You love it or you hate it. Or in my case, I love it AND I hate it.
I mentioned romance, and even in this regard the film is nontraditional. McCabe falls for Mrs. Miller, as you might expect, but he pays her each time he beds her down. These are cold individuals in cold unexploited territory. They don't even mine for gold or silver in Presbyterian Church. They mine for zinc. How simple and unpolished can you get? To do it up in true Altman fashion, the director brings in some of his regulars like Rene Auberjonois, John Schuck, Shelley Duvall, and Michael Murphy. With William Devane thrown in, it's a good cast all the way around. It's a shame both Beatty's and Christie's characters are so one-dimensional, played so well on a single note. It would have been interesting to see where these actors could have taken their characters had they been allowed to develop them beyond mere caricatures.
As with most of Altman's films, the dialogue and even the action often seem improvised, and the narrative roams all over the place. The movie is over two hours long and conveys a one-hour story. It ambles leisurely along at its own pace, attempting to be lyrical in the style of the Cohen tunes. While this may enrapture some viewers, it can get mighty tiresome, mighty fast to others like me. As usual, Altman is never in any hurry to tell his story, while, in truth, there isn't a whole lot of story in "McCabe" to tell. The last half hour is worthwhile in a "High Noon" sort of way, but it's a long time coming.
Video:
The look of the picture is so extraordinary that it's difficult assessing how much of its appearance Altman designed and how much is attributable to a poor disc transfer. I'm guessing the film looks on disc about as good as it did in a theater, which is not saying much. The intentionally dull, blurred, often grainy, soft-focus photography, with its dark, murky interior shots hardly give one much to evaluate. Frankly, it looks awful, just as the director probably intended. At one point at about thirty-eight minutes in, however, there is a definite deterioration of the film stock that results in several momentarily distracting frames. Be aware. The high point of the video presentation? An ample, 2.35:1 ratio widescreen image that fittingly captures the scope of the landscape, the old town, and its varied structures.
Audio:
Everything about the monaural soundtrack is pretty ragged except for Cohen's songs. Dialogue is often so obscured by distortion--purposeful again, I suppose--that it's hard to tell what everyone is saying. Voices are harsh, nasal, raspy. I suggest your turning the volume up quite a bit to hear what's going on. Beatty's mumbling during the first half of the film doesn't help, either, nor does some background noise that comes and goes.
Extras:
Among the several supplemental items on the disc is a full-feature audio commentary with director Robert Altman and producer David Foster. It's informative if somewhat dry. Then there's a ten-minute, behind-the-scenes documentary made at what looks like the time of the film's production and details the authenticity of the set designs. Next are some thirty-three scene selections and a few pieces of cast and crew information. The widescreen theatrical trailer that concludes the bonus bundle is noticeably clearer in picture quality and more distinct than the movie itself. Maybe it was meant to better lure moviegoers into the theater. English and French are the spoken languages available, with English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese for subtitles.
Parting Shots:
I'm sorry I can't wax more rhapsodic over this admittedly poetic reverie of the Old West, but I found it overlong and occasionally redundant. I admire "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" as a rugged, unromanticized glimpse at early frontier life, peopled by the lonely men and women who struggled through hard times to conquer and civilize their world. I also admire Altman for establishing a good sense of community among his many players. And I found parts of the movie intriguing, a series of small haunting impressions that steadfastly remain in memory. But I thought it could all have probably taken less time to unfold. As I said, "McCabe" is a good film to see once, but I can't imagine myself wanting to sit through it too often, too soon.
As with most of Altman's films, the dialogue and even the action often seem improvised, and the narrative roams all over the place. The movie is over two hours long and conveys a one-hour story. It ambles leisurely along at its own pace, attempting to be lyrical in the style of the Cohen tunes. While this may enrapture some viewers, it can get mighty tiresome, mighty fast to others like me. As usual, Altman is never in any hurry to tell his story, while, in truth, there isn't a whole lot of story in "McCabe" to tell. The last half hour is worthwhile in a "High Noon" sort of way, but it's a long time coming.
Video:
The look of the picture is so extraordinary that it's difficult assessing how much of its appearance Altman designed and how much is attributable to a poor disc transfer. I'm guessing the film looks on disc about as good as it did in a theater, which is not saying much. The intentionally dull, blurred, often grainy, soft-focus photography, with its dark, murky interior shots hardly give one much to evaluate. Frankly, it looks awful, just as the director probably intended. At one point at about thirty-eight minutes in, however, there is a definite deterioration of the film stock that results in several momentarily distracting frames. Be aware. The high point of the video presentation? An ample, 2.35:1 ratio widescreen image that fittingly captures the scope of the landscape, the old town, and its varied structures.
Audio:
Everything about the monaural soundtrack is pretty ragged except for Cohen's songs. Dialogue is often so obscured by distortion--purposeful again, I suppose--that it's hard to tell what everyone is saying. Voices are harsh, nasal, raspy. I suggest your turning the volume up quite a bit to hear what's going on. Beatty's mumbling during the first half of the film doesn't help, either, nor does some background noise that comes and goes.
Extras:
Among the several supplemental items on the disc is a full-feature audio commentary with director Robert Altman and producer David Foster. It's informative if somewhat dry. Then there's a ten-minute, behind-the-scenes documentary made at what looks like the time of the film's production and details the authenticity of the set designs. Next are some thirty-three scene selections and a few pieces of cast and crew information. The widescreen theatrical trailer that concludes the bonus bundle is noticeably clearer in picture quality and more distinct than the movie itself. Maybe it was meant to better lure moviegoers into the theater. English and French are the spoken languages available, with English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese for subtitles.
Parting Shots:
I'm sorry I can't wax more rhapsodic over this admittedly poetic reverie of the Old West, but I found it overlong and occasionally redundant. I admire "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" as a rugged, unromanticized glimpse at early frontier life, peopled by the lonely men and women who struggled through hard times to conquer and civilize their world. I also admire Altman for establishing a good sense of community among his many players. And I found parts of the movie intriguing, a series of small haunting impressions that steadfastly remain in memory. But I thought it could all have probably taken less time to unfold. As I said, "McCabe" is a good film to see once, but I can't imagine myself wanting to sit through it too often, too soon.
Average user rating (1-5):
Not yet rated.
Not yet rated.
[release]10398[/release]