Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson

Amid the continuous rehearsal, first appearance by Burt Lancaster as Ned Buntline, Joel Grey as producer Salisbury, Geraldine Chaplin as Annie Oakley, John Considine her husband and manager, Harvey Keitel the nephew of the title character, Kevin McCarthy as Major Burke, and Paul Newman heard but not seen, in Robert Altman’s Buffalo Bill And The Indians Or , Sitting Bull's History Lesson, 1976.

Identified as a Robert Altman opening, though hardly necessary, with Alan Rudolph's 90% original script (with a nod to a play by Arthur Kopit), shooting at the Stoney Indian Reservation in Alberta, with narration by Humphrey Gratz who plays the "old soldier," from Buffalo Bill And The Indians Or, Sitting Bull's History Lesson, 1976, starring Paul Newman, cinematography by Paul Lohmann.

Paul Newman (title character), with his publicist (Kevin McCarthy, as “Arizona John Burke,” also a historical figure) insists on a staged greeting for his newly recruited Wild West Show co-star, at first mistaking interpreter Halsey (Will Sampson) for Sitting Bull (Frank Kaquitts), in Robert Altman’s Buffalo Bill And The Indians Or, Sitting Bull’s History Lesson, 1976.

Director Robert Altman, after nearly 15 minutes, finally shows his star and title character, Paul Newman, on camera, in rehearsal for his Wild West Show, introduced by producer Joel Grey, with Harvey Keitel as his nephew and secretary, Geraldine Chaplin as Annie Oakley, John Considine her husband, in Buffalo Bill And The Indians, 1976.