Amazon.com Essentials:
Iconoclastic director Robert Altman (Nashville,
M.A.S.H., The Player) deconstructs and demythologizes
Hollywood's typically romantic vision of the Old West in this
haunting, breathtaking masterpiece. A stranger, McCabe (Warren
Beatty's best performance), the film's nonheroic protagonist, rides
into a dead northwest mountain town (to the mournful sounds of Leonard
Cohen), possessing ambitious entrepreneurial dreams of expansion. As
the town grows, Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie's finest role, as well), a
tough madam, arrives and convinces McCabe to join her in a
partnership. Neither are typical Western archetypes: McCabe's an
insecure braggart, bumbling lover, and horrible businessman, while
Mrs. Miller, hardly a whore with a heart of gold, favors her opium
pipe to her partner's romantic advances. Altman, meanwhile, buries
these central characters within the town's complex, richly detailed
tapestry of characters, preferring to eavesdrop on their overlapping
conversations and study the bleak, harsh conditions of their
lifestyles. At its core, the film addresses the sacrifices of
individualism needed in order to build a community, an American
concept that the independent Altman views with skeptical irony. The
inevitable final shoot-out underscores the theme. Because McCabe
refuses to sell the town he built to a corporation, hired bounty
hunters are sent. Instead of a showdown at high noon, the finale--one
of Altman's most beautiful set pieces--takes place in the snow,
guerilla warfare style. As McCabe runs and hides for his life, the
town he created preoccupies itself with saving a burning church
instead of their creator, while Mrs. Miller, stoned and grinning,
detaches herself from either concern. Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond
captures the town's brutal textures in luminous Cinemascope, which,
sadly, is transformed into ugly murk on the nonletterboxed video
version. Widescreen laser discs are available, however. --Dave
McCoy
Amazon.com Essentials:
Iconoclastic director Robert Altman (Nashville,
M.A.S.H.),
deconstructs and demythologizes Hollywood's typically romantic vision
of the Old West in this haunting, breathtaking masterpiece. A
stranger, McCabe (Warren Beatty's best performance), the film's
nonheroic protagonist, rides into a dead northwest mountain town (to
the mournful sounds of Leonard Cohen), possessing ambitious
entrepreneurial dreams of expansion. As the town grows, Mrs. Miller
(Julie Christie's finest role, as well), a tough madam, arrives and
convinces McCabe to join her in a partnership. Neither are typical
Western archetypes: McCabe's an insecure braggart, bumbling lover, and
horrible businessman, while Mrs. Miller, hardly a whore with a heart
of gold, favors her opium pipe to her partner's romantic
advances. Altman, meanwhile, buries these central characters within
the town's complex, richly detailed tapestry of characters, preferring
to eavesdrop on their overlapping conversations and study the bleak,
harsh conditions of their lifestyles. At its core, the film addresses
the sacrifices of individualism needed in order to build a community,
an American concept that the independent Altman views with skeptical
irony. The inevitable final shoot-out underscores the theme. Because
McCabe refuses to sell the town he built to a corporation, hired
bounty hunters are sent. Instead of a showdown at high noon, the
finale--one of Altman's most beautiful set pieces--takes place in the
snow, guerilla warfare style. As McCabe runs and hides for his life,
the town he created preoccupies itself with saving a burning church
instead of their creator, while Mrs. Miller, stoned and grinning,
detaches herself from either concern. Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond
captures the town's brutal textures in luminous Cinemascope, which,
sadly, is transformed into ugly murk on the nonletterboxed video
version. Widescreen laser discs are available, however. --Dave
McCoy
