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I watched A Wedding over the weekend and I loved it, though I think the only thing hurting it is something out of its control. It comes after Nashville in Altman's body of work, and to me Nashville is a perfect example of the multi-character narrative form. A Wedding, while it shines brighter than Nashville in many aspects, only feels like a second attempt at Nashville.

I felt the same way about Lang's Spies & Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler. I love both films but Spies can also feel like a remake -- without the energy of the original.

So many directors do this and I let it bother me every time.

gubbelsj wrote:Well, everytime I watch McCabe and Mrs. Miller, I shout the same opinion. And 3 Women. And The Long Goodbye.

You know what, it happens to me also. Add The Long Goodbye to that list please. I've always wonder why Altman is not considered among the greatest ever. He's certainly one of my heroes.

gigimonagas wrote:You know what, it happens to me also. Add The Long Goodbye to that list please. I've always wonder why Altman is not considered among the greatest ever. He's certainly one of my heroes.

Agreed. For me, it's the holy trilogy of films with Elliot Gould - MASH, The Long Goodbye and California Split. I can watch those films over and over again. Great stuff.

One of my recent favorite films is Altman's Images. There is something in that movie that reaches pure magic for me and I can watch it for years on end and never get tired of it. Plus, Susannah York gives an utterly compeling performance and I just love to hear her recite those lines from the book that she actually wrote herself (and is now a hard to get item).

Everything comes together perfectly in this film and I can understand why american audiences are turned cold by it (it's very cerebral and "arty" but in a good way, I think) and even die hard Altman fans too. It's very out of the ordinary even for this multifaceted director. But I love it!

It's been a while since I saw Images but I certainly agree with you, Annie. One sequence that I really loved was when Susannah "danced" with three men individually.. how each man flowed into the next one. Ending in front of a fireplace. So gorgeously composed that it left me hypnotized. And the music!

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:Agreed. For me, it's the holy trilogy of films with Elliot Gould - MASH, The Long Goodbye and California Split. I can watch those films over and over again. Great stuff.

You're so right Fletch. Every time I watch California Split I enjoy it more and more. Is the whole atmosphere Altman creates that sometimes makes you feel you're not watching a movie. And that ending…. priceless. Segal's acting is overwhelming too.

Definitely. Gould and Segal make such a great team in this movie. I'd love to see them do something again. I love the give and take between them -- especially in the climatic poker game scene where the tension mounts.

And then you have Gould's laidback charm in The Long Goodbye which is quite possibly my fave Altman film of all time. I was so happy to finally see it come out on DVD and enjoy it in its proper aspect ratio. I love the scenes between Gould and Sterling Hayden... like how he keeps referring to Gould as the Marlboro Man... heh.

Gary must have been reading this thread.This just in.

I already own that disc. Is a great, especially for under $10.

I just picked up the new box for 12 bucks, brand new. I figured it's a great deal. If anyone wants the box itself or the MASH disc let me know, cause I'll probably end up throwing away the box and selling the disc to a used DVD store. I figured 12 bucks for 3 Altman films is an incredible deal.

Inspired by the enthusiasts, I watched A Wedding last night, and it's certainly held up.

It's one of the most intense explorations of what's generally understood by "Altman style" (i.e. multi-character overlapping narratives), but I think it goes a couple of steps beyond Nashville or Short Cuts in its construction. Those films are, to my mind, much more a collection of interweaving personal narratives, whereas A Wedding is far more about the interactions of a massive cast of characters within a single narrative (or, more to the point, a single situation). Thus much of the film's humour derives from the revelation of character, not from the development of comic subplots, for example. The individual narrative elements within the film are generally pretty wispy, or when they are more substantial, Altman excludes much of that substance from the film.

That last point might just be the most impressive thing about Altman's handling of the material. The narrative backbone of the film (whose key events occur at the beginning and the end of the film, and which the wedding itself seems to underpin) is the relationship between Nettie and Luigi - their mysterious 'agreement' - but this storyline is directly addressed only a couple of times and much remains unexplained.

Another great example is the narrative arc of the Tracy / Wilson relationship. Both characters are given a proper introduction, at a prominent place in the film (after all of the other guests arrive), are swiftly characterised, and then go on to experience a fully formed story of their own (probably the most conventioanlly structured narrative thread in the film) almost entirely off-screen. By piecing together our few glimpses of them, other characters' asides, and their role in the climax of the film, we can reconstruct their - very rich - story, but it's all conveyed with Altman's masterful misdirection.

That kind of detail is deeply satisfying, but so too is the big picture. The film brilliantly sustains multiple shifts in mood and tone, and the contrast between the bright observational humour of the first two thirds with the alarming descent into darkness of the final half hour is very impressive. And what a variety of comic performances are assembled: Carol Burnett (our surrogate by default) dancing with Pat McCormick; Geraldine Chaplin's prissy repression; Nina Van Pallandt's disturbing mood swings; Mia Farrow's psychotic mime.

The new disc doesn't look particularly sharp (though that's probably an occupational hazard with Altman) and the blacks are often grainy and muddy, but it's great to have this film in print.

I watched A Perfect Couple last night and wasn't too impressed.

I thought I should just throw that out there. It's a much different film from A Wedding, which I appreciated quite a bit.

Any thoughts?

