I don't get it...

Well obviously it was a "tall tale from the old west".

A tall tale told by a very old man who had nothing left but his memories.

Of course it came across as an odd mixture of comedy and pathos and drama! It was a yarn! He was spinning a yarn to a dude whom he had already decided was clueless about the very subject that he claimed to be expert in. So, he strung him along.

That's how I think the film was meant to be taken. Yes, everything that Jack Crabbe described did actually happen. But did it all happen to him, or did he borrow some bits from the experiences of other fellow-travelers of his era? Very probably so, I think.

Dancing with wolves was quite dull compared to this. It wore its noble savage sentiments on its sleeve all the fvcking time, and yet managed to have the 'white man better at being native than natives' trope. Kevin Costner is also as interesting as a boiled egg as an actor, I could never understand how he became such a star, for a while, apparently people finally realised this sometime watching Postman as he hasn't been much in the limelight since.

There is also nothing wrong in having comedy and drama in the same film. It works well here, as it did is, say, in The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

I think the subtitling vs. English speaking issue has already been discussed enough. No studio would have agreed to release a film with long scenes subtitled: at least it did not go with the 'broken English' route but the people actually spoke like they would if the film had been dubbed. And Native Americans were played by Native Americans.













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Maybe because it's one of the best movies ever made.
I've watched thousands of movies and I've read hundreds of books in my long sad life. This is both my favorite book and film