Robert Altman

 Robert Altman




MASH (1970)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)



RANKED:


2. MASH (1970)


Beyond making a name for its stars, like Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, and Robert Duvall, 1970's "MASH" also established a new franchise, continuing on with its own television series that would far surpass the original film in the cultural zeitgeist. Centering on a group of rowdy medical personnel on the frontlines of the Korean War, "MASH"'s comedy is pitch-black and irreverent. Because the American Production Code was replaced with the MPAA rating system in 1968, it was one of the first films to really 'let loose.' Its similarities to the ongoing Vietnam War at the time also allowed for some playful mockery of the American military and our pompous involvement in an unnecessary war. 





1. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)


Perhaps one of the greatest examples of 'revisionist Westerns' ever put to screen, Robert Altman's 1971 film "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" reckons with the finality of the ole West and the burgeoning industry of modern society. The film centers on two business partner, Mr. McCabe and Mrs. Miller, who team up to run a brothel in a unincorporated boomtown in the state of Washington. Altman infuses the entire film with a dreamlike quality that seems to ferment a fuzzy haze across the lives of its characters. As New Hollywood was emerging in the late 1960s and early 1970s, "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" certainly cemented its stamp as a newfound gem in a treasure chest of films that elicited a new format of storytelling. While it observes the costs of individualization in a new industrialized society, its tone and its characters make the emotional components of this reconciliation all the more euphoric. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

La Dolce Vita (1960)

Image
  Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" The famed Italian poet and director Pier Paolo Pasolini once said that Federico Fellini's 1960 masterpiece " La Dolce Vita " was too important to be discussed in the usual way one discusses a film. I absolutely agree. " La Dolce Vita " is not only a monolith in cinematic history - it set a new precedent for how films could be constructed. Its DNA lies in the very components of modern cinematic convention. The themes and narrative beats remain as relevant today as they were in 1960, lending the film a remarkable sense of timelessness. To call " La Dolce Vita " a masterpiece almost feels like an understatement.  The film departs from traditional narrative structure, unfolding instead through a series of interconnected episodes. Marcello Mastroianni stars as Marcello Rubini, a tabloid journalist who aspires to write literature. Navigating the glamorous yet hollow world of Rome's café society, he spend...
Read more

The Silence (1963)

Image
  Ingmar Bergman's "The Silence" There's something very bemusing about Ingmar Bergman's 1963 film " The Silence ." Based on the title, along with the notion that it is the final installment in a trilogy of films centered around 'the absence of God,' I went in believing that it would be emotionally devastated. What I received instead was confusion. Typically, this is a turn off for people. Not I. Confusion, as long as it doesn't signify a convolution in the plot, allows me to enjoy the film on an emotionally deeper level. Despite not completely understanding " The Silence ," I was enthralled by it.  Because the film was released in a post-" Hiroshima Mon Amour ," post-" L'Avventura " world, Bergman gets to craft something with a bit of modernity. By this, I mean the 'plot' is a bit more like the anti-plots found in an Antonioni film.  Two sisters, one with a 10-year-old son, arrive at a hotel in a fict...
Read more

Quai des Orfevres (1947)

Image
  Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Quai des Orfevres" 1947's " Quai des Orfevres " was Henri-Georges Clouzot's first directorial effort after his controversial 1943 film " Le Corbeau ." Clouzot had been banned from filmmaking by the French government for his collaboration with a German film studio financing " Le Corbeau ." However, many didn't quite make the thematic connections with " Le Corbeau "'s anti-Nazi sentiment and felt that the film was critiquing France itself. One Clouzot's ban was lifted, he decided to adapt Stanislas-Andre Steeman's 1942 novel " L'egitime defense ."  Clouzot's film focuses on a married couple, Maurice Martineau and his theater performing wife, Jenny Lamour. After Jenny becomes acquainted with a sleazy businessman, Brignon, who promises her a film deal, the jealous Maurice goes to Brignon's home to kill him only to find him already dead. A police procedure initiated...
Read more