Anyone with as much knowledge of the 'West' as Berger and Willingham had to have known of the real Little Big Man. He was a Lakota infamously involved in the murder of the Ogala mystic and warrior, Crazy Horse.
Is it just a catchy name or are we to believe Jack Crabbe merely left that out of his reminiscence?
I'm not saying we won't get our hair mussed!share
Nice quote from Dr. Strangelove. I'd actually read about the real Little Big Man just a couple of days ago. I've always loved this movie and I never get tired of watching it. Being from Montana, it always makes me homesick.
shareThis is one of my favorite films of all time, and Berger's novel is also one of my favorites. As an undergraduate, my English professor told me that Berger, also as a student, had gained some access to Mark Twain's unpublished notes, and it turns out this story was meant to be the sequel to Huckleberry Finn. Since Twain never lived to write it, and Berger had no rights to the names and characters, he wrote it using the name Jack Crabbe instead of Huck Finn. The REAL Huck Finn, who was a childhood friend of Sam (Mark Twain) Clemens, grew up and left Missouri and moved to the Montana territory, where he eventually became a judge (I believe it was in Miles City). Those who have read Berger's novel might recognize the similarities in the writing style; one of the few authors to indeed have achieved the level of Twain's. Every bit as funny and insightful as anything Twain ever wrote!
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It wasn't as if it would be impossible for there to be more than one Indian named Little Big Man. Just as Anglos might have several John Smiths and James Johnsons in a town, there could be more than one Little Big Man or Two Moon(s) or Noisy Walking. If you've ever read up on the Little Big Horn, it can get confusing with all of the Indians with the same names. Or Indians known by several names, names that were translated various ways. Like Noisy Walking AKA Ground Sounds As He Walks. Or Lame White Man, who was also known as Moustache or Mad Wolf or White Man Cripple. In addition, it was common for a son to take his father's name, so you'd either have Old/Young or additions of Little (I believe the real Little Big Man's father was Big Man). So at a certain point, often when manhood was realized or recognized by various ways (hunting, warfare, Sun Dance, etc.) Man Afraid of His Horses was one of these, and thus the father became Old Man Afraid and his son was Young Man Afraid. Or sometimes, the father would take a new name entirely, or a variation of it. Sitting Bull's father changed his to Jumping Bull, I believe. Or something similar.
Anyway, that's probably more info than anyone could ever want on the subject of names.
And I agree, Berger probably thought Little Big Man was very close to Little Big Horn, and the public would think the same.
And it was Arrested Developmentshare
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