I just bought and watched this newly remastered Blu-ray, from a 4K film scan of the original elements, which looks better than any other DVD or Blu-ray of Nashville that I’ve seen!
Nashville (1975) is the ultimate ensemble movie. It follows 24 quirky characters through 5 days in the country music capital of the world. Robert Altman’s Oscar winning epic presents a stunning portrayal of America’s obsession with celebrity, fame, and political power.
Altman’s cameras capture the various stars, wannabes, hangers-on, grifters, and media types including a politically ambitious country icon and his fragile star protégée, a self-absorbed rock star who woos a lonely married gospel singer while sleeping with other women, a talentless waitress who is painfully humiliated at her first singing gig, a runaway wife with dreams of stardom, and a campaign guru who is trying to organize a concert rally for a mysterious presidential candidate.
There’s a lot going on in Nashville, but my favorite scenes are the ones Geraldine Chaplin–claiming she’s with the BBC and working on a documentary–steals. Are you a fan of Nashville? GRADE: A
CAST:
- as Wade
- (as Robert Doqui)
- as Bill
- (as Allan Nicholls)
Nashville is my favorite Altman film. If I remember correctly, he just filmed the characters wandering around interacting with each other for hours, and put the story together in the editing room. However he did it, it works great.
On another topic, I’ve been giving away a bunch of sf books on file770.com. I planned on telling you guys when the offer went live, but it went live at 11 pm, and I don’t think anybody is hanging out here at 11 pm. Sorry it didn’t work out. You can go over there and see if anything interesting is left. So far, nobody has taken me up on my offer of random assortments of 1990s no-name thrillers, can’t imagine why. I didn’t even tell them that these were picked over at Malice Domestic for years, and these are the books nobody wanted there.
Jeff, what a generous way to dispense books to friends! Like you, I have stacks of boxes of books ready to donate. SUNY at Buffalo isn’t accepting book donations right now, but I’m hoping by the Fall, things might change.
Thanks, Jeff Smith, and I hope all the little boxes aren’t Too expensive or pesky to mail. The notion of perhaps a few out of Alice Sheldon’s library doesn’t make it any less attractive. Though my housemate might vociferously disagree. (Alice doesn’t see the beauty in lopsided piles of books leaning at odd angles on nearly all horizontal surfaces. I can’t understand it.)
I keep wondering if I should try to donate to Temple University’s library of SF and related material, with at least some my collection. Collections at mid/high 5 figures items are the definition of a blessing and a curse.
I am a fan of Nashville. Not my favorite Altman film, but right up there with his best. The Player would be my favorite followed by McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Next would be Nashville and The Long Goodbye.
Steve, I need to watch THE PLAYER again soon. THE LONG GOODBYE really blew my mind when I first saw it. Altman’s take is very different from Raymond Chandler’s!
And, as well as Altman’s, Leigh Brackett’s.
I’m a huge Altman fan, but NASHVILLE isn’t among my absolute favorites. McCABE & MRS MILLER tops my list, followed by THE LONG GOODBYE, THIEVES LIKE US, and the very weird THREE WOMEN. NASHVILLE would be in the runners up category with THE PLAYER. In fairness, I should say that I’ve seen all the others listed more recently than NASHVILLE.
Michael, now I need to go back and rewatch MCCABE & MRS. MILLER. You’re right about the weirdness of THREE WOMEN.
I like most of his films a lot but I have not seen this one since I saw it at a theater due to its length. Time for a rewatch. Boy, I wish they used photos from the time on IMDB rather than current ones.
Patti, I agree with you on the photos. I expected cast photos from the movie (or that time period), not current photos.
No. I’ve always thought Altman was overrated and NASHVILLE didn’t do it for me at the time. I might well have a different opinion now if I watched it again.
Jeff, NASHVILLE is a odd film. When I first saw it back in the 1970s, it confused me. So random! Later, after a couple of viewings on DVD, NASHVILLE started to make a lot more sense.
Altman in his later work…most of his work…loved doing films soaked in a single profession or project. NASHVILLE is great, but I haven’t watched it through in decades.
My favorite “forgotten” Altman is the long-form cut of his KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATER episode adapting William McGivern’s DEATH ON THE TURNPIKE…the episode cut was titled “Once Upon a Savage Night” and the longform cut, theatrically in Europe and sold as a tv movie in syndication in the US, as NIGHTMARE IN CHICAGO. Restoration is called for with the surviving prints. Altman did a fair amount of interesting tv work before his cinematic career took off. You can see the beaten-up copies of both edits on YouTube and like whenever they’re not taken down.
https://youtu.be/Mh0Ovo6qznM NIGHTMARE
and the KRAFT /”Savage” cut doesn’t seem to be available…though if I look for other forms of the SUSPENSE series’ name, I might find the shorter cut. Anthony Boucher, of course, was on staff for that series.
Todd, thanks for the links. Altman had a successful career before he started making movies.
I just popped over the File770 to look at Jeff Smith’s giveaway (like I need more books) and ended up falling down the rabbit hole of a story of some guy who got permanently banned from Twitter—even though I never heard of the guy and am not on Twitter. Such is my day on sick leave.
As for NASHVILLE, I think it’s a bit overrated. I liked THE PLAYER much more. The girls watched GOSFORD PARK for the first time a few weeks ago and they kept complaining about the way multiple conversations were taking place. “Oh, that was Altman’s stock in trade,” I assured them. Although I’m not a huge fan of THE LONG GOODBYE, I love how Altman used various versions of the title song throughout the movie.
Deb, I read that story of the guy who got banned from Twitter on File770.com, too. I liked GOSFORD PARK even though it has a faux-DOWNTON ABBEY feel to it.
I don’t watch movies with Cockeyed Karen Black in them!
Bob, I liked Karen Black in Hitchcock’s last movie, FAMILY PLOT.