So Robert Altman is Dead. He was one of my favorite filmmakers. It's not sad really because it shouldnt be sad when a person you don't know dies. But he always made big crazy movies about cool little subjects so here's a list of some of his work I really liked and feel is worth seeing (and youtube links to a few tidbits).

So everyone's probably seen Gosford Park so I should start with that.

For M*A*S*H Altman developed a system of recording sound which allowed characters to talk over eachother and still be audible and allowed the director to control where the audiences hearing goes.

Gosford Park is the best example of this because everyone is cramped in little parlours and 98% of the dialogue is amazing and hilarious. I've seen this 3 times but every time it's on I watch again to see if I can hear another little tidbit which will keep me laughing.

Popeye is weird and bad but also amazing to watch.

Its a musical that doesn't sound like a musical or act like or and you can't tell whether he loves Popeye or hates it. Also...it's maybe a popeye prequel. I'm constantly confused.

It explores a lot of weird and beautiful life-related peccadillos I'm not sure Popeye ever did and it clearly played a strange and large influence on the films of Paul Thomas Anderson.

Watch it and both see why it's a flop but also maybe fall in love with it a bit in spite of, or because of those facts.

Nashville is the best example of Altman's crazy writing/adaptation style.

It's based on true reporting yet, through some unknown process, produces a mostly fictional story including some characters who probably are based on real people.

He also made the actors write and preform their own country songs so it has a pretty wicked soundtrack of unique sounding 70s country and after watching it I always find myself pulling some regrettable nu-country of I-tunes to keep me rocking.

Short Cuts may not be the inventor of but it's certainly the watermark for me of the "bunch of characters interconnected each dealing with a dramatic story" genre which has become so popular of late.

The thing that bothered me most about "Crash" was the contrivances to bring characters together and in Short Cuts Altman mixes characters from Raymond Carver stories, and just his own brain, seemlessly and with interesting happenstance which both makes the movie believable and totally effective.

Also, it's about 4 hours long but I can always sit through it and enjoy it end to end. Thats pretty high praise from someone with self-diagnosed borderline ADD.

If I had to choose a favorite of his though it would be Brewster McCloud.

It's a part improvised, party scripted, part industrial experimental film about a person who wants more than anything to fly.

It's insane and completely watchable and works on the same kind of weird humor you see in movies like "The Graduate" and "The Man Who Fell To Earth".

It involves many of the older key actors in the Altman regime who tend to be creepy and interesting (also you may see why I love some of the people who constantly show up on 'Boston Legal' through seeing these movies).

The above link sends you to a full capture of the entire movie of Brewster McCloud and I urge you to see it on youtube while it's still free. It's a movie thats hard to get a hold of but completely worth it to watch. Strange and crazy and awesome.

Good Job Rob

CAM