Robert Altman (1925-2006)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Robert Altman -- the director of such acclaimed films as M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park -- died today in Los Angeles at the age of 81. Although I found The Player and especially Short Cuts vastly overrated, and some of his work mediocre, M*A*S*H remains a powerful anti-war statement, as well as the basis for a fantastic TV show, Gosford Park is an exceptional reworking of Renoir's classic The Rules of the Game, and Nashville... what can I say about Nashville? Except that I rank it among the greatest films of all time and as one of my favourites, a vast, sprawling look at over 24 lives intersecting over five days in Nashville in the mid-'70s, complex, profound, deeply humane. Perhaps no better film has ever been made about America.

For more, I recommend "Ebert's Altman Home Companion," compiled by Jim Emerson at Ebert's website. It includes reviews and interviews, all a reminder of what made Altman such a great and influential director.