Set in 1928 Kansas, the film revolves around a relationship between a working class girl and a young rich boy who fall in love and want to take the next step into their relationship yet expectations and pressures from their parents about their individual futures and such would drive the couple apart and into chaos. It is a film that explores young love between two high school kids who are devoted to each other yet both of them are from different social statuses despite attending the same high school as well as their parents wanting to do something for their futures as well as wanting to keep them together. William Inge’s screenplay is largely straightforward as it opens with Wilma Dean “Deanie” Loomis (Natalie Wood) and Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty) making out in his car as the latter wants to go forward but the former is reluctant for the relationship to be sexual. Still, the two want to maintain a relationship with Stamper wanting to marry Deanie in the future yet his father Ace Stamper (Pat Hingle) has plans for him to take over the family business even though Bud knows he doesn’t have the grades to go to Yale.
While Deanie lives comfortably despite her being over-protected by her mother (Audrey Christie), she is eager to become Stamper’s wife though is still reluctant to lose her virginity while also having to watch the dysfunctional world that is Stamper’s family. Notably as his older sister Ginny (Barbara Loden) has returned home from Chicago from an annulled marriage as well as a getting an abortion done, which was illegal at the time, where she becomes a source of discord for the family. Even as her behavior would create gossip with Ace wanting to focus more on Bud’s future where he convinces Bud to break up Deanie temporarily as the result would be chaotic with Deanie becoming erratic over its break-up. The two would endure their own separate journeys where Stamper deals with the futility of expectations while Deanie goes on her own journey to discover herself.
Elia Kazan’s direction is evocative in not just the richness of its compositions but also in its overall presentation as it plays into a world where parents are expecting this great future emerging just a year before the Crash of 1929 that lead to the Great Depression. Shot largely at the Filmways Studios in New York City with exterior locations shot on Staten Island and High Falls, New York, Kazan creates a film that plays into a period in time where Prohibition was still happening though the rich were able to get alcohol through some illegal means and get away with it. Even as Kazan shows how Ace Stamper is able to get alcohol in those times as he is a rich man with oil wells and cattle ranches where he wants Bud to run these things in the future though Bud is more interested in just wanting to run a ranch. Kazan plays into this sense of generational gap involving Deanie and Bud against the expectations of their parents as Kazan’s unique compositions in his close-ups and medium shots play into the melodrama and dramatic suspense.
There are some wide shots in Kazan’s direction in the way he films scenes in Kansas including this waterfall area for the film’s first scene as well as a couple of key moments that would play into the Deanie and Bud’s dissolution. Kazan also maintains this air of sexual innuendo in the way Ginny presents herself as well as a scene of Deanie in a bathtub as she is talking to her mother as she would act erratically over what happened with Bud. It would play into this third act of Bud and Deanie living separate lives but also confront their own issues with themselves but also gain an understanding of what their parents want. Notably as Bud’s time in Yale produces poor results in a scene with him, his father, and Yale’s dean (Kermit Murdock) where Kazan definitely shows who is running the conversation as that person is starting to unravel with Bud caught in the middle. Its ending refers to a poem by William Wordsmith that Deanie struggled to read and comprehend in its second act as it would return as a way to express what she and Bud had endured but also the choices they would make as adults. Overall, Kazan crafts an intoxicating and exhilarating film about high school sweethearts whose love life is disrupted by the demands of adulthood and the expectations of their families.
Cinematographer Boris Kaufman does amazing work with the film’s cinematography in the richness of the daytime exterior locations as well as the usage of lights for some of the interior scenes at night along with an emphasis on low-key lighting for the exterior scenes at night. Editor Gene Milford does excellent work with the editing as it is largely straightforward with some rhythmic cuts to play into the melodrama as well as some lighthearted moments in the film. Production designer Richard Sylbert and set decorator Gene Callahan do brilliant work with the interiors of the Loomis family home in its simple yet classy style that is a sharp contrast to the way more refined world of the Stamper family estate with all of its bigger rooms and such. Costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone does fantastic work with the costumes with the dresses that the women wear being a highlight including some of the clothes that Deanie would wear later in her life as well as the raunchy clothes that Ginny wears.
Hairdresser Willis Hanchett and makeup artist Robert Jiras do terrific work with the hairstyles that the women wear at the time including Deanie’s hairstyle in the film’s first and second act as well as a more refined look in the third act. Sound editor Frank Lewin does superb work with the sound in the way waterfall sounds from its location up-close and from afar as well as the way a room is presented in its location. The film’s music by David Amram is incredible for its jazz-like score that features some saxophone and piano to play into the melodrama and romance that includes some orchestral flourishes with a soundtrack filled with the music of the times.
