Bow down to Robert Altman...

also directed by the man who gave us O.C. and Stiggs

3 Women, according to Altman, came to him in a dream. He and his son were sharing a bed while his wife was in the hospital when he said he saw the whole picture in his head, although not Millie's tuna salad recipe, unfortunately.

speaking of sharing a bed: the glimpse of Pinkie's parents (if they are her parents) in a clinch is one of the most unexpected and touching images I've ever seen in a movie.

the scene of them visiting her in hospital actually made me straight up cry

I saw two hourlong TV plays he did for cable in the '80s yesterday: Precious Blood, a two-hander he directed on the stage first, with a dual-narrator/protag format and good performances, one by Alfre Woodard; and a more filmic one with a contrived scenario, The Laundromat, with Carol Burnett and Amy Madigan. Both minor, both worth seeing once.

Finally watched Buffalo Bill. I was 15 when it came out, and I either saw Nashville that year or the next. It was probably in and out of theatres pretty quick. (Seems to have gotten a re-release of sorts in '79, although I'm sure I would have seen it then given the chance.)

Took a while to find its way, but in the end I liked it. Better than A Wedding, I'd say--it's very much in the Bicentennial moment, with lots of carry-over from Nashville in terms of its meditations on celebrity ("'the' show business") and hucksterism and, um, America. (Also some specific echoes: it begins with an American flag, and the one operatic interlude, with the camera taking in the reactions of everyone in the room, reminded me of Nashville's "I'm Easy" scene.) Newman and Lancaster are obviously having a great time, and Joel Grey's malapropisms (or whatever they are) are very inventive. (Among Altman regulars, the only guy who seemed lost was Allan Nicholls.) I've never seen Little Big Man, but Altman's treatment of Sitting Bull's end of the story seemed very empathetic.

Lester Bangs compared Newman's Buffalo Bill to Dylan on the '74 comeback tour w The Band, especially the acoustic set: presenting himself as a battered Americana show biz legend, in "full scraggle"(don't have his books at hand, but that last phrase was in there). Really comes across on Before The Flood's acoustic side, esp. the seedy speedy anxiety over the finish line of "It's Alright Ma".
Quintet, Newman's (only?) other movie with Altman, is worth seeing too: post-climate change community, filmed in Toronto (?) Winter Olympic Village, where an ultimately deadly game of Quintet is proceeding. *Something* of a Philip K. Dick The Man In The High Castle/Cronenberg existenz vibe, though sloggier than either: it is chilly, baby, and too reserved for most 70s viewers, but still worthy seeing for Altheads.

Full scraggle is apt.

I got 20 minutes into Quintet a few years ago, and it's still on the shelf. I've always intended to give it another try, just not sure when.

Newman and Altman were tight bros who apparently just weren't able to get another project together off the ground. In Altman On Altman, Bob mentions "a script about a bear" he had in development with the Weinstein's as a vehicle for Newman and Naomi Watts, but it got stalled because the Weinstein's didn't think Watts was bankable and wanted her off the project (obviously this was pre-Mulholland Drive). Altman wouldn't budge and told them if they wanted her out, they had to tell her themselves.

As I do with everything from the early-mid '70s, I was trying extract some meaning from Buffalo Bill through the prism of Nixon, missing the obvious--like Nashville, it looks towards Carter, the careful construction of folksy personas and myths. (Accidentally so, I would assume--Carter was probably still a blip when it was being filmed.)

When the film ends on the group shot of the entire Buffalo Bill troupe, I'm surprised Altman didn't underscore the film's dim view of American history by doing what one of the characters suggested: doctor the photo so that Sitting Bull and Halsey were moved over with the other "inujuns."

Finally got around to seeing the documentary. It was kinda not great. What a complete waste of access to so many of his collaborators ("Don't, like, tell us anything about actually working with Robert Altman. Just define 'Altmanesque' in five words or fewer and then stare knowingly into the camera for a few seconds."). I'm glad I've seen most of his films since they inexplicably decided to show the endings of so many of his films. The home movie footage and comentary from his wife were the only things that made it at all worthwhile. To the extent that a career-spanning retrospective might function as an enticement to those who might not be familiar with a particular artist, I doubt this thing netted many new Altman fans as it didn't really explore what made him special.

Yeah, that doc was super disappointing.

I kinda wish I'd followed my initial impulse to shut it off in the middle of the minutes-long initially contextless intro of two dudes building a sand castle...

