Robert Altman  never won an Oscar in competition.

Altman was nominated as Best Director for MASH (1970) but lost to Franklin Schafner for Patton (1970). He was again nominated for Nashville (1975) but the film and its director were buried in the stampede of awards for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Milos Forman.

Altman was next nominated for The Player (1992) and lost the award to Clint Eastwood who won for Unforgiven. (1992). The director’s fourth nomination was for Short Cuts (1993). This time, he lost to Steven Spielberg who won for Schindler’s List (1993).

Most recently, Altman was nominated for Gosford Park (2002). He lost to Ron Howard for A Beautiful Mind (1993).

If anyone typified the maverick seventies, it was Robert Altman. In an era which encouraged directors to utilize film as a means of self expression, Altman took full advantage of the opportunity. Given the creative freedom to make the films he wanted to make the way he wanted to make them, Altman began quietly setting dynamite charges beneath the conventions of narrative film.

Altman movies often lack a conventional plot. As in life, events follow and cause further events that are often linked in ways beyond the obvious. There are no coincidences in Altman movies. They exist in a state of cosmic happenstance.

Most movies look like movies. Altman movies look like life.

By the time he made MASH, Robert Altman had been in the business for almost twenty years. He began by shooting industrials and then moved into series television.

After making the documentary The James Dean Story (1957), Altman directed The Delinquents (1968) and Countdown (1968). In the late sixties, though older than the members of “the film school generation,” the director benefited from the emergence of “New Hollywood.”

When Altman directed his breakthrough; MASH (1970), the industry was in flux.. In the late sixties, several massive pictures had failed, almost taking down their parent studios in the process. After the success of Easy Rider (1969, Dennis Hopper) and films like Bonnie and Clyde (1967, Arthur Penn) and The Graduate (1968, Mike Nichols), studio executives recognized the presence of a new audience; one open to unconventional films.

Not knowing how to reach that audience, studio heads gave unprecedented creative freedom to young directors in hopes of a hit. From this came a lot of schlock and the beginnings of a new American cinema.

Altman movies were group portraits of inter-connected, eccentric characters. The director shot his films like impressionist documentaries. Using long lenses, he captured the actor’s natural behavior. No one on an Altman set could relax. Background players know that they could become the focus of a shot at any given moment.

Altman proved as radical in sound design as in directing style. In most movies, dialogue is shot “clean.” Each speech is heard by itself. as an aid to later mixing. In an Altman film, people interrupt each other all the time and it’s not uncommon for side conversations \or background sounds to momentarily dominate.

Altman was one of the first to place radio mikes on his actors. He miked not only the principles but also various lesser players. During a take, the director panned among the various tracks, “eavesdropping” on several simultaneous conversations. Actors remained aware that they could become the one heard at any instant.

While I enjoy MASH (1970), I’m more partial to the contemporary fable Brewster McCloud (1970), the elegiac McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) and  the haunting Thieves Like Us (1974).

Nashville (1975), which might be Altman’s finest film, marked the passing of an era.

The nominees for Best Picture in 1975 were Barry Lyndon (1975, Stanley Kubrick), Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet), Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg), Nashville (1975) and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, Milos Forman). Though Cuckoo’s Nest won, Nashville was the better film while Jaws became the picture with the most impact on the film industry and its’ audience.

 It’s ironic that a progressive decade in filmmaking ended up producing a more conservative audience but that’s what happened. By the end of the seventies, popular taste had changed. Action films, broad comedies and teen horror pictures began to dominate the industry. Idiosyncratic films of unusual content and structure, like those of Robert Altman, no longer held mass attention.

Like all great artists, Altman walked a tightrope. In an era of research screenings and second guessing, he took chances and went by instinct. As a result, there are very few mediocre Altman movies. Either they’re great like A Wedding (1978) or they’re absolutely awful, like the pretentious Quintet (1979). In his films as in his life, Robert Altman recognized no middle ground.

 In 1980, Altman was hired by Disney and Paramount to direct the live action version of Popeye. The result was a leaden and expensive disaster minus humor. For the rest of the decade, Altman made a series of smaller scaled films, based on notable plays and short stories. Several of these, including Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (I982) and Secret Honor (1984) are among his finest movies.

