A highly engaging and commendable making of directed and photographed by Elliott Erwitt, this special covering the filming of "Little Big Man"
escapes from the usual routine of behind the scenes projects with cast and crew praising each other's work with some quick glipmses of a film set and
some important sequence being filmed. Instead, it opts for a more open discussion about what director Arthur Penn intended to conceive with the western
comedy/drama/adventure, his take on General Custer Last Stand, and there's moments of Mr. Penn directing the actors and also some moments with leading man
Dustin Hoffman, either through interviews and the old age makeup test for his 100 year-old character.
The short alternates between the filming of battle sequences, with the director having some serious yelling moments and other times he's mimicking
the same lines used by the actors while performing it (the man really knew the script and had a great time watching the actors playing), and there's Mr. Penn
unique talks about what he intended to present with "Little Big Man", never a sense of rewritting history but trying to make his own version of the battles
with the indians, aligned with some of the facts as they were told by historians. He's simply destroying myths, making some critical takes on how history is
told from one generation through another, and how problematic that times don't change much throughout history - as he makes a quick observation on the
then on-going Vietnam War. What's fact and what's fiction? Is there a way to find humor in that particular story? It's up to audiences to find out.
Hardly ever that type of making of special becomes a far too serious presentation, but this one gets there as Mr. Penn concludes his thoughts on
history and the public perception of it (leaves you thinking afterwards). But I liked that, all of it. It's very absorbing, curious and fun to see his direction of actors, the large scale of
shooting in Canada, and the humored bits were a plus (favorite moment was of an actress getting her lines wrong and the crowd just dies with laughter as
she gets weirdly serious). A must-see special for film enthusiasts, knowing the film or not. 9/10.
