October 4, 2000

Great Robert Altman films you never
heard of

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

The film director Robert Altman breaks the first rule of his craft by letting his characters talk until their teeth are ready to fall out. But it works, because he lets them all talk at the same time. That way, you're never sure what any of them are saying - you just gather that everyone is headed for some kind of disaster.

The release of any Altman film - this week it's "Dr. T and the Women," with Richard Gere and Farrah Fawcett - is an occasion to look back at Altman's oeuvre and reflect that, for every "MASH," "Nashville" and "The Player," there are two or three extraordinarily interesting movies that didn't perform well at the box office, often were poorly received by critics and are, for the most part, almost completely forgotten today.

Herewith, in no particular order and just in time for your weekly visit to the video store, a brief catalogue of some unsung Altman gems.

CALIFORNIA SPLIT (1974): One thing younger filmgoers don't know is that George Segal - yes, the same George Segal who is third banana on the TV sitcom "Just Shoot Me" - once was one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Unfortunately for him, he managed to occupy that niche for a few years without making many movies that have stood the test of time. One happy exception was when Segal appeared with Elliot Gould in Altman's tale of two compulsive gamblers whose pursuit of the royal flush brings them together in a delicate and ill-fated friendship. Segal is well-cast as an inhibited loner who doesn't know how to deal with acceptance from another human being. Gould's performance is loose, sparkling and magnetic.

THE LONG GOODBYE (1973): Speaking of Elliot Gould, who, of course, was one of Altman's stars in "MASH," one of the most enjoyable screen performances you're ever likely to see is Gould in this adaptation of Raymond Chandler's noir novel, in which he plays a modern-day (i.e., 1970s) Philip Marlowe who chain-smokes and looks like he's been sleeping in his clothes for a few weeks. It's one of those movies you might never tire of. With Sterling Hayden as a beleaguered macho novelist whom Gould absently tries to save from the parasites (including a highly sinister Henry Gibson) who have fastened onto him.

POPEYE (1980): This is the movie that left the Hollywood establishment with little choice but to send Altman off for a long holiday producing film versions of plays for cable TV. Much anticipated at the time, with Robin Williams' in his first film role as the squinting protagonist and Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl, the film had its weaknesses - but the odd though infectious score by Harry Nilsson wasn't one of them, nor were the dreamy sets and superb cinematography. Funding was withdrawn as filming entered its later stages, which is one reason the movie's ending is such a letdown - effects that seem about to materialize never do. After the movie bombed, it was predicted that Robin Williams' movie career was over.

McCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971): Dismissed by film critic Rex Reed as "that hippie Western,” this movie was a sort of cause celebre with hard-core moviegoers when it was released but a box-office bust nevertheless. The atmosphere - rainy and snowy 19th-century Washington State teeming with cowboys, stagecoaches and trains - plus Warren Beatty as a sharp operator and Julie Christie as the opium-smoking madam he can't get out of his mind make it a classic in spite of the weak story. Add a musical score consisting entirely of Leonard Cohen songs and you've got a real moody piece of filmmaking.

KANSAS CITY (1996): One of Altman's post-"Player" box-office duds, but one of the best pieces of period filmmaking of recent years. The gangland story is set in the 1930s jazz milieu of the title city, and Altman surpasses himself at weaving a '30s spell, filling old cafes and train stations with pitch-perfect re-creations of '30s swing by top present-day musicians. With Jennifer Jason Leigh as a desperate and pathetic kidnapper, Miranda Richardson as her hostage and Harry Belafonte in a scary turn as a mobster who doesn't give a damn and proves it.

THIEVES LIKE US (1974): One of Altman's finest achievements, a tale of the Depression with Keith Carradine as a down-on-his-luck petty criminal and Shelley Duvall as his not terribly bright love interest. Carradine teams with John Shuck and Bert Remsen to form a triangle of hapless thieves straight out of Beckett. Set in the South, the film comes far closer to reproducing the steamy, richly textured feeling of a William Faulkner novel than any films actually based on Faulkner's works ever did.

Roger Anderson is arts and entertainment editor at Scripps Howard News Service.

back to top