Robert Altman (1925-2006): Moments

As far as filmmakers go, there are lots of great craftsmen, but Altman was a true artist. I think I've had more emotions stirred up in me by "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" or "Nashville" alone than with nearly every other movie I've ever seen combined. Tall statement, I know, but his movies are filled with so much more life in general.

I only just learned of Altman's death from reading this, and I don't really know what else to say withoout rambling on and on, and "Prairie Home Companion" pretty much sums up how I feel.

Great anecdotes, Jim. The world has lost a tremendous artist.

I really haven't been able to concentrate much today. I posted a comment in response to Dennis Cozzalio's appreciation at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, and (probably because what Dennis wrote was so personal and heartfelt), I expressed a couple other things I decided I'd like to mention here. So, here's what I wrote to Dennis:

I loved this piece, Dennis. I'm just a couple years older than you -- but I remember seeing "Nashville" over and over again in 1975. (It's amazing to think that it came out the very same summer as "Jaws.")

For years I lived in dread that certain movie people would die, because I was always the go-to guy for a newspaper obit/appreciation. The pressure (deadline: "It's 8 a.m.; we need your piece on Cary Grant by 9:30 for the afternoon edition!") and the responsibility to do justice to these figures who were so important was overwhelming. I can't even think of all of them right now, but they included Grant, John Huston, Barbara Stanwyck, Mel Blanc, Divine... I loved 'em all.

But today it's different. I'm supposedly "on vacation" this week, but I had to write SOMETHING to acknowledge the passing of Altman, who matters more to me personally than any other director making movies during my lifetime. But I'm just overcome. It was a Long Goodbye, a long time coming (I remember seeing him at the Film Society of Lincoln Center tribute in 1994, and we all feared he'd be dead by the end of the year he looked so bad -- he's seemed so healthy in the last few years, after what turned out to be a heart transplant). But just knowing this day was inevitable doesn't make it any easier.

I read the first headline on Google this afternoon and shouted a certain expletive so loud that my housemates came to see if I was ok. At this point, the youngster that I am, I've only seen a handful of Altman's creations, and every one has left something, a deep impression that has changed the way I look at life. This is the mark of a great artist, and he was one of the best. For reasons multifold, mortality has been on my mind much these past few years, and this only furthers the extent of that. One can only hope that we can all look to the end with a grin such as Robert.

I was deeply saddened by the passing of Robert Altman today, because we have indeed lost one of the true artists (and independent voices) of American film. "Nashville", "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", "The Long Goodbye", "California Split", "The Player", "A Prairie Home Companion"...these are masterpieces that will endure for as long as film does. It's a shame that the list will not grow.

If there is comfort to be found in Altman's death, it is of course in revisiting the films. Specifically, I believe it will make people realize how underappreciated his most recent effort, "A Prairie Home Companion", was. It's hard to imagine a more perfect signing off for any artist (or human being) than what Altman achieved in "Prairie Home". The film is not only about death, but about the end of an era, the ways in which certain art forms are becoming outdated, and the nobility of just carrying on in the face of the end. Of course, being an Altman film, it is not depressing at all, but rather inspiring...it encourages us to celebrate life through friendship, music, and art. As Armond White said, it's not only Altman's (tremendous) swan song, it's a preview of all of ours.

R.I.P. Robert Altman.

Back in the 80s, Altman was the guest at a Meet the Filmmaker-type event held at the historic Senator Theatre in Baltimore. Two of his films were shown: McCABE and the unreleased H.E.A.L.T.H. At a Q&A session after the screenings, an academic type noted that in many Altman films, when people are shot, they often fall in water and make a big splash. (There's a scene in McCABE in which someone is shot and falls off a bridge into a river.) The academic type wanted to know if there was any symbolic significance in the gunshot victim returning to the "water of life" or something like that. Altman said: "No. He was standing on a bridge when he was shot, so he fell into the water." The questioner asked: "Yes, but why fall into water?" Altman's dry-as- toast answer: "When someone falls in the water they make a big splash. It makes for prettier picture than falling on the ground." The audience roared and the questioner slunk into his seat. Altman's no-nonsense answer made me love him - and his films - even more.

