Robert Altman what's your Favorite and Least Favorite

My favorite is The Company

Of the ones I've seen, I'd rank and grade 'em thusly...


"You're the one chippin' away at our mansion of love, baby! Not me!"

McCabe & Mrs. Miller, A
Short Cuts, A-
The Long Goodbye, B+
The Player, B-
Secret Honor, B-
Popeye, B-
Nashville, B-
California Split, B-
Gosford Park, C+
MASH, C

Short Cuts is just such a crazy piece of work, I have to pick it as my favorite, although I might like watching McCabe and Mrs. Miller a bit more. Depends on my mood I guess. The Long Goodbye is right up there, as well. I have only seen it once, though, and must watch again. The Player is ingenious, and comes in just under the three I listed above.

M*A*S*H is seminal, but not one of my favorites to watch, because it's unnerving and stark. I do own a copy, though. I am in the camp that the third act drags a bit in this one.

For some reason, I like Cookie's Fortune a whole hell of a lot, too.

I picked up Gosford Park recently, but have yet to watch it.

Dammit, now I am perusing discount DVDs to add more Altman to my collection!

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I have something to confess - I am woefully inexperienced when it comes to Altman. At present, I have only ever seen two of his films in full - The Player and McCabe and Mrs Miller. I thought the former was alright, nothing overly spectacular, but the latter was near-perfect. One of these days I'll get around to going through the Altman section at the nearest indie video store.

On one final note - I went to said video store, looked through the Altman section, and asked the guy where I could find Nashville. According to him, Nashville has never had an official release on either VHS or DVD in this country. Ever.

I think my complaints about our DVD distribution are justified.

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Knowing your cinematic taste I'd recommend Images, Thieves Like Us and California Split next on your Altman to-see list. And Nashville, of course (can't believe you've never seen that one). I know you'd groove to Brewster McCloud as well, but it's one of the very few of his movies still unreleased on DVD.

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LOVE Images. I got through Netflix last year and watched it 3 times. Absolutely amazing cinematography, first frame to last. Also, Williams odd, minimal score blew my mind. It just didn't sound like him at all, to me.

The thing is, I still need to get a copy of both The Long Goodbye and The Player. I feel like I should pick these up ASAP!

I definitely want to see Brewster McCloud, and I will add the others you mention to the list!

A lot of these films are available for about 4 bucks, which I just can't resist...

Looking back at my post on the first page from January of 2002, I don't think I'd alter my list too much. Maybe change the order around now and then, but I'd stick with those twelve. Actually I might swap out Gosford Park for Brewster McCloud. And I rather adore California Split. Let's see...





B E S T
1. NASHVILLE
2. M*A*S*H
3. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
4. Short Cuts
5. The Long Goodbye
6. Images
7. The Player
8. Secret Honor
9. That Cold Day in the Park
10. Brewster McCloud
11. California Split
12. Thieves Like Us
13. "Tanner '88"
14. Gosford Park
15. 3 Women
16. Cookie's Fortune
17. Vincent & Theo

Yup, I love all of them there movies, I tell you what.

Nashville...really. I misremembered your list and thought you would certainly put McCabe and Mrs. Miller (best final shot ever ) at number one.

I abhor country music, but, if you rate that film that highly, I will certainly give it a go.

I must ask, do you place Cookie where she is because you think it has issues, or because it's still really good, but just not up to par with the rest of the higher rated flicks?

I don't know why, but I just love the characters in that flick!

I think Cookie's Fortune, even with the dead body, is easily Altman's most gentle and warm film. By far. It is immensely enjoyable and rewatchable. I love it. But just on degree of difficulty and in comparison to his own masterworks, no, I can't rate it up near the tippy top. But if I need a quick smile, sure, that's one I'll reach for over the likes of Images or McCabe.

But Cookie's Fortune is a damn fine flick.

See, that's the problem I always have when I try to rank and grade a director like Altman's filmography. I never know whether to go with the flicks I personally prefer and enjoy more or to go with the ones I know to be technically superior. I usually try for a combination of the two, but I tend to lean a little more heavily towards the "ones that I personally enjoy a lot and find incredibly rewatchable" category.

What about the rest of you guys? Do you go with your gut or your head when you pick the best movies a director has done? And HP, if your "favorite" Altman is The Long Goodbye, how come that isn't at the top of your list?

Do you think Robert Altman made a loveletter to country music with Nashville?!? Oh, boy. Not at all. In fact most of "the industry" in that town apparently hated the movie and the music, although with the distance of time I think it has more acceptance today. There is certainly some fun taken at that music's expense, to be sure, but it is about much, much more than that stuff, which is almost incidental. Give it a look and see what Altman was saying about contemporary America in the mid 1970s, politically and culturally. It's a satirical manifesto not some tale about trying to make it in country music.



It's really one of those I wish you could see on the big screen for the first time. It can be dense and overwhelming, which is so much more impressive in the cinema.

Similar reasoning as Cookie's Fortune. The Long Goodbye is my "favorite", as in it's the one of seen the most number of times. But given the ambition, audacity and invention of the four I listed above it, I'd give them slightly higher more empirical "grades" overall. I think the first five on my list, including The Long Goodbye, are some order of cinematic masterpiece for my taste. But then once you get into trying to discern which masterpiece goes where and assigning an order as to which is more masterpiecy...well, you'll never win. So yes, Long Goodbye is my personal favorite in many ways, but Nashville, MASH, McCabe and Short Cuts...come on, there's no correct answer. I love 'em all!

And you know damn well what Altman's Rip Van Marlowe would say if he found he was "only" ranked fifth...

The Long Goodbye has so much character and such a unique style. I loved the cat, and all the scenes involving the cat. Arnold in the pants off scene was hilarious, and all the other little quirks were fun, too. Yeah, I am placing an order for a few of these titles, and The Long Goodbye is certainly one of them...

Brewster McCloud is playing tonight, Wednesday the 22nd on TCM at 11:45 eastern time.

Wasn't sure where to post this so it's going here. One of my very favorite of Altman's and easily among his weirdest and harder to find (it's not available on DVD) films. It stars Bud Cort (Harold and Maude) and Shelley Duvall in her screen debut.

For those who don't know, Cort plays a virgin who, with the help of his guardian angel (and an unseen murderous flock of pooping birds?) steals plans from the forgotten Wright brother (a very comical bigoted-geriatric played by Stacey Keach) to build his wings. Anyway, now's your chance to see this awesome movie. Bill Hader is the guest programmer for this, here's the schedule: http://www.tcm.com/schedule/index.js...zone=EST&cid=N

Another reason to watch Brewster McCloud is to see Michael Murphy play Bullitt.

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Brewster McCloud is actually available on DVD, as part of the Warner Archives DVD-R collection, HERE.

Thanks for that link, Holden, I'd never heard of a studio using that "made-to-order" business model. TCM's webpage still lists it as unreleased.

I voted for Short Cuts, but I have not seen The Long Goodbye, The Player, nor Brewster McCloud. Now seeing that it's got the highest votes, maybe I shouldn't have voted until watching TLG... damn...

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Popeye is by far the worst. i figure Altman must have been sleeping with Shelly Duvall to cast that homely woman in so many of his pictures. She wasn't even a good actress.

I like MASH best, then A Long Goodbye. Neither has Shelly Duvall.

bah! Brewster McCloud and Popeye are my favorites.

As for least favorite... maybe Ready to Wear.