Bow down to Robert Altman...

reagan was in some pretty decent movies! he's by no means the best thing about them, though.

Short Cuts was as strong as ever for me; I'd probably rank it third along with McCabe. There are so many moments and scenes that are on the short-list of Altman's greatest. My favourite serious one is where Lyle Lovett softens when he learns of the boy's death. Best comedic, probably Buck Henry and Lili Taylor picking up their photos.

Kael and Marcus have both written about what they see as the film's weakest character: Lemmon for Kael, Annie Ross for Marcus. I don't mind Lemon. He's too Lemony, I agree, especially as he recounts his long story, but the character's credible. (I seem to remember that Kael singles out his exit as especially annoying--I think that's his best moment.)

More inclined to agree about Annie Ross. Her songs are shrill, and the scene of her on the floor drinking after her daughter's suicide is the film's worst, I think.

The rest of the performances are all uniformly good-to-great.

Only those who have watched an edit of the film that completely deletes Andie MacDowell get to pick anyone other cast member as the weakest link.

No...she plays that character perfectly.

So does Annie Ross iirc.

Knew next to nothing about the radio show going into A Prairie Home Companion, other than I knew what Garrison Keillor looked and sounded like. Anyway, I guess it was an honorable film for Altman to go out on, and I liked bits of it here and there, but I was on the outside looking in for the duration. Didn't like the Kevin Kline framing device; Virginia Madsen worked a little better for me, especially the resonance of the final shot when viewed in context. Harrelson and Reilly are pretty entertaining, and Lindsay Lohan, who I only know as a cultural joke, is quite good.

There wouldn't be any tragedy to Lohan's story if she weren't a good, sometimes even great actress.

http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/2014/08/robin-williams-popeye

Kino has Blurays of The Long Goodbye & Thieves Like Us out later this year

NYC MoMA to show everything

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/1525

Wow--better than what we got here, which amounted to a dozen films. Make sure to see Nightmare in Chicago, which I was able to catch on TV once.

ive never seen Countdown, Quintet, A Perfect Couple... and prob go to a few more I've only seen once, I guess.

The Altman documentary is a conventional film-by-film overview, but I still recommend seeing it. Lots of interview voice-over with Altman; the narration's about half him and half his wife. The linking bit of having various Altman actors define "Altmanesque" didn't work so well for me. The filmography seemed complete, except for the omission of The James Dean Story and Nightmare in Chicago. Not sure where Mann got the audio of Kael reading her McCabe & Mrs. Miller review (I guess there's an audio book of one of her collections?). Sad at the end, of course.

MoMA NYC has announced its Altman retro offerings for December, and the curios are curious. Jukebox videos! That "Combat" episode! Fabian as a psycho killer! A 1956 industrial popcorn musical! Is any of the TV stuff on discs as supplements?

TELEVISION PROGRAM 2
“A Lion Walks Among Us” (from Bus Stop)
1961. Directed by Robert Altman. Teleplay by Ellis Kadison, from the novel The Judgment, by Tom Wicker. With Fabian, Diane Foster, Richard Anderson, Philip Abbott. The director’s presentation of pop star Fabian as a psychopathic murderer was so provocative in its day that it led to a Congressional Investigation of violence in broadcast television. 60 min.
“Together” (from Alfred Hitchcock Presents)
1958. Directed by Robert Altman. Teleplay by Robert C. Dennis. With Joseph Cotton, Christine White, Sam Buffington. This melodrama about a murderer trapped with his victim might be viewed as a rehearsal for the self-imposed containment of a President confronting his misdemeanors in Altman’s Secret Honor. 30 min.

Corn’s-A-Poppin’
1956. Directed by Robert Woodburn. Screenplay by Woodburn, Altman. Altman cowrote this independent musical comedy, directed and performed by colleagues from the Calvin Company in his hometown of Kansas City. This low-budget affair, about a popcorn executive, the ensemble cast of the show he sponsors, and a conniving competitor, is replete with the social satire and dramatic deadpan that would become Altman’s trademark. Restored by the Northwest Chicago Film Society, with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation. 58 min.

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/1525

Oh, fantastic. I just recently got the first five seasons of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Didn't realize I had an Altman episode to look forward to.

well, don't expect overlapping dialogue.

^^That's one of the wonders of Secret Honor--Altman manages to Baker-Hall to overlap with himself.

