Adapted from the novel by Thomas Berger, Little Big Man opens with the spoken reminiscences of 121-year-old Jack Crabbe (Dustin Hoffman, immersed in tons of age makeup). In flashbacks, we see how, as a young and wide-eyed frontiersman, Crabbe is adopted by an Indian tribe led by philosophy-spouting Chief Dan George. The film's highlight is the Little Big Horn massacre, with megalomaniac General Custer (Richard Mulligan) self-destructing as Crabbe looks on. Faye Dunaway shows up along the way as a sensual preacher's wife, who later becomes the jaded object of Wild Bill Hickok's (Jeff Corey) affection. The ingenuous Crabbe at hand during virtually every highpoint of Western history. To prepare for the scenes in which Crabbe is one hundred-plus, Hoffman screamed for hours in order to give his voice the proper parched timbre. Little Big Man seldom falters during its 150 minutes, but time has taken some of the lustre off this once highly-praised frontier fable.