Was the legendary Buffalo Bill actually just a hollow, wig-wearing show-biz fraud?
In short: Robert Altman’s 1976 film deconstructs the American West, portraying William F. Cody not as a rugged hero, but as a vain performer trapped in his own manufactured myth. When the real Sitting Bull joins his traveling show, the clash between staged spectacle and historical reality exposes the fragility of national legends.
Released during the United States bicentennial in 1976, the film was a polarizing revisionist Western that challenged the romanticized narrative of noble pioneers conquering a wild frontier. Directed by Robert Altman and based on Arthur Kopit's 1968 play, the story centers on the 1885 arrival of Chief Sitting Bull at Buffalo Bill’s famous Wild West show. While Cody, played by Paul Newman, expects to feature a savage caricature, he instead encounters a man of quiet moral integrity who refuses to play along with the show's distorted historical scripts.
The film depicts Cody as a loud-mouthed buffoon whose identity is entirely performative. He wears a wig, struggles to shoot accurately, and relies on rigged battles to maintain his reputation. Altman uses this setting to explore how the American West was transformed into a commercialized circus, where the line between the man and his invented persona has completely dissolved. By forcing Cody to confront a version of history that includes the massacre of a Sioux village by government troops, the film strips away the veneer of heroism that defined the era's popular entertainment.
Critical reception at the time was deeply divided. While the production secured the top prize at the 26th Berlin International Film Festival, domestic critics were often harsh, labeling the work cynical, alienating, or pretentious. Some reviewers felt the film's critique of show business was repetitive, while others praised its innovative style and fluid energy. Despite the mixed legacy, the film remains a significant attempt to project a skeptical, modern perspective onto the foundational myths of the American past, using the ensemble structure characteristic of Altman’s broader body of work.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
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