Unlike the faceless "savages" of previous decades, the film portrayed Native Americans as a complex society鈥攚hat the Cheyenne call the "Human Beings".
Rather than a martyr, General Custer is portrayed as a vainglorious, "raving lunatic," a shocking reversal of the historical narrative at the time. The Technical Feat Little Big Man
Critics often note that the film reimagined Native life as a "countercultural idyll," turning the Cheyenne into "surrogate hippies" who practiced free love and environmentalism to appeal to the 1970s audience. Vietnam in a Cowboy Hat Unlike the faceless "savages" of previous decades, the
