I totally agree with Mook. It's a Old Western Forrest Gump.

The director seemed to get a kick out of giving us a comedic moment followed immediately by a tragic moment, and so on and so forth, for the entire movie. Little Big Man is up, he's down, he's back up, now he's way down...it was a bit like being on a 2 hour see-saw ride, but not necessarily in a good way. In addition, Custer is played as he typically is: part buffoon, part vainglorious pretender to greatness. He was no buffoon and while he probably was a bit of the latter, it's a character study that no longer holds much water knowing what we now know about him.

I agree with the other commenters...some good performances by Hoffman and Chief Dan George wasted on an oddly crafted script (with some rather transparent 1970s political messages strewn about for good measure).

Faye Dunaway = very good!