Kramer vs. Kramer taught me how to make french toast, so I should've voted for it for that reason alone, but I didn't. It's a great movie, though, and I'm happy it made the countdown.
I don't love Robert Altman as much as Cobpyth and few others on this forum, but I do love
Nashville, which is why it was #9 on my list. I'm a big fan of
Short Cuts, too, but
Nashville is Altman's best, in my opinion. No director balances an ensemble cast quite as deftly as Altman. I expected it to be higher on the countdown, especially with all the adulation Altman receives on here.
It's unfortunate that some people allow their dislike for country music to taint their viewing experience. Personally, I like traditional, old-school country music, and even though the songs in the film are of varying quality (to match the varying talent of the characters within the film), the music is more of a backdrop than anything. After all, you can't make a movie about the country music capital without a bit of honky-tonk floating through the breeze. And many of the songs are written with a satirical/ironic edge, simultaneously paying homage to country music while also illustrating its overly patriotic corniness and other characteristics. Although I generally dislike musicals (primarily the ones where people burst into random bits of song and dance), I tend to enjoy movies that either take place in the world of music or have music deeply ingrained in their DNA.
Nashville is exactly that kind of movie: a musical in spirit, not technique.
The main reason that I love
Nashville, though, is its voyeuristic quality. I love movies that transport me to a different time and place and allow me to be a fly on the wall. Altman captures that feeling about as well as anyone. When I watch
Nashville, with its level of authenticity, its great sense of time and place, its interweaving characters and storylines, I eventually forget that I'm watching a movie at all, but instead become convinced that I've been dropped in the middle of Nashville in the 1970's, invisible as a ghost, free to walk among the characters and eavesdrop on their conversations and take in their performances and witness their private moments without anyone the wiser. I wish more films gave me that feeling.
Nashville was #9 on my list and it's also my ninth film to appear on the countdown.
#4)
The Last Picture Show
#8)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
#9)
Nashville
#10)
The Holy Mountain
#11)
Paper Moon
#13)
Five Easy Pieces
#22)
Straw Dogs
#23)
The Outlaw Josey Wales
#24)
Mean Streets
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