The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Sub-titled "Sitting Bull's History Lesson" or "Buffalo Bill Debunked" – not that he needs much debunking if we remember that Frank Morgan was originally set to play the role in Annie Get Your Gun. Morgan would have brought the role just the right touch of Bunkum and Bailey. On the other hand, Paul Newman's performance is somewhat labored, although he does manage to put over a few amusing lines and is surrounded by a first-rate support cast including the diminutive Joel Grey as a fussy ringmaster, plus the heavily disguised Kevin McCarthy, plus Geraldine Chaplin in a smaller part as Annie Oakley and John Considine in the Howard Keel role, plus most especially Pat McCormick as Grover Cleveland and Frank Kaquitts as Sitting Bull. But let's not be too particular about historical accuracy. Let's just sit back and enjoy the movie. Admittedly, the screenplay poses dramatic questions that are not answered (what was Sitting Bull's "simple request"?). Nevertheless, the long episode involving President Cleveland's visit is the most entertaining in the movie. In this film, the recreation of the mise-en-scene is what counts, such as the Buffalo Bill show with its fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses and the off-stage characterizations with players like Harvey Keitel and Joel Grey milling around. Also, of course, the off-stage drama furnished by the enigmatic Sitting Bull. I enjoyed the film, but I can well understand its woeful reception at the box office and its mauling by the professional critics. It's certainly not your usual escapist cup of tea. Technical credits – photography, music, costumes, sets are A-1 – and the movie is very cleverly edited by Peter Appleton and Denny Hill.

Robert Altman made great films, such as Nashville, The Player, and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. What defined these movies was a great and engaging script that kept the audience involved for the entire film. Such is not the case with Buffalo Bill And The Indians. It as if Altman was in too much of a rush to make this film, because he wanted to make a statement about Native American history. There were a lot of interesting bit roles in this film, but these characters were never developed very well. I felt robbed that not much time was devoted to explaining them a little more. Altman assumed that the audience understood that it was 1885 and the Wild West was now "tamed". That was clear, but still I feel that the film would have been much stronger if it began with a flashback to nine years before, explaining where each of these characters were at the time. That way we would have had more understanding for the points Altman was making. For example, it is hard to believe that the great actor from the Heche days, Burt Lancaster, was reduced to this engaging and enigmatic role, who waxing philosophically, but we have no idea who he is and how he relates to Buffalo Bill. This is the downside of this film. The script seems winding. There is a lot of dull time where one is just yawning and wondering when this movie will start going somewhere. Is that part of the point of the film? Altman never makes it clear. It is quite possible the point was that this town in the prairie had basically become filled with bored, opportunistic townies who sought significance even if it was tormenting someone by hanging him up on a rope and swinging him like a baby. In many ways this movie was uneven. For example, the ideas were brilliant. The idea was that Buffalo Bill was no longer the man he once was, but now just a money grubbing tool who made up myths and tales about his exploits. Buffalo Bill must have been a very handsome and engaging man in real life. He may well have been a great actor and promoter. You could not help like Buffalo Bill, and Paul Newman plays him brilliantly. Bill was also very childish, probably an alcoholic, who used to have infantile temper tantrums. The racial arrogance was also very clear. Buffalo Bill was very happy to exploit the myth that Native Americans were just 'savages who brutalized women'. It was a terrible moment when Sitting Bull tried to speak with President Cleveland and was rebuffed and treated with contempt. I also loved the ending. Buffalo Bill had this mad and crazed look, like now he was the great hero he never was. He now was beating and defeating Sitting Bull, which was a complete fabrication of history to promote white man's ego. I also loved how President Cleveland was just another part of the opportunism to seek significance from Buffalo Bill's mythology about how the West was really "tamed". Although he was "the Great White Father", he was mainly about finding a way to win re-election and defeat his opponents. There was another beautiful moment, where a woman sang an opera song, and the camera showed the various reactions of members of the audience. It was hard to determine whether they were awed by the beauty of her voice or bored. And that was a confusing moment for me, too. I did not quite get it. The whole movie was afraid to really state what it really wanted to state. There were great moments, but not enough to engage the audience and win it over.

A good many movies are misjudged at the time of their release--sometimes overpraised, such as DeMille's elephantine The Greatest Show On Earth, and sometimes undervalued or not valued at all, such as this oddball revisionist Western. Director Altman had just finished Nashville, and folks expected another blockbuster that wove a wide tapestry of the modern world; Paul Newman was churning out rather bloodless blockbusters like The Towering Inferno, and nobody expected a commitment to a wild west character who lives a dark lie. Many reviews of this film are appropriately appreciative of its quirks, not expecting a traditional western, but accustomed to the oddities of Altman's usual style. This film is jammed with wonderful character portrayals, and not only gives a willing viewer a fascinating look at what traveling vaudeville was like in the old West, but tosses out some food for thought. Though towards the end it betrays its theatre origins with some talky excess, I found Buffalo Bill colorful, entertaining and unusually satisfying

One of Robert Altman's least seen films. Buffalo Bill's Wild West show hires Sitting Bull to join "the show business" & things don't really work out. What follows is a lot of philosophical waxing on how legends beat out reality and how history has a way of being constantly re-written. Paul Newman is outstanding as Buffalo Bill, an egotistical drunk who shies away from any sort of personal confrontation while blustering on and on about his historical importance...all with phony bravado. The supporting cast is a typical Altmanesque melange: Kevin McCarthy; Burt Lancaster; Harvey Keitel; Joel Grey. They mix well with Altman regulars Geraldine Chaplin, Allan Nichols, Bert Remsen, Robert DoQui, Pat McCormick and Shelley Duvall. Adapted (presumably very freely) from Arthur Kopit's play "INDIANS," the script is by Altman and Alan Rudolph. Filmed in Alberta, the beautiful cinematography is by Paul Lohmann, who also shot Altman's NASHVILLE. Will Sampson is in it too and Frank Kaquitts plays Sitting Bull (silently).