ALTMAN POLL

Julie Christie was acknowledged as great in it, but Warren Beatty was too. he plays an overconfident, wily, sweet doofus really well

The Long Goodbye is good and it is one of those films I think will like better after contemplating and watching again

I could watch it forever.

on first viewing I don't think it is as beautifully imagined visually as McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and its interpretation of Marlowe is more cynical and less interesting to me than Chandler’s, but it has the same interest in milieu and casual approach to filmed conversation as Altman’s previous films, which I really like

Get thee to a California Split if you haven't already.

after decades since seeing them I'm watching his films again in order (as much as I can)

California Split's on Amazon Prime, and it's friskier than I remembered.

was planning on watching Thieves Like Us next, although I think maybe I shouldn't bother but should just skip to California Split

Thieves Like Us is good!

ok, I will go ahead and watch it!

California Split is barely a movie. I mean this mostly as a compliment

The Theatrical Cut of California Split was recently added to Prime.

^whoa. is it cropped? the one on iTunes is not in 2:35:1

California Split is barely a movie. I mean this mostly as a compliment

― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.)

it's a movie of grace notes and small moments. George Segal's character is fascinating, half in half out, the way he gets in bed with that girl and jumps up when her roommate comes home, or when he leaves the craps table after that girl comes up and says "it's my birthday!!"... and that all comes to a head in that final scene, and in that one long slow zoom of Segal sitting far away after winning everything. Gambling is a much easier addiction to externalize than most drugs and California Split leans more into AA/NA (or Synanon) territory, compared to something like The Hustler.

This Says It Is in 2.35:1 https://theplaylist.net/california-split-robert-altman-amazon-prime-20200512/

Rumor mill says this is in advance of Indictor releasing an uncut R2 BluRay.

INDICATOR

I will be giving California Split another shot someday.

whats the deal with the different cuts of California Split? Any drastic differences?

Watched California Split, loved it

"It didn't mean a fucking thing, did it?"

XP Some Altman Stans consider the shorter DVD cut a mutilation. Having seen both edits, I don't feel the same way. Altman had to re-edit out and around some live music (most of the film's soundtrack is standards performed by a lounge singer off & on-screen). Since, as Flappy notes, the film is all grace notes and small moments, this wasn't the same as, say, losing all the flashbacks in The Wild Bunch, and some other legendary edit difference. The flavor of the film remains.

However, it's exciting that the original is out there again in the OAR.

"...or some other..."

CS reminds me of that line hurled at Peter Fonda in The Limey: "You're more like a vibe than a person."

Thieves Like Us is the better film, yeah. I bought the DVD upon its release in the late '00s.

I should just do a full-blown Altman rewatch while I'm stuck at home. I have pretty much the whole kit and caboodle (save some of the minor '80s stuff and my copy of Quintet which seems to have evaporated into the ether).

I’ve been doing it and it’s great. McCabe? Overrated !

I kind of hate Nashville.

I got through 20 minutes of Quintet once.

That's a flag post, a flag post and a flag post. Thanks friends!

(OK, I stretched on the last one. Quintet really is about as tough to get through as any Altman.)

I bailed on A Perfect Couple too. I think I have a digital file of Health lifted off YouTube that I haven't yet looked at.

I like Nashville and McCabe a lot but sometimes I think they both might be subject to the A Love Supreme thing, where at some point it became convenient to elevate them for canonization as unimpeachable masterpieces as a shorthand for the whole sprawling body of work

I had never heard of Quintet until I got that big Altman coffeetable book a few years ago, and just from the photos and brief descriptions of it boy oh boy does it look rough

Quintet sucks. it didn't have to--he shot it very plainly and lots of wide and medium shots, which make the shitty sets stand out. could've worked as a more obscure mood piece like Images

You can make a great sci-fi movie with almost no money. Godard and Fassbinder did it in Paris w/ very few or no sets. and you can make a great sci-fi movie with only a few people, like Solaris.

Quintet, they obviously had some budget, but it is all so ponderous and visually BORING.

I like A Perfect Couple but it could've been better. Feels more like an Alan Rudolph movie honestly

I like Nashville and McCabe a lot but sometimes I think they both might be subject to the A Love Supreme thing, where at some point it became convenient to elevate them for canonization as unimpeachable masterpieces as a shorthand for the whole sprawling body of work

Maybe ... you add 3 Women, which has arguably emerged as the default "rediscovered" Altman pick, to Nashville and McCabe and you have my list of the no-contest top three Altman movies.

(OK, I stretched on the last one. Quintet really is about as tough to get through as any Altman.)

― Vegemite Is My Grrl (Eric H.), Thursday, May 21, 2020 10:17 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

*cougho.c.andstiggscoughcough*

is Images any good? It's on Shudder(!).

I like it but opinions vary. It's 3 Women-esque.

It's 3 Women without its fluency, although 3 Women is often aqueous and opaque in oft-putting ways.

With Images, I imagine Altman finishing Mrs. Dalloway and thinking, "I can do this."

I only saw 3 Women in film class so maybe I was extra receptive, but I LOVED it.

Yeah. Anytime I think of this thread I think of Shelly Duvall's recipes:

Completely disgusting foods our parents ate

I love 3 Women but Images left me cold. Same style, and as someone pointed out upthread (or in another Altman thread), he seemed drawn to these cold, European influenced existential identity films that he is not known for at all... Images is just kind of boring imo bc it's just Susannah York losing her mind alone in a castle.

Shelley duvall and sissy Spacek is the perfect cast

Is this the only film they starred in together?

Weird Texan actresses of the '70s supergroup

"don't call me Millie, because I HAYTE it"

Love her

it's just Susannah York losing her mind alone in a castle

this might sound more appealing if she weren't by far the worst thing about one of my most-watched movies of late, The Silent Partner

Is there a way to tell which cut of California Split is the theatrical cut on Prime? There are two versions available, the one link in the playlist piece has the 2004 DVD cover. That the one? I can't remember

Ohh this one is definitely restored, cool

I watched the restoration last weekend and it looks great. Last time I saw the theatrical cut was a print almost 2 years ago. Most significant difference are the show tunes, which are all awful lol

Rewatched California Split, I didn't remember much about it from years ago except lots of patter. The patter is there and good, but what I really loved this time was friendship of the Gould and Segal characters, the way it springs up around this thing they both love — gambling — but then comes apart in the end because it turns out that thing means different things to them.

Also, Gould's lightness in the movie is remarkable, it's like he's floating through it all, including his beatdowns. Nothing really fazes him, he's just there for the love of the chase.

yeah he's amazing, and you're right, Charlie is all in on this lifestyle, but Bill clearly has one fit in one fit out back in the 'real world,' which we barely see. that's another thing that's so powerful about this movie: we never see Bill's ex-wife or any mention of it beyond one reference, like I said upthread everything is implied but illustrated perfectly with such a light touch.

and that final shot/reverse zoom shot of Charlie collecting their winnings and Bill sitting at the table alone in the other room, where there is daylight and reality is hitting him- what can I say? pure cinema