Robert Altman: critical essays

207 Pages·2011·1.909 MB·English

by  Altman, Robert;Armstrong, Rick

Robert Altman
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Robert Altman
Critical Essays
EDITED BY RICK ARMSTRONG
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Robert Altman : critical essays / edited by Rick Armstrong.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-4414-4
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Altman, Robert, 1925–2006—Criticism and interpretation.
I. Armstrong, Rick, 1966–
PN1998.3.A48R625 2011
791.4302'33092—dc22
[B] 2011001871
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2011Rick Armstrong. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without p ermission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover: Robert Altman on the set of Beyond Therapy, ¡987
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Preface and Acknowledgments
Robert Altman’s position as both an innovative and popular filmmaker
makes him a unique figure to study. He is responsible for some of the most
iconic films in mainstream American filmmaking: M*A*S*H (1970),
McCabe and Mrs. Miller(1971), Nashville(1975), The Player(1992), Short
Cuts (1993), and Gosford Park (2001). He has been nominated for five
Academy Awards in addition to winning other honors and a Lifetime
Achievement Award in 2006 before his death at age 81in November 2006.
Since then, interest in Altman’s work has risen as some of his older films
have been released on DVD.
I became interested in creating an edited collection on Altman not
long after he died. The Independent Film Center in New York had an
exhaustive retrospective of his work in January 2007, which led me to
think that there might be interest in a work of essays on Altman. To confirm
this, I contacted Robert T. Self who teaches at Northern Illinois University
and has authored two books on Altman’s work: Robert Altman’s Subliminal
Realityand Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller: Reframing the Amer-
ican West. Self agreed that the time was right and agreed to contribute an
essay. Also, Elliot Gould and Michael Murphy, actors who worked with
Altman numerous times, offered to help. All of this indicated to me that
the time was indeed right; I especially wanted to understand the direction
Altman scholarship is headed.
Altman scholars are interested in music, cinema and history, genre
(Altman was known for his revision of classic movie genres, such as the
war film, the western, the detective story, and the murder mystery, among
others), and performance, and this work focuses on those topics. I believe
it is valuable because it presents a range of different viewpoints in one vol-
ume which can be accessed for years to come.
v
vi Preface and Acknowledgments
An edited collection requires work from a variety of people, and I
have many people to thank for their support and help. I would first like
to thank my colleagues at Kingsborough Community College (CUNY)
for their advice and support. My colleagues Frank Percaccio and Patrick
Hickey were indispensable in getting still photographs. My office mate
Kevin Kolkmeyer was always supportive in discussing Altman’s films and
accompanying me to see them. Conversations with him and my colleague
Eben Wood helped to circulate ideas in my head. Robert Singer generously
shared his expertise in film analysis along with sound advice when I was
figuring out how to put this together. Chloe Graef has offered both her
love and her insight while I have been completing this project. I sincerely
appreciate her patience, support and intelligence. I would like to thank
Mitchell Zuckoff, who I have not met personally, but whose Robert Altman:
An Oral Biography, published recently, is a necessary resource for future
Altman scholars.
I would like to thank all of the contributors for their patience and
consistent engagement. I would like to cite two specifically who were
engaged in this project early on, helping to guide me through some chal-
lenging moments. Krin Gabbard generously offered advice on the pub-
lishing process. The dean of Altman scholars, Robert T. Self, provided
enthusiasm and expertise that were necessary for this project to exist. If
he had not consented to participate, I would never have done it. The same
could be said of Altman collaborator Michael Murphy, who contributed
a very personal essay. Actor Elliott Gould, too, was also there to assist
when asked. Their participation has greatly enhanced this work. Despite
their busy shooting schedules, they have been responsive to any questions
I have had. I would also like to acknowledge the City University of New
York’s faculty union, the Professional Staff Congress, for giving me a gen-
erous grant for the fall term 2009 to help me complete this project. Above
all, I would like to thank my parents, Dorothy and Steve Armstrong, for
instilling a passion for film in me from a young age and for being supportive
in this and all endeavors of mine.
And of course, I would like to thank the one person without whose
hard work this collection would not have been possible: Robert Altman.
I never met him personally; however, his vision has meant a lot to me as
it has to the many who have seen his films. He lived his gambler’s life and
struggled to get money so he could bequeath his unique films to us. Thank
you, Mr. Altman.
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments v
Introduction: “Diving Off the Deep End” 1
RICK ARMSTRONG
1. Working with Robert Altman 17
MICHAEL MURPHY
2. The Hypertext of Short Cuts: The Jazz in Altman’s
Carver Soup 20
KRIN GABBARD
3. “Doing Some Replacin’”: Gender, Genre and the
Subversion of Dominant Ideology in the Music Scores 38
RICHARD R. NESS
4. The Company’s Coming: The Hero, the Survivor,
and the Victim in McCabe and Mrs. Miller 59
WILLIAM GRAEBNER
5. Brewster McCloud and the Limits of the Historical
Imagination 77
MARCOS SOARES
6. Brewster McCloud’s ’60s Hangover 100
RICK ARMSTRONG
7. H ard-B oiled Nebbish: The Jewish Humphrey Bogart
in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye and
Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam 120
JEREMY KAYE
vii
viii Table of Contents
8. A Cinema of Plenty: Robert Altman and the
Multi- Protagonist Film 139
MARIA DEL MAR AZCONA
9. Art and Performance: Consolation at the End of Days 156
ROBERT T. SELF
Combined Bibliography 181
About the Contributors 189
Index 191
Introduction:
“Diving Off the Deep End”
Rick Armstrong
When I picked up The New York Timeson November 22, 2006, and
discovered that Robert Altman had died, it had a surprisingly powerful
effect on me. In the past I had not really thought much of celebrity deaths
because I never personally knew any celebrities. Thus, their lives and deaths
were purely conceptual to me. I could never understand the way people
saw the famous as related to their own existences and then grieved publicly
when celebrities died. However, I felt some sincere sadness at Robert Alt-
man’s death because (as the cliché goes) the world would be a less inter-
esting place without him making films. I was not aware that he had finished
A Prairie Home Companion while battling cancer and thus was aware of
his own mortality. A major part of my sense of connection to Altman
derives from being a pre- adolescent in the ’70s, old enough to be aware
of the adult world, but young enough to be totally ignorant of what really
went on there.
Getting glimpses of Altman’s films in my early teens gave me a sense
of the way adults behaved and despite the alienation depicted in M*A*S*H,
Nashville, The Long Goodbye, and California Split, I was fascinated and
elated that adult human interaction could be so amusing and compelling.
His characters’ lives somewhat paralleled my suburban California upbring-
ing because many of them also felt disaffected in the supposed paradise of
the alleged Golden State. These people were heroes to me despite (or
because of) their weaknesses and compulsions. There is a whole aesthetic
tradition devoted to the idea of teenagers (many of them male) recoiling
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