Boo to the omission of Jazz '34, Kansas City, and Pret-a-Porter.

Can someone tell me about HealtH, Countdown, Corn's-a-Poppin', Buffalo Bill and the Indians, Quintet, That Cold Day in the Park, A Perfect Couple, and/or Fool for Love?

I feel like I've seen Buffalo Bill, but can't remember

corn's a poppin' looks unreal btw

Quintet is terrible, like a bad episode of battlestar galactica

Is that the sci-fi one with Paul Newman? If so, yeah, didn't even finish it.

Buffalo Bill is maybe his funniest film, sort of presents William Cody as the vainglorious Johnny Carson/Larry Sanders/opera diva of his milieu; Newman v wacky.

HealtH I remember being a watchable minor work; def not surprised it was beyond President Reagan's grasp.

Fool for Love I thought was meh at the time, dunno if it was botched as I'd never seen the Shepard play.

Boo to the omission of Jazz '34, Kansas City, and Pret-a-Porter.

The series continues through the first half of January, sched not yet posted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzejNljcss0

A Perfect Couple is this weird hybrid Romantic Comedy/Concert Film/Musical. You can get a good sense of it by looking at the trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doxVbo9Z9G8

complete NYC MoMA retro schedule now up, thru Jan 17

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/1525

Holy cow. That'd comprise the next 1.5 months of my life if I lived in NYC. HealtH!

And another Altman biography. Do I need to read another Altman biography? I suspect I might.

Countdown gets much better when James Caan leaves for the moon. Duvall is good, but then he almost always is.

(The NASA press liaison is played by a pre-"Hi guys" Ted Knight, which retrospectively ruins all those scenes.)

Of course I can't make Jazz/KC. Maybe I'll take time off.

seeing Images and TLG over the weekend

Images was a chore. Lots of portentous shots of Susannah York through glass beads and shit.

sez you!

Images is no match for 3 Women.

John Simon called out Susannah Yorke for being in "an unfortunate period of pregnancy" (or something along those lines) in her Images nude scene.

Images is clearly a precursor to 3 Women though. Sure it's a half-failed variation on Repulsion, but I like York, and Ireland.

what was really annoying is that the principal characters have the names of other actors in the cast. cutesy.

Shared by Criterion on FB today...

https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10377540_10155004409535565_8755197253931025184_n.jpg?oh=860c321f19726ff9aee54f180ccbf6c2&oe=5508B0B9

My fancy friends invited me up/got me tickets for "Nashville" and "3 Women" at MoMA this weekend. "Nashville" was fine but "3 Women" which I haven't seen in years was so wonderful

I still like 3W .. up til those last 5 minutes.

went to The Long Goodbye w/ my friend and his teen son (it's his fave movie). It was my first time seeing it since hiking up to Marlowe's apartment in Hollywood Heights. There's only one real good shot of the lengthy stairs, when Gould runs down them after Mark Rydell leaves with his coterie and wounded girlfriend.

I had to bag A Perfect Couple when i got a late party invite, but it's on DVD.

I plan to watch The Long Goodbye and Inherent Vice back to back

Fortunately the MoMA print of TLG was excellent; Images had faded, brownishly.

Nashville and 3W both looked wonderful

Also, I learned that the MomA theatergoer is... a very particular type of theatergoer (blech! ptooh!)

They are legendary, you got off easy if no one punched you or was eating plums.

Saw Kansas City for the first time tonight; lovely print. My fave performance was Miranda Richardson's, with some blissfully dazed line readings; J J Leigh was committed but a little shticky, and Belafonte was an appropriately feral Mr Big. Production designed and jazzed up the wazoo, but a little wanting in the drama department.

Hal Willner spoke beforehand, admitting to serving as musical supervisor while totally "loaded -- the end of a 20-year run." He was sitting directly behind me with Altman's widow and Annie Ross.

Steve Buscemi also did an intro, mentioned Bob glowering at him because he was shooting video of him at work.

Annie Ross? Is she in it?

I forgot, she was in Short Cuts. Last time I went to see her at the Metropolitan Room she was in a terrible mood.

ah, i've never seen her live. She was dressed like an 84-year-old jazz star last night though. Colorful ensemble.

committed but schticky is JJL's MO.

Belafonte is v good in that role, idk his acting career v well, anything else of note?