I just finished Quintet and expecting it to be a bad film I actually loved it. The concept is a typical sci-fi death game plot, but it's presented rather awesomely not only with Altman's visuals but also with the script. For me at least, I was hooked the entire time trying to figure out what was happening. Another added bonus is the level of humanity in this film as people are playing the quintet game. Typically, I find Altman's films to be too cynical for warm moments (though there are always exceptions) and this film, while set in the middle of a McCabe-esque snowstorm, moved me. Maybe I just watched it at the right place at the right time.

A wonderful surprise.

By the way, does anyone have any scanned in pictures of the individual covers for each DVD?

California Split review is up at the Beaver

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but here's Altman discussing the adjustments he had to make to California Split in order to guarantee its release on DVD. It's from an interview in StopSmiling magazine.

And a lot of them weren't [released] because of music clearances, or certain copyright problems. We had to make adjustments. The cost of the music track on California Split was so high that Columbia just couldn't put it into video or DVD. That kept it out of circulation for years. Finally, Elliot Gould went in to find out why they weren't releasing it. When they told him it was because of music, he said "Isn't there something we can do about that?" So I made some cuts and took a couple of songs out. We got it into what they considered a reasonable budget. The picture wasn't hurt by it. And that's out now. It doesn't make any difference, the quality of these things. It's as good as anyone sees them...

I love it when directors are sensible and realistic about their own work.

California Split is currently unavailable from Amazon...perhaps there were still problems with the music clearance?

No, Columbia/Sony took a bunch of title out of print earlier this year including this one.

Wow, that was fast! Not even two years have passed since the release date!

I actually don't mind this strategy. At least they release them onto DVD. And if you're lucky, you can buy two and sell the second on ebay for twice the price.

justeleblanc wrote:I just finished Quintet and expecting it to be a bad film I actually loved it.

FINALLY! I also love this film, without reservation, and the only thing I've read that was even close to a positive review was by Pauline Kael (and, in typical fashion, I still couldn't tell if she liked the movie or not). The sets alone are amazing...enigmatic futuristic sets rendered even more mysterious by being buried under a layer of ice and snow. Also I agree that the script is underrated.

Sweet! I was also a sucker for the whole existential reasons as to why people murdered each other. It's text-book but I loved it. And the artistic layout of each murdered body was almost as much fun as Argento.

I'm making all my friends watch this film!

I'd love to find the Kael review if you know where I can read it.

Hrossa wrote:I watched A Perfect Couple last night and wasn't too impressed.

Any thoughts?

Same here, but it's interesting to think about what went wrong here. In sharp distinction to A Wedding or Nashville, the potentially big cast here (the two contrasting extended families) is badly underdeveloped, so the typical joys of an Altman ensemble is denied us. On the other hand, we don't get the contrasting joys of a strong central relationship (as in several other Altman films - California Split, Three Women, McCabe & Mrs Miller), as those roles are underdeveloped in a different way. The families are just lay figures, but Alex and whatsername seem to have been conceived primarily as a reaction against the traditional Hollywood romantic couple (and at the same time a replication of it). Dooley and Heflin struggle bravely to inflect their schematic characters with a spark of individuality, and there are some good isolated scenes, but they never quite manage to bring the whole thing to life.

The other utterly distracting thing about the film is the startling awfulness of the rock numbers. Scarily, they're perfectly plausible as late seventies potential hits, but looked at now they're embarrassing relics that sink the film in its period. I kept hoping that they were deliberately, comically bad, but nope (as the featurette attests). Thank god for punk!

Nevertheless, there's some interesting fodder for the Altman watcher. Dooley and Heflin do make a nice pairing when they're not being pushed around by the plot, and Dooley's scenes with his second computer date may be the best thing in the film (and, by some measure, the least essential). And Altman managed to slyly recycle the opening scene a quarter of a century later in The Company.

Andre Jurieu wrote:I don't know if this has been mentioned, but here's Altman discussing the adjustments he had to make to California Split in order to guarantee its release on DVD. It's from an interview in StopSmiling magazine.

And a lot of them weren't [released] because of music clearances, or certain copyright problems. We had to make adjustments. The cost of the music track on California Split was so high that Columbia just couldn't put it into video or DVD. That kept it out of circulation for years. Finally, Elliot Gould went in to find out why they weren't releasing it. When they told him it was because of music, he said "Isn't there something we can do about that?" So I made some cuts and took a couple of songs out. We got it into what they considered a reasonable budget. The picture wasn't hurt by it. And that's out now. It doesn't make any difference, the quality of these things. It's as good as anyone sees them...

I love it when directors are sensible and realistic about their own work.

Film Forum (NYC) press release:

October 13-19 One Week!
Robert Altman's CALIFORNIA SPLIT New 35mm Print of Uncut Theatrical Version!
(1974) Manic Elliott Gould and gloomy George Segal team up for action, from the poker table to the track, to run-ins with muggers in late-night parking lots, and ultimately to Vegas for craps, roulette and blackjack in an obsessive search for that one big score. Described by Altman as a "celebration of gambling," it skyrockets from the heady highs and rocket-paced blood flow of winning streaks to the dead, wrung-out feel of the flat-busted. Presented in a new 35mm print of the original theatrical version which includes three minutes of scenes deleted from the DVD due to music rights issues.

For those who want to see the original version....

Holy crap! That's awesome news... Wow, I might actually have to make a trip to NYC...