― Sean (Sean), Monday, 19 January 2004 20:53 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.criterionco.com/content/images/full_boxshot/230_box_348x490.jpg
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 30 January 2004 20:54 (twenty years ago) link
Eric you have just made my weekend! Thank you!
― BabyBuddha (BabyBuddha), Friday, 30 January 2004 21:00 (twenty years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 30 January 2004 21:20 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Friday, 30 January 2004 22:04 (twenty years ago) link
― esther (esther), Friday, 13 February 2004 23:57 (twenty years ago) link
I'm surprised that it was originally set in NYC, because Houston is the logical place for it. 1970 Houston is the home of NASA ("Space City" as the radio identifies at the beginning) - the maximization of the technological and bureaucratic form of flying that Brewster rejects.
The detective is a total transparent riff on Bullitt down to the name (Frank Shaft vs. Frank Bullitt), their home (San Francisco), their clothes, Steve McQueen's detached-acting, heck even the cars in the car chase (Shaft drives a Camaro - equivalent to Bullitt's Mustang. Brewster is in a Plymouth Road Runner - equivalent to the Dodge Charger in Bullitt. I've always found it hilarious that Altman has the detective off himself at the end of the chase rather than accept defeat.
In the end though, the Establishment wins - kinda like the ending of Vanishing Point but Brewster's end isn't transformative as Kowalski's.
It's also entirely possible that Altman and co. were just smoking a lot of weed and making stuff up on MGM's dime.
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 1 March 2004 20:35 (twenty years ago) link
― todd swiss (eliti), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 06:54 (twenty years ago) link
Brewster McCloud??
I just saw it for the first time. I'm baffled. I honestly HATED it for the first 3/4, kinda got more into it once the Brewster/Shelley Duval thing heated up. though the prolonged car chase was execrable, but maybe that was a relatively "new" device then?? Fuck if I know. I'm glad it ended so weirdly, though, that was kind of reassuring, somehow.
I don't normally have a problem with more abstruse films, but this one, honestly, just seemed bad. Real bad. Except for Shelley Duvall. Holy mackerel.
― Monetizing Eyeballs (diamond), Thursday, 12 August 2004 04:19 (nineteen years ago) link
Actually, this comment from Eric H is interesting; that's precisely the thought process I had watching this thing. Like: now I know what it must feel like on those occasions when I drag some of my friends who aren't big cinephiles along to a more unconventional film. I think the fact that this film induced an uncomfortable feeling is probably a good thing, but I need to tease it out some more..
― Monetizing Eyeballs (diamond), Thursday, 12 August 2004 04:26 (nineteen years ago) link
McCabe and Mrs. Miller WINS ALL!
and Short Cuts, Nashville come in close behind.
― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Thursday, 12 August 2004 15:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― holojames (holojames), Friday, 13 August 2004 11:20 (nineteen years ago) link
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=378&item=6919072445&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
I reccomend it to anybody interested in the film. It's also quite rare. (BTW, I'm not the merchant)
― Doobie Keebler (Charles McCain), Saturday, 14 August 2004 16:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Sunday, 15 August 2004 15:41 (nineteen years ago) link
NashvilleM*A*S*H* (I thought these were both okay, w/Nashville having the higher high points, but neither prepared me for the unbelievable greatness of...)McCabe and Mrs. MillerThe Long Goodbye
I've seen almost all his post-Player stuff. So I'm trying to fill in the blanks in the 70s and 80s. Particularly curious about Brewster McCloud, the Buffalo Bill movie, the Nixon movie, and 3 Women.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 22:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― t0dd swiss, Thursday, 24 February 2005 01:26 (nineteen years ago) link
next on the plate are probably Brewster McCloud and Thieves Like Us, tho the wife anxiously wants to see Pret-a-Porter, which I do not have fond memories of...
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 22 April 2005 22:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 22 April 2005 22:33 (nineteen years ago) link
1. Nashville (1975) 2. The Long Goodbye (1973)3. Short Cuts (1993)4. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)5. MASH (1970)6. Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976) 7. Tanner '88 (1988)8. Gosford Park (2001)9. The Player (1992)
Frankly, the top 4 are all even in my book.
― Remy (x Jeremy), Saturday, 23 April 2005 05:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 25 April 2005 21:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Yellow Kid (The Yellow Kid), Friday, 12 January 2007 06:16 (seventeen years ago) link
Should I go see That Cold Day in the Park? Sandy Dennis as a lead makes me wary.
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 12 January 2007 14:32 (seventeen years ago) link
I've always found it hilarious that Altman has the detective off himself at the end of the chase rather than accept defeat.
^yes to these thoughts^
― johnny crunch, Monday, 19 July 2010 03:09 (thirteen years ago) link
re: brewster mccloud btw
― johnny crunch, Monday, 19 July 2010 03:10 (thirteen years ago) link
One of my professors was a camera loader on the film and he basically confirmed this.
― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 15:08 (thirteen years ago) link
so much hate indifference for Beyond Therapy.Julie Hagerty is still my neurotic dreamgirl.
― meisenfek, Friday, 23 July 2010 05:38 (thirteen years ago) link
Wow I don't get the Brewster McCloud hate on this thread AT ALL...
― Mark Ruffalo! is gonna tell us! about empathy! (loves laboured breathing), Friday, 18 May 2012 20:25 (twelve years ago) link
i love it! it's perfect altman for ppl who hate 'nashville' (like me).