I didn't hate it, but for sure it could have been a lot better. (I posted a somewhat tepid endorsement above.) It seemed like something that should have been in Ron Mann's comfort zone--rogue '60s guy--but it also felt like commissioned work. The one Mann film I like a lot is Dream Tower, about Toronto's Rochdale College.

Was just skimming the annual seniority list put out by the board I work for. We actually have a teacher with the surname McCabe-Miller (she seemingly gets a double listing, with another one under just her birth name above).

Clearly she married solely on the basis of surname.

So Brewster McCloud got a barebones Warner Archive blu-ray release this past week, and being a Houston kid I had to get it... Shelley Duvall is so awesome in it. Nothing but a trailer included, but the transfer is nice and this movie has been otherwise impossible for me to see!

does anyone have the Pret-a-Porter / Ready to Wear DVD? stretched so that the bottom third of the screen is black. authoring problem, issue with newer TVs? is this movie really any good anyway?

Deep Dive on O.C. & Stiggs...which was almost a Stallone or Mike Nichols film.

https://ocandstiggs.tumblr.com/

Just noticed that Netflix has California Split up (in what looks like the theatrical cut--Runtime 108 Minutes)

There was a rights issue with some of the songs, has that been solved?

That's hamstrung most home video releases (the DVD was recut by Altman himself) but apparently doesn't affect streaming, as the theatrical cut has also been available on Prime for a few years.

I haven't streamed it myself, but for whatever reason, Netflix was reportedly able to stream the theatrical version for years going back to 2009. More details here (as well as a list of the changes that had to be made and why):

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews21/california_split_dvd_review.htm

A quote from Altman in that link: "The cost of the music track on California Split was so high that Columbia just couldn't put it into video or DVD. That kept it out of circulation for years. Finally, Elliot Gould went in to find out why they weren't releasing it. When they told him it was because of music, he said "Isn't there something we can do about that?" So I made some cuts and took a couple of songs out. We got it into what they considered a reasonable budget. The picture wasn't hurt by it. And that's out now. It doesn't make any difference, the quality of these things. It's as good as anyone sees them..."

FWIW, Indicator (the UK label owned by Powerhouse) was going to do a deluxe Blu-ray edition for it, but they had to cancel the project long after announcing it due to the music rights issues. Basically it came down to the cost of licensing all the music (yet again), and they didn't have the budget for it - it would've been far more expensive than any title they've done and they didn't want to compromise by using the re-cut version that was put on the DVD.

I’m never sure if it’s bad luck or bad planning (or just premature announcement) that Indicator has but it feels like between that and Ishtar they’ve had some of the highest profile titles that just fell apart after a lot of legwork had already been put in

Haven't watched it for a few years, but what music is there in California Split? All I can remember is "Kansas City," done by the singer in Vegas (in flash-forward, I think--and Gould starts singing along with her as he crosses the street).

Fwiw, I c'n'p-d those notes from DVD Beaver upthread here: Bow down to Robert Altman...

Basically the problem is with the publishers of some of the songs Phyllis Shotwell sings, and a to lesser extent the rights holders for Cheech & Chong's "Basketball Jones" song and promo film.

Oddly enough, the latter appears in every edition of Ashby's Being There.

Phyllis Shotwell, right. And I forgot about "Basketball Jones" (off a TV, I think).

Self-xp

The song <and> video in Being There

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7Ainmmlvg

Of course, that animation is v.problematic.

From wiki:

"Basketball Jones" was originally seen in theaters in late 1973, before showings of Hal Ashby's The Last Detail at select screens. It can be seen during the 1974 film California Split, directed by Robert Altman, although its use in the film prevented California Split from being released on VHS or Laserdisc due to Columbia Pictures' refusal to pay royalties for the song. Altman later removed the song (but not the cartoon) from the film so it could be released on DVD.

Trying to find some record of whether Phyllis Shotwell is still alive. Highly doubtful, but can't find anything that says she isn't.

Detail from the wiki for A Perfect Couple:

The role of Sheila Shea was originally written for Sandy Dennis. Paul Dooley was seriously allergic to cats though, and when cat-lover Dennis would come to the script readings with up to five cats at a time, he was briefly hospitalized.

Dennis was phenomenal in both That Cold Day in the Park and Come Back to the Five and Dime…

She owned several dozen cats at the time of her death

And a joy in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Im thinking The Player might be the best movie about Hollywood. Now that's got a perfect Hollywood ending! Up!