Robert Altman - He and I should be so close.....

[number6horse]

Can someone recommend a Robert Altman film that will make me understand him ? Tonight I re-watched "Rashomon"(Kurosawa - 1950) and one of the DVD extras was Altman giving his commentary on the film. In about 5 minutes he summarized everything I love about movies in general and why "Rashomon" itself is a work of genius. Therefore I SHOULD admire Altman too - right ? Hell....."Short Cuts" was 3:09 of my life I will never get back. Help !

 

[mjp]

Uh, hello! The brilliant 1953 short, How to Run a Filling Station? Come on, man. Or the 1957 classic, The Delinquents? Those are just off the top of my head. I'm not sure if he made any movies after those.

 

[Hosh]

As opposed to a cult-like following of him, I've settled for some good moments. Charles Dutton's character replacing the nipping pint he stole the night before in Cookie's Fortune; people stepping in dogshit throughout Pret-a-Porter--honestly, the streets in Paris are covered in dogshit!

But it's true...there is a lot of film theory to sort through in his most famous movies...and a lot of 'huh?' looks when the credits roll. For what's it's worth, they do feel more like novels than films...which is a feeling I like.

 

[number6horse]

I think I'm going to check into "The Player" and "Nashville" (which I saw at age 13 when it came out and REALLY didn't get it or Altman).

 

[Digney in Burnaby]

He directed 10 episodes during the first season of Combat! Front line follies.

This one is okay, at least to my 12 year old mentality.

 

[Bruno Dante]

I love Rashomon. Anyway, I'd give The Player a go. It's quite funny although it's not as clever as it likes to think it is. MASH (or M*A*S*H) is good too. Pret a Porter had a nice poster if I remember correctly.