank Kaquitts, as Sitting Bull, who is the most impressive – a real-life Native American chief who took on the intimidating task of portraying arguably the most famous tribal leader in American history – and he seems to be keenly aware of this responsibility, delivering a stunning performance that is all the more captivating considering he utters very little dialogue, playing the part through only his expressivity, which contrasts with Newman’s more verbose, braggadocious persona, creating a fascinating balance between the two characters that serve as the heart of the entire story, the source of much of the conflict that drives the film.

Unfortunately, despite its immense potential, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson is not a film that entirely delivers on every promise it makes, since this would be singularly impossible. It’s one of Altman’s more ambitious productions, and as a result, it was going to be immediately divisive, since he rarely found success with films that adhered to strict conventions, with his greatest achievements being those that took risks, which is conversely also how some of his lesser efforts were crafted as well. The fact of the matter here is that there is far too much content to compress into two hours (its quite surprising Altman didn’t tack on an additional hour – length has never been a concern for him, and he crafted arguably the greatest American film of the 1970s only the previous year, with Nashville running over three hours and yet making us crave even more) and that the effort to cover not only the legacy of Buffalo Bill but the entirety of the journey the United States had taken to this very moment, which is set just after the centennial, all the more challenging. What the film lacks is an idea of the tone it wanted to take – a revisionist Western often lends itself to either an increased degree of violence, or a more comedic perspective, and while he wasn’t afraid of more controversial approaches, Altman was also a pacifist at heart, so it’s not likely that he’d willingly engage in the former if he could avoid it. The problem is, the film isn’t particularly funny either, with the eccentric characters being entertaining but otherwise very conventional, which is not something that a director like Altman necessarily wants to see as definitive of any of his work, let alone one that was created to be a critical reflection on America’s past. Tonally, it can feel quite jagged, and it seems to be searching for a genre that would fit its story, struggling to grasp onto any of them in a way that feels meaningful, instead floating between them without knowing exactly where it would be most appropriate to settle.

Despite my hesitations to proclaim it as anything particularly special outside of a few key moments, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson is still a very good film that showcases Altman’s immense talents and very unique manner of crafting stories. Lower-tier Altman is still better than the peaks of many of his imitators, and while very few will remember this one as being particularly notable (which isn’t helped by the fact that it is compressed between Nashville and 3 Women, arguably his two greatest films, depending on whom you ask), there is a lot of value if we spend enough time looking at these characters and how they’re brought to life by the director and his collaborators. It can meander at times, and its certainly not anywhere close to perfect in any sense – but yet, it still feels riveting in the way that only a film constructed by one of the most daring and creative filmmakers in American history could have achieved, never feeling forced, which is possibly the key point of difference between this film and other revisionist westerns from this era that try to capture a similar sentiment, but also struggle to find the right approach. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson is a film with a clear vision as to what it wanted to achieve, only fumbling slightly when it comes to choosing the most appropriate method of telling such a story, which isn’t even too much of a shortcoming, instead being a small issue that isn’t resolved, but rather manages to be overcome by the dozens of merits that we find scattered throughout the film. Excellent performances from a terrific ensemble cast that is led by the formidable Newman, impeccable production design and a sense of concise direction that proves Altman was a true master. These components are all integral to the success of the film, and the director constantly pushes the style to be reflective of a sense of disdain he had for the chequered past of the country, without being overly critical in a way that could be misunderstood as hateful towards the nation. It’s a delicately-constructed but superbly entertaining film that has a lot of ambition and a great deal of promise, and while it may not deliver on all of them, it is still a worthy effort, and yet another tremendous entry into one of the greatest directorial careers of this particular era.