Archive of films McCabe & Mrs. Miller / McCabe & Mrs. Miller

USA
1971, 120 min

Section: New Hollywood II
Year: 2008

It is the turn of the 20th century and former gambler McCabe and seasoned “Madam” Miller run a prosperous brothel in an inhospitable mining town in the American West. Warren Beatty and Julie Christie star in Robert Altman’s legendary elegiac anti-western, rounded off with the captivating ballads of Leonard Cohen.

Synopsis

It’s 1901 and a stranger called John Q. McCabe (Warren Beatty) arrives in a rain-drenched mining town at the foot of wooded hills. The former gambler opens a brothel in the inhospitable-looking settlement that turns into prosperous business when seasoned prostitute and later a business partner, Constance Miller (Julie Christie), is brought in. One day, however, representatives of a large mining company take an interest in buying McCabe’s fulfilled dream. The proud entrepreneur refuses, and it is only a question of time before unscrupulous hired guns arrive. The conventional theme served as Robert Altman’s starting point for his now legendary overhaul of the western genre. While the emphasis on the psychology of the characters follows up on Anthony Mann and Sam Peckinpah, the melancholy hero is reminiscent of Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or Jarmusch’s Dead Man. Leonard Cohen’s captivating ballads and cinematography recalling the photography of the period amplify the elegiac tone of this “autumnal” western, while panoramic long shots of characters blending with their environment and multilayered sound heighten the realism of this, one of the most significant films of the 1970s.

About the director

Robert Altman (b. 1925, Kansas City - 2006, Los Angeles), entered public consciousness with his black comedy M.A.S.H. (1970). One of his most successful films is a sarcastic criticism of Hollywood machinations, The Player (1992). He is the creator of more than three dozen feature films, important among which are his “group portraits” with star-studded casting such as Nashville (1975), A Wedding (1978), Short Cuts (1993), Prêt-à-Porter (1994), Kansas City (1996) and Gosford Park (2001). Altman’s revisionary takes on film genres were made primarily during the New Hollywood period, such as the gangster film Thieves Like Us (1974), the westerns McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) and Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976), and the Chandleresque crime noir The Long Goodbye (1973). Altman was nominated five times for the Oscar for Best Director, and in his final years was presented with the Academy’s Honorary Award.

Contacts

Hollywood Classics
Suite 31, Beaufort Court, Admirals Way, E14 9XL, London
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 207 517 7525
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.hollywoodclassics.com

About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	New Hollywood II

Director:	Robert Altman
Screenplay:	Robert Altman, Brian McKay podle románu / based on the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton
Dir. of Photography:	Vilmos Zsigmond
Music:	Leonard Cohen
Editor:	Lou Lombardo
Producer:	David Foster, Mitchell Brower
Production:	David Foster Productions, Warner Brothers
Cast:	Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine
Contact:	Hollywood Classics

Guests

Geraldine Higgins

Melanie Tebb

Vilmos Zsigmond

Director of Photography