Altman was my favorite movie director, and several of his pictures (McCabe, The Long Goodbye, Nashville) were among my all-time favorites. I can't even begin to express how much of a loss this is for me.

My first Altman film, when I was thirteen, was "Brewster McCloud" seen on a summer evening on the lawn of the Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa. I remember like it was yesterday the whoop that went up from the audience, myself included, at the end of then shot panning down Margaret Hamilton's corpse. I've been hooked ever since.

I wrote this yesterday to friends of mine as an e-mail. I'll simply repeat myself.

T'all,


With tears in my eyes and my head just thumping, I want to tell all of you that a very great American died today. He has been a hero of mine for over 35 years an idol probably.

When I first saw McCabe and Mrs. Miller (still in high school) I was just taken aback by the film. That film has probably influenced my artistic percerptions from the day I first saw it in a theater. But then there were so many more: The Long Good-bye, Thieves Like Us, Images, California Split, Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians and on and on as he dropt off the radar screen during the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties (but if you looked, he was still there--and I was always looking). And then he came back with a resurgence: The Player, Short Cuts, A Prairie Home Companion.

A hero of mine for all my adult life just died today.

God bless you, Mr. Robert Altman. And thank you so very much for being such an inspiration to this one person. I'd of never imagined the poetry I now write without your cinematic inspiration. I'd of never had dreamed the dreams I now dream without your achievements.

God bless you, Mr. Altman. I'm only sorry I never met you.

Good night, my friend, and godspeed.



Gawd,
I'm just in tears just now.
My gosh, I felt like I knew you, my unknown friend,

For me, it was like death in the family.suddenly, I felt so lonely and afraid of this world.
Mcabe & Mrsmiller was like sitting around the fire in a cold night. It has sense of place and a sense of being home.It has sense of being in safe hands.

Why no one is talking about this man?
whos next?

In "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", he falls off the bridge, a big splash may have been made, but watch his face as he sinks into the water. His character didn't do anything wrong. I can't exactly put into words why this scene made me cry when I saw it on cable several years ago, but this is how it struck me: His character was hopeful towards humanity as he walked towards the other man on the bridge. The ultimate betrayal the gunman rendered upon him through the killing is displayed on his face as he sinks into the water. It's the most powerful thing I've ever seen in a movie.

Ever since hearing that Robert Alman passed away I have been thinking of what a cinematic loss it has been. I even asked the local independent video retailer if I could bring my Altman films in for a retrospective so that others could experience them.

Thinking about his films and the great commentaries on his DVD's, I was reminded that even though you were going to see one of his films with big names like Meryl Streep, or Lily Tomlin, Elliot Gould, Warren Beatty,Cher, Julie Christie, Robin Williams, Richard Gere, Maggie Smith, Sophia Loren, or even Jack Lemmon. What you were seeing was "A Robert Altman Film".

It was an indelible stamp. He never made the same film twice. He was unique and stands along side the greatest of all film directors.

I've spent a good portion of the last year catching up with some of the lesser known Altman films. While the likes of "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and "Nashville" rightfully rank as his masterpieces, there are so many others that warrant the attention of any film buff; chief among them "The Long Goodbye" and "3 Women". The day after his death was announced, "A Wedding" arrived in my mailbox. What a funny, strange, and sadly moving film. It had all of the usual Altman affects; with as much zeitgeist and ambition as "Nashville", though it appeared to have underwhelmed critics at the time. It was probably easy to confuse what was a true filmmaking ethic for a common schtick. But Altman's style, like that of John Cassavetes or Errol Morris or Jean Renoir, was not about genre; it was about putting truth on the screen and discovering the mysteries of human interaction. We'll miss ya, Bob!

I love how THE LONG GOODBYE ranks so high on just about everyone's Altman list -- including people who aren't all that crazy about him (see the comments in the other Altman thread). It's been my favorite Altman film since the first time I saw it, even though I will always regard NASHVILLE as his crowning achievement.

I must admit that I never really got into his films for no reasons other than laziness and immaturity. Sad to say, but it's his death that will bring me to see all these films you folks cherish so much. Maybe in that way there is value in his death, and maybe even see part of him as still alive and kicking.