Altman returned to favor with The Player (1992) which won praise from the industry it satirized. Based on the short stories of Raymond Carver, Short Cuts (1983) was structured like a fugue.

Altman followed two of his finest films with one of his weakest; Pret-a-Porter (1993). He directed a rare near miss with Kansas City (1996) and proved he could make a mainstream picture with The Gingerbread Man (1998). Cookie’s Fortune (1999) and Dr. T And The Women (2000)  were disappointments but Gosford Park (2001) was prime Altman..

While many older directors passed out of favor, Altman remained thoroughly contemporary. His movies seemed just as much at home amidst those of Tarentino, Aronovsky and Raimi as they did amidst those of Scorsese, Ashby and Mallick.

 "What I'm looking for is occurrence, truthful human behavior. We've got a kind of road map, and we're making it up as we travel along."

                                                                        Robert Altman

Robert Altman passed away on November 20, 2006 at age 81.

Jp ‘06

(John Kaufman)

Allston, Ma

1. Director

A. Features

1957- The Delinquents (and writer, producer) The James Dean Story (and editor, producer) 1968- Countdown 1969- That Cold Day in the Park 1970- M*A*S*H, Brewster McCloud 1971- McCabe and Mrs Miller (and writer) 1972- Images (and writer) 1973- The Long Goodbye 1974- Thieves Like Us (also writer), California Split (also producer) 1975- Nashville (also producer) 1976- Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson 1977- Three Women (and writer, producer) 1978- A Wedding (and writer, producer) 1979- Quintet (and writer, producer), A Perfect Couple (and writer, producer) 1980- HealtH (and writer, producer), Popeye 1982- Come Back To The Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean 1983- Streamers (and producer) 1984- Secret Honor (and producer) 1985- Fool For Love 1987- Beyond Therapy (and writer) 1987- O.C. and Stiggs (and producer) Aria (“Les Boreades”) 1990- Vincent and Theo 1992- The Player 1993- Short Cuts (and writer) 1994- Pret-a-Porter (and writer, producer) 1996- Jazz ’34 (and writer) 1996- Kansas City (and writer) 1998- The Gingerbread Man 1999- Cookie’s Fortune 2000- Dr T and the Women (and producer) 2001- Gosford Park (and writer, producer) 2003- The Company (and producer) 2006- A Prairie Home Companion

B. Television

1964- Nightmare in Chicago (and producer) 1980- Rattlesnake in a Cooler (and executive producer) 1981- Peking Encounter (and additional cinematography) 1982- Two By South 1985- The Laundromat 1987- Best of Friends (unit manager) 1987- Basements 1988- Tanner ’88 (and executive producer), The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (and producer) 1992- McTeague (and writer) 1993- Black and Blue, The Real Treasure (and writer) 2004- Tanner on Tanner

C. Episodic Television

1955- The Millionaire, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1956- The Gale Storm Show 1957- Whirlybirds , Sugarfoot, Maverick 1958- US Marshall, Peter Gunn, Bronco, Lawman, Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse 1959- Troubleshooter, Bonanza, Hawaiian Eye 1960- Surfside Six, Route 66 1961- Bus Stop 1962- Combat!, The Gallant Men 1963- Kraft Suspense Theater 1965- The Long Hot Summer 1968- Premiere  1975- Saturday Night Live

2. Producer

1976- Welcome to LA ( director; Alan Rudolph) 1977- The Late Show (director; Robert Benton) 1978- Remember My Name (director; Alan Rudolph) 1979- Rich Kids (executive producer) (director; Robert Young) 1994- Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (director; Alan Rudolph) 1997- Afterglow (director; Alan Rudolph) 1998- Liv (short) (director; Edoardo Ponti) 2000- Trixie (director; Alan Rudolph) 2001- Roads and Bridges (executive producer) (director; Abraham Lim)

Sources

IMDB.com (Internet Movie Data Base)

Allmovie.com (All Movie Guide)

Wikipedia.com (internet encyclopedia)

RobertAltman.com (fan site)