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 19 May 2012 07:16 (twelve years ago) link
Was watching "Short Cuts" for the first time in years. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that I think every female star (even Frances McDormand) is given a nude scene, or at least an underwear scene, including a suicide attempt and the dead body in the river. Something about it just seemed so ... gratuitous in their casualness. Like, if this were a stage play, one of the actresses would have a casual nude scene, just in passing, matter of fact. Or just Julianne Moore's famous scene. I wonder, if this movie were made a few years later, if Altman would have had more of his male stars get naked, too, beyond Huey Lewis flashing his wiener.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 13 August 2012 17:31 (eleven years ago) link
NASHVILLE tho Short Cuts a close second
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 20 February 2018 07:45 (six years ago) link
mccabe
finally watched 3 women the other day, rly natural+confident homegrown u.s. surrealism-- made me think of persona of course but not because it felt made after studying it. (also so deeply a california movie, without having to openly stress it as much as the long goodbye or the player or p.t. anderson.) duvall rly great, as pretty much always. maybe too much of the murals shot thru water i guess.
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 20 February 2018 08:59 (six years ago) link
Check out Images (out on blu soon via Arrow) for more of Altman in a similar mode.
― Animal Bag's Greatest Hits Vol. 5 (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 February 2018 13:04 (six years ago) link
Images, out 3/20 on blu-ray---good?
https://mvd.cloud/images/AA025.jpg
The early seventies were a period of remarkable activity for Robert Altman, producing masterpiece after masterpiece. At the time he came to make Images, MASH and McCabe & Mrs. Miller were behind him, with The Long Goodbye, California Split and Nashville still to come. Originally conceived in the mid-sixties, Images concerns a pregnant children's author (Susannah York, who won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival) whose husband (Rene Auberjonois) may or may not be having an affair. While on vacation in Ireland, her mental state becomes increasingly unstable resulting in paranoia, hallucinations and visions of a doppelgänger. Scored by an Oscar-nominated John Williams, with "sounds" by Stomu Yamash'ta (The Man Who Fell to Earth), Images also boasts the remarkable cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind).
more info:https://mvdb2b.com/b2b/s/AA025https://mvdb2b.com/b2b/s/AA025
― dow, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:41 (six years ago) link
A Prairie Home Companion is my personal favorite
Would need to concentrate on 3 Women to verify that McCabe is the best that others would acknowledge
― Moo Vaughn, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:44 (six years ago) link
dow check out the post directly above yours
i haven't seen it, excited for this reissue
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:47 (six years ago) link
3 Women is the one I keep coming back to over and over.
― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:49 (six years ago) link
McCabe massively overrated. 3 Women is fantastic. but Nashville is my pick.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:50 (six years ago) link
I finally saw Images at the RA retro at MoMA a few years ago ... it's worth seeing but doesn't really work. He did Bergmanism better by doing it less in 3 Women.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:55 (six years ago) link
Images is a failure -- he nailed this shards-of-glass approach on 3 Women -- but every film from this period is worth watching.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:57 (six years ago) link
Nashville is more sweeping than the other films of the period, but I don't find it to be better
― Moo Vaughn, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:59 (six years ago) link
McCabe for me too.
You are wrong about McCabe, flappy, but it's not uncommon for ppl to not really gel with it on first encounter and fall in love with it later. Was my experience and apparently Tarantino's as well.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:02 (six years ago) link
Think the story was he bought a print of it for Linklater because it was one of his favorite movies and decided to watch it first himself and ended up keeping it, heh.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:04 (six years ago) link
Every Altman film from Brewster McCloud through Nashville is worth seeing at least once or twice, and most are stone classics. After that, things get a bit spottier.
And yes, I intentionally excluded M*A*S*H (one of his lesser efforts), so sue me.
― Here Comes The Brain Event (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:05 (six years ago) link
There are times when I think Tanner '88 is my favorite of them all, but not a film so...
― Here Comes The Brain Event (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:06 (six years ago) link
why would you stop before Buffalo Bill, 3 Women, A Wedding? All better than Brewster.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:07 (six years ago) link
heads up Oc and Stiggs has aged really well.
― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:07 (six years ago) link
No.
― Here Comes The Brain Event (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:10 (six years ago) link
3 Women is great, I think I liked Buffalo Bill okay but I frankly don't remember much about it, perhaps need to rewatch to see if his streak does in fact remain unbroken through 3 Women. A Wedding...not that into it. Brewster isn't among his greats but gets definitely points for taking big + weird chances.
― Here Comes The Brain Event (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:13 (six years ago) link
If I'm honest, I may find Altman's later films more interesting or at least entertaining than the earlier ones, too few of which I've seen (I'd like to see Buffalo Bill especially). He's never struck me as having anything particularly trenchant to say about any sort of social or historical concern, and seems more interesting as a weaver of tall tales with sometimes-interesting character portraits. He seems most interesting, however, as an at least semifictional observer and to some extent participant in what he really knows - the popular or semi popular performing arts world he inhabits - and therefore I find most compelling his backstage final film among others in what might be deemed its late-period oeuvre, including the similarly quasi-documentarian The Company. I suppose that Nashville among others might be part of the same lineage, but it bites off more than I think he was (ever really) capable of chewing.
― Moo Vaughn, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:14 (six years ago) link