Thank you all.

Nah. Its OK, kiddo, McCabe had to die in the end. It's all just pain, pain, pain. They just freeze your soul. And now, the long sleep.

You done good. Take five.

Robert Altman: four decades; four careers.

Many have commented on the diversity of Altman's work, but few have mentioned how singularly consistent each of the four stages of his career were:

You have the 1970's masterpieces...innovative, chaotic, and beautifully organic.

His 80's works: small, internalized, but fiercely individual...forsaking showy technical bravado to allow his love of actors and "feeling" to shine through.

His 90's era: In many ways a more polished, crowd-pleasing time for Altman, but no less personal or idiosyncratic. Here we see how Altman influenced an entirely new generation of filmmakers (foremost among them PT Anderson) by uniting his earlier excursions into carefully orchestrated chaos with the visual gracefulness and uniquely postmodern "hipster" sensibility birthed in his most under-appreciated 70's gems (McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye, 3 Women, California Split, and Brewster McCloud).

Finally, his autumn years, which saw Altman finally embracing classical storytelling (Gosford Park, A Prarie Home Companion) while never letting go of his characteristic flair for character and spontaneity.

Right in the middle of it all was Altman's personal favorite project (and mine): Tanner 88, a work which somehow managed to stand with his finest films of any of these four decades...an amalgamation of everything he ever strove to accomplish.

I realize I've focused very much on Altman's work without much mention of the man himself. Perhaps Altman wanted it that way. His films were never about his authoritarian control, but rather about the "force of collaboration" that allowed his creations to develop "their own life," with Altman's benignly grumpy patriarchal presence serving as the "glue" holding these amazing moments (which would surely have descended into aimlessness and tedium under a less sure-handed director) together.

For my part however, I can say that Altman's life (and death) has touched me deeply: as both a film lover and a lover of humanity. Bob shared those passions too, and I will never forget the experience of discovering first MASH, then The Player, then Short Cuts, then Nashville, then McCabe and Mrs. Miller...until I finally (after years of loving movies without knowing why) realized that it is the "poetry of life in motion" that makes movies such irreplaceable gifts. Bob taught me this, and at the close of his beautiful life, I can only smile and say "thank you Robert Altman: its been real, its been fun, its been LIFE!"

Rest in Peace Bob. Thank you for the wonderful memories...

One of my all-time favorite films is "A Perfect Couple" in spite of (or perhaps because of) its flaws. Friends of mine were discussing Robert Altman and we realized that all of us had at least one of his films in our lifetime top 10 lists. And they were all different titles! What a canon; what a director!

Robert Altman’s 'Masterpiece'

The recent death of the great director Robert Altman rekindled the old debate in The Tennessean about his signal masterpiece "Nashville." Many thought he had done a hatchet job on country music and our community, when reality proves otherwise. He created films about cities he felt warmly about — Kansas City, where he was born, Los Angeles, where he lived most of the time, and Nashville. He focused his ire and most of his satire on the cutthroat business of filmmaking and music producing.

I was privileged to have been on the set almost every day for the filming of "Nashville," and he told me our city reminded him of Los Angeles in the early years. Every time he flew in or out of here, there was another star or would-be star on the plane. More mischievously than malevolently, Robert Altman, in this film of interconnected lives and dashed dreams, captured not only the fragility of the performing artist, but ultimately the true spirit of the American people and their bravery in a time of crisis.

He loved actors, artists and musicians and gave them free range to create. The results were often loose and overlapping, but with "Nashville" he created a patchwork quilt in red, white and blue (the color scheme of the movie) — a paean to America's Bicentennial. This enduring film predicted not only the political ascendancy of a populist Southern governor but also the assassination of a singing star.

At the end, in front of the flag-draped Parthenon, Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) displays the resolve of Scarlet O'Hara when faced with blood and death, as Albuquerque (Barbara Harris) stands up for her fallen idol and leads the gathered people of Nashville, black and white together, in an anthem to America.

As music rises, the camera slowly tilts to the heavens.

J. William Myers
Nashville 37212
myers.nashville@comcast.net