Charles Champlin of the '' Los Angeles Times '' wrote that " Altman 's films are sometimes pretentious and sometimes exasperating , but they are not often boring , although his latest , ' Buffalo Bill and the Indians , or Sitting Bull 's History Lesson ' is all three . " He went on , " using Newman as neither villainous , heroic nor romantic but only as a fairly uninteresting lout seems a dire waste , and there is an air of low-energy distraction throughout ' Buffalo Bill . ' For the last 20 minutes it is as if nobody knew how to get off that dusty reservation but would have been glad to . " Arthur D. Murphy of '' Variety '' wrote that the film " emerges as a puerile satire on the legends of the Buffalo Bill era , silly when it 's not cynical , distasteful throughout its 123 minutes . Paul Newman has rarely been seen so badly . " Gary Arnold of '' The Washington Post '' stated , " Everyone who cares about Altman 's work should find ' Buffalo Bill ' an interesting and intriguing experience , but in the last analysis it 's an emotionally empty , alienating movie , an ill-advised attempt to project a cynical , apprehensive view of the present onto the past . " Jonathan Rosenbaum of '' The Monthly Film Bulletin '' wrote that " Altman appears to know a lot more about show business than about the American Indian , and what he knows about the former mainly consists of behavioral observation ; by scaling this observation down exclusively to what illustrates his thesis — the hollow fakery of Buffalo Bill and his followers — he thus allows himself precious little to work with , thematically or otherwise . Within five minutes , everything he has to say on the subject is apparent . " Among positive reviews , Vincent Canby of '' The New York Times '' wrote , " It 's a sometimes self-indulgent , confused , ambitious movie that is often very funny and always fascinating . " Gene Siskel of the '' Chicago Tribune '' gave the film a full four out of four stars , writing that while the film 's ideas were n't anything special , " Altman 's movies are innovative . They surprise us with their physical beauty , their wit , and their style . ' Buffalo Bill 's few pompous moments are overwhelmed by the fluid energy of the piece . " Penelope Gilliatt of '' The New Yorker '' identified the film as being " about sorts of dreams ... perhaps it is true that white men tend to dream only of things going well , whereas Indians , like many aboriginal people , dream of death , initiation , possibility ; the rock face on which waking life has no purchase . " Today the film holds a " fresh " 83 % rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews . In 1976 , the film was entered into the 26th Berlin International Film Festival , where it won the Golden Bear
26th Berlin International Film Festival
26th Berlin International Film Festival
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson