My Journey through the films of Robert Altman part 1

06/17/2025 4:04 am by Pixel Pusher

• Tags:
• Altman
• Auteur
• Director
• film

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Robert Altman so far has been a wild ride watching his films. I came across him digging up old interviews with him somehow. I was fascinated by him. Pulling up different interviews tied to certain movie releases. Then I started to put together a face to the name. I had seen a few of his movies before and now I’m ting them together around this director. I had seen certain movies of his before. They include A Prairie Home Companion, Gosford Park, Cookie’s Fortune, The Player, Popeye, and M.A.S.H. Also I enjoy digging up movies from the 70’s and 80’s. While I might have been around for some of it I wasn’t the audience except for maybe Popeye. This director was so prolific in the 1970. He was Auteur cinema took a real hit in the 80’s but he worked through it. The 90s seems to be a high note in his career. I just felt compelled to visit his body of work.

One of his earliest films I saw was Countdown, 1967. This came out years before the Apollo Missions landed on the moon. This movie stars Jame Cann and Robert Duvall. The effects are very dated. The world changed after the Apollo missions and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This movie was still functioning on concept. A movie that was very of its time a hot space race with the Russians. One signature style of Altman is how he layers audio. You have at times a bunch of cross talk. This is used to create a more natural realistic setting. The Studio hated the audio on top of each other and lead to him being fired form the film.

The next film I watched was Brewster McCloud, 1970. This one intrigued me for a few reasons. One it takes place in Houston Texas and in the Astrodome. Growing up in my early years going to AstroWorld leaves me somewhat nostalgic for the Astrodome. So this excited me to see the Astrodome in its earlier setting. Another reason for me is Shelly Duvall. I found an old interview where she talked about how she was found in Houston by Altman. Soon I found out she was in many of Altman’s films. I would see a ton of her going forward. I grew up watching old copies of Faerie Tale Theatre that and I had seen Popeye before. I saw the Shining rather young I figured at my Grandmother’s house she had HBO. Robin Williams star for me growing up. Birdcage and Mrs.Doubtfire being two of my watch anytime movies. Brewster McCloud is played by Bud Cort. Who I recognized from Harold and Maude that came out a year later. I was also surprised to see Sally Kellerman in this. I remembered her most from Back to School. After all that said this picture for me was a little disappointing at first. I enjoyed it more when I stopped trying to piece it together or make sense of it all.

I moved on to the next film Brewster McCloud, 1970. Altman was hot off the heals of M.A.SH. This movie stars Warren Beatty. His co-star is Julie Christie. This story has aged a little too well. This is one of those films that looks amazing on film. Its recent restoration makes this movie visuals sing. There is some talk that Altman was stoned all the time and Beatty took some control in making the movie. The contemporary folk music is really a big part of the movie. This movie is about McCabe goes to a tiny remote mining town in the old west. He teams up with prostitute to setup gambling and a brothel for the town. They both do well. Then big business takes notice and offers to buy him out. McCabe keep refusing them. Then Big Business decides to just take him out. The movie ends in a big shoot out in the harsh winter in the snow in the mountains. This is just treated like business as usual for large corporations at the time. In reality they are not so different today. The pacing of his films takes some getting used to. Once you do get used to it you enjoy it more.

Next up I watched Brewster McCloud, 1970. This picture stars Elliott Gould as Phillip Marlowe. This is a film adaptation of a novel series. Marlowe is a private eye in LA. This is a contemporary setting. Elliott Gould was on fire in the 70’s. At first people didn’t like the changes Altman made to the character in terms of demeanor and style. LA is a big part of this film. Marlowe drives around trying to figure out the trouble he landed in. From his friend he helped get to Mexico in the middle of the night. To my surprise Arnold Schwarzenegger makes an appearance in this film. This movie had me when it starts off Marlowe loses his cat. Marlowe pieces it all together and the ending for me came quite a shock. Being a fan of P.T. Anderson directing style I was seeing what an influence Altman had on him. This movie really holds up. Being a fan of Columbo and private eye detective films I really enjoyed seeing the different settings in the film.

After that I watch Nashville, 1975. This feels peak Altman. This is a long movie coming in at 2 hours and 40 minutes. I saw in interviews he was planning a 5 hour version for TV. I haven’t found much more on that. This is a full on ensemble film. You have all these different stories and I found myself waiting for them to all connect. They don’t so much connect but overlap and intersect with each other. I saw more P.T. Anderson in this. All the music is original. I learned from an interview that the country stars at first didn’t want anything to do with the movie. Also that the country stars wanted money and control of the movie. Altman ended up using all original music made for the film. This seemed to work best. After the movie came out the soundtrack was popular. The country stars complained that they could have sang their songs for the movie. Some things in this movie are very subtle and others right in your face. One thing Altman got very well was the nature of Nashville and the industry like a small family. This movie takes place over a few days in Nashville during a political convention. The ensemble shows you all different parts of the country music industry. The ones on their way up and the others maintaining. This movie is like if you enjoy people watching you will love this movie. This is a movie that you pickup little bit more each viewing.

This next film really took me for a loop at first. 3 Women, 1977 is about you guessed it 3 women. This movie is not so straight forward. It stars Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule. This movie almost goes full Single White Female. This is one movie I didn’t quite understand what I just saw. Spacek plays Pinky a teenager just fresh out of the house. Duvall plays Millie. She starts off playing like a sister figure and roommate to Pinky. Pinky transforms dramatically. She goes from being a timid teenager to becoming a woman who knows what she wants. She isn’t afraid to take action. Going back watching more films of the 70’s I keep seeing Sissy Spacek pop up. Sure, I knew about and had seen Carrie. However, I was not so familiar with her other films of the 70’s. Janice Rule being the third woman she takes a backseat to 90% of this movie. This is a look at the human condition and the different stages of a woman’s life.

The next movie I saw was a bit more straight forward. Popeye, 1980 was beautiful film. This movie was the end of the 70’s film. I had already seen this movie a few times over the years. Now, I was looking at it more from the director’s style lens. I think this movies reception and talk about the climbing costs hurt this movie at its release. I wanted to like it more but it felt mid. I was not a fan of the songs.

I bounced around Altman’s films so far. I am going back and filling in the gaps of the 70’s then move on to the rest. I am pocketing M.A.S.H. for a future where I want a break from the Altman films I’m watching. Images is my next one. I hear it is a hallucination and distortion of reality. In other words a real trip of a movie. So I know I have to be in a certain state of mind to watch it. Then a few more and I’m in the 80’s output. Then I’ll get into the 90’s. Finally, I will revisit only the last two with my new Altman glasses.