Posted on 07/22/2014 7:15:34 AM PDT by Borges
Thomas Berger, the reclusive and bitingly satirical novelist who explored the myths of the American West in “Little Big Man” and the mores of 20th-century middle-class society in a shelf of other well-received books, died on July 13 in Nyack, N.Y. He was 89.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
One of the very few interviews with Thomas Berger (from American Heritage) and it goes into much detail about the author’s truly American spirit:
http://www.americanheritage.com/content/little-big-man%E2%80%99s-man
I don’t know what that has to do with Marxism. The Noble Savage fantasy goes back to the 18th century. In that case John Ford’s ‘The Searchers’ is also cultural Marxism. ‘Dances With Wolves’ is no more Marxist than ‘Heart of Darkness’ or ‘Apocalypse Now’.
“I can shoot three bottles throwed in the air.”
‘The Searchers’ presented American culture as being entirely hypocritical and evil? Was John Wayne aware of this?
‘Dances With Wolves’ is a load of leftwing propaganda in beautiful packaging. Oliver Stone would blush at the one-sidedness of it. All whites are evil, Western Civilization is evil, Christianity is empty and evil, etc ... We should all live a pastoral and communal life. The noble savage goes back to the 18th century, Hollywood leftism does not.
Heart of Darkness does not present the natives as paragons of virtue, civilization and morality, while presenting all whites and their culture as inherently evil. It might actually tilt the other direction. I’m sorry that Little Big Man has these leftwing themes, but it’s still a good movie.
Ronald Reagan liked ‘Dances with Wolves’. Was he unaware of those themes? The Searchers depicts a racist white guy (played by Wayne) who learns that Indians are as awful as he thinks they are. That DWW simplifies and whitewashes Indian culture is beyond a doubt - that it regards Western Civilization as evil is quite an overstatement. And yes, HOD has taken flack from certain quarters as being anti-Western. I don’t buy it either.
‘aren’t as awful’
“Today is a good day to die”
~~ Worf
It was a very entertaining movie, but it promulgated some lies about U.S. soldiers just as early westerns promulgated lies about Indians. I’ve read some books about Custer like “Son Of The Morning Star” by Evan S. Connell and Stephen Ambrose’s “Crazy Horse And Custer” to get a better line on what happened in those days. Neither book glorifies Custer, but he certainly was not the Custer depicted in the movie. And the Indians, contrary to Arthur Hill who made the picture, were not saints. In real life, both sides were guilty of needless massacres.
” See Dances with Wolves (if you can stay awake) for another less entertaining example.”
Managed to catch the director’s cut of “Dances”. The whole enviro-whacko meme is way over-played in scenes that were cut for the original release. Frankly, I think that movie would have been a flop had they not cut those scenes.
“Son of Morning Star” is an excellent work. It painted a completely different picture of Custer and his relationship with the indian nations.
Sorry, Arthur Penn, Sean’s father, directed “Little Big Man” and not Arthur Hill.
This is a thread about Little Big Man. I posted a link to the cast and director of the movie. I made no comment about the quality, morality, or anything else. Don’t care for your opinion or any others. Just did that one thing and left.
Maybe someone else here will engage you.
RIP.
Arthur Penn was not related to Sean Penn.
Oops....my mistake.
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