The Measure of a Man

Westerns comprise perhaps the largest of all film genres, perpetuating certain archetypes and stereotypes amid a forgiving assessment of our Manifest Destiny. So by 1970, the time was ripe for director Arthur Penn’s anti-Western, Little Big Man, a biting, revisionist satire that skewers the whitewashed myths of American and Native American history, as narrated by 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), who had seen it all, as both a Cheyenne and a white man. Little Big Man screens at 2 p.m. in the Atkins Auditorium at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (4525 Oak, 816-751-1278). It
coincides with the final day of the exhibit
Romancing the West, featuring 30 vibrant works on paper by Alfred Jacob Miller, who captured the colors, characters and also the archetypes of the American West. See nelson-atkins.org to reserve tickets for both the movie (free admission) and the exhibition ($8 for adults).
— Brent Shepherd

Sun., Jan. 9, 2-4:30 p.m., 2011