Boring

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

NOTES: Negative cost: $4 million. Shot on location in Canada.COMMENT: "McCabe and Mrs Miller" could be tightened a bit as the scenes between the two protagonists are actually the dullest in the film. Altman's anti-clericalism is very noticeable. The crook-backed minister loping through the town is caricaturised as a figure of fun in the early scenes and as an evil fanatic in the later. As in MASH every character is strongly individualized and there is a 3- dimensional quality in the writing and acting that brings them vividly to life. Every scene is full of acutely observed touches, though the final shoot-out is perhaps too bizarre, it is almost ludicrous at times, but this too could well be intentional.The support cast is superb, everyone wearing his character like a glove, but the principals seem miscast. Beatty is too intellectual and has to live down too clean-cut a screen image to be wholly convincing as an unprincipled, uncouth, small-time entrepreneur of low cunning. The sequence with the lawyer is especially unconvincing and, as the scene's point has already been made, the whole scene would have been better left on the cutting-room floor. The lawyer doesn't convince either and Altman's disinterest in the scene is shown by his over- use of undemanding and uninvolving close-ups. Miss Christie also has too high-class a screen image to be convincing as a low-class, dope-addicted madam. Her fans will be disappointed by her frowzy appearance too, but the film is nothing if not squalidly realistic. The photographic texture of the film is remarkable.I don't usually quote studio publicity departments, but this one provides some interesting info: Altman entered the picture-making business in his hometown of Kansas City, Mo., where he started off in industrial films, learning his craft from the cutting-room floor up to the director's suite. An Altman film engages his talents in all of the creative aspects of the medium. He wrote the screenplay of McCabe and Mrs Miller with Brian McKay.At the University of Missouri, he majored in a most non- theatrical subject, mathematical engineering. His switch to more creative action came during World War II; as a B-24 pilot, he had leisure time on his hands, enough of it to take up letter-writing. He composed long and humorous letters about anything and everything, and writing soon developed into a pleasurable undertaking for him. After the war, he stopped off in Los Angeles to collaborate with a friend, George W. George, on original screen treatments, several of which sold. He also wrote successfully for magazines and radio shows. Then he spent a year in New York writing plays and novels. He formed his own company and produced documentary films, and when he traveled to Hollywood it was a one-way trip. In 1955 he wrote, produced and directed his first feature film, The Delinquents, for United Artists. Two years later, Altman and George W. George, made the award-winning documentary The James Dean Story.Alfred Hitchcock was impressed, too. He offered Altman a contract but Bob elected to direct individual shows for him instead. For the next six years, Altman was one of television's busiest behind-the-camera talents. He wrote, produced and directed such shows as Roaring Twenties and Bonanza. In 1963 Altman formed his own motion-picture production company and began acquiring and developing properties. He directed Countdown and then directed That Cold Day In The Park. Producer Ingo Preminger then signed him to directed M.A.S.H.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller is another excellent film that helped define the era of film in the 1970's. The decade where "New Hollywood" is off and running. This movie has that authentic 70's feel and it's the slow burn western drama that you would expect to see in the late 1960's, early 1970's. The movie takes its time, but I found the film incredibly engaging because of the performances of Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. I loved the scenery shots of the film, and it really made the Pacific Northwest look beautiful. Another thing that stood out to me is the soundtrack made by the great Leonard Cohen, a gifted songwriter. His songs worked well with the film and it breathed more life into this western.Robert Altman's film is about a businessman named John McCabe who builds a whorehouse in a remote Western town. Soon after his new tavern is built, Mrs. Miller arrives and she offers herself as a business partner to McCabe's booming business. Soon after that, several businessmen arrives asking to buy McCabe's business, but his answer may bring consequences to himself, Mrs. Miller, and the whole town.Also prevalent in 70's movies are films that don't rely on big casts. This film is an example of that statement. The only two big name stars are Beatty and Andrews. They both are excellent, and both share on screen compatibility. I love how the film doesn't really push a romance between the two characters. There is no doubt a sense of affection and perhaps a tough love for each other, but no falling in love kind of thing. At least it wasn't obvious.Overall, McCabe and Mrs. Miller is a very impressive film. The film takes its time to tell the story and sometimes that is a cause of frustration. But I fell deeply in love with the characterization and I wanted to see what happens to both main characters. The tone is often gritty and dark, which I enjoyed. Once again, the film is just beautiful to look at, even without the technology used in today's film. Altman made himself noticeable with MASH, but he opened my eyes with McCabe and Mrs. Miller.My Grade: A-

Despite some horses and odd scenes of fighting, "Mccabe and Mrs.Miller" is not at all a western in the real sense of the word. It cannot be called a western in the traditional sense of the word as its motives are not similar to those of standard westerns. Those who prefer to call it a western ought to know that there are different types of western where the hero is not a hero. He is an ordinary man with certain strengths and weaknesses. In this film, Mccable is no ordinary man with just some ambitions. He has a business plan and a revenue model. Things change a lot when an experienced madam comes to the village. The muddy town setting of the film helps to give an air of authenticity but it must have created a lot of problems while shooting. For a film which deals with brothels, puritans might raise objection to a film about a small American town where people seem to be more interested in god, wine and brothels. For the end result, Altman chose to depict that the overconfidence is not at all good. There are times when even circumstances compel a macho man to collapse. Finally, it is evident that 'To call it a western or not to call it a western is a very vital query. This is something of an essential question which would be on the mind of every viewer who decides to watch American cinema's most intelligent director Robert Altman's classic film.

Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller is unlike any western movie I have ever seen before with a much diverse story to other western movies that I've seen. The movie focuses on John McCabe (played by Warren Beatty) a businessman who is planning on opening a saloon and meets a prostitute during construction named Constance Miller (played by Julie Christie) who then end up being business partners with the gambler McCabe owning the saloon and Mrs. Miller owning the house of prostitutes portion of it. It was a surprise to find out that this movie was shot in Vancouver Canada when I really thought that it was shot somewhere in South Dakota.The costumes to this movie are brilliant, as well as the cinematography, makeup, acting, gunfight scenes as well as the gambling scenes, acting, and Robert Altman's direction for the film, and the casting . One thing I find to be funny about Beatty's performance is that whenever he has a cigar in his mouth he sounds like Jimmy Stewart when he is in a western movie. The movie is just brilliant including the other stuff I just mentioned as well as the very good storytelling