The film’s marvelous ensemble cast feature some notable small roles and appearances from Ivor Francis as Deanie’s psychiatrist Dr. Judd, screenwriter William Inge as the local pastor Reverend Whitman, Kermit Murdock as the dean of Yale in Dean Pollard, Phyllis Diller in her film debut as the famed performer Texas Guinan, Martine Bartlett as the school literature teacher Miss Metcalf, the duo of Sandy Dennis and Crystal Field as two of Deanie’s friends in Kay and Hazel, Charles Robinson in an un-credited performance as a young man that Deanie meets in a hospital in John, Gary Lockwood as a friend/teammate of Bud in Toots, Jan Norris as a slutty classmate of Deanie in Juanita Howard, and John McGovern as Doc Smiley who becomes concerned for Bud’s health following a collapse at a basketball game while also believing that Bud is being put into a lot of pressure from his father. Joanna Roos is wonderful as Bud and Ginny’s mother who is supportive of Bud’s relationship with Deanie though she has great concerns over her husband’s ambitions and the pressure he put on their son. Fred Stewart is superb as Deanie’s father Del Loomis as a man who runs a small shop next to the house as he is this low-key person that doesn’t try to cause trouble while is also doing what he can to make Deanie feel happy as he would also feel that his wife is smothering her.
Zohra Lampert is fantastic as Angelina as this young Italian immigrant that Bud meets in Yale as she would help him see things differently as well as be an important person to him later in his life. Audrey Christie is excellent as Deanie’s mother who is protective of Deanie as she also sees her as a young girl as she unknowingly would smother her as it would add to Deanie’s emotional and mental troubles. Barbara Loden is brilliant as Bud’s older sister Ginny as this young woman who likes to push her father’s buttons as well as be this ultimate rebel though it would also put her in danger including an attempted rape on her as she’s also gained notoriety for all of the wrong reasons. Pat Hingle is amazing as Bud’s father Ace Stamper as this rich oilman who expects so much from Bud to succeed him as he talks a lot while also making some bad suggestions as he would help play a role in Bud and Deanie’s break-up as he is really a complex man that is severely flawed and tries to control so many things in his life.
Finally, there’s the duo of Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood in tremendous performances in their respective roles as Bud Stamper and Deanie Loomis. Beatty in his debut performance has all of the attributes of a high school sports star in terms of its physiques and looks yet it is Beatty’s vulnerability that makes Bud compelling to watch as someone who is aware of his flaws and shortcomings as well as the fact that he doesn’t have his father’s ambitions. Wood exudes a radiance in her performance as a young woman that has an air of innocence but is also someone who had been too sheltered leading to an emotional breakdown and issues that would allow her to act out where Wood brings in that intensity to a young woman that is unraveling. Beatty and Wood together have this amazing chemistry as a young couple in love but one of them wants to get more physical but other isn’t willing as it causes problems with Ace getting involved as it adds to the drama as the two are a major highlight to watch.
Splendor in the Grass is an outstanding film from Elia Kazan that features great leading performances from Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. Along with its supporting ensemble cast, wondrous visuals, a fiery music score, and a story of young love and the expectations of adulthood. It is a film that explores two young people wanting to devote their love for one another only to cope with life changes and the move into adulthood as well as the demanding hopes of their parents. In the end, Splendor in the Grass is magnificent film from Elia Kazan.
Elia Kazan Films: (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) – (The Sea of Grass) – (Boomerang!) – (Gentleman’s Agreement) – (Pinky) – (Panic in the Streets) – A Streetcar Named Desire - (Viva Zapata!) – (Man on a Tightrope) – On the Waterfront - East of Eden – (Baby Doll) – (A Face in the Crowd) – (Wild River) – (America America) – (The Arrangement) – (The Visitors (1972 film)) – (The Last Tycoon)
© thevoid99 2024
Based on the novel Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed, Reds is the story of John Reed’s account of the Russian Revolution as he begins an affair with socialite Louise Bryant who joins him in taking part of the revolution. Directed by Warren Beatty and screenplay by Beatty and Trevor Griffiths, the film is an exploration into the world of the Russian Revolution as it is told by those who survived the Revolution as well as dramatic accounts of Reed’s coverage as he is played by Beatty with Diane Keaton as Bryant. Also starring Edward Herrmann, Maureen Stapleton, Jerzy Kosinski, Paul Sorvino, Nicolas Coster, Gene Hackman, and Jack Nicholson as Eugene O’Neill. Reds is an enthralling yet evocative film from Warren Beatty.
Set in the span of five years with interviews from those who lived during a tumultuous period in world history, the film is the story about the life of the journalist John Reed who tries to make a difference where he and his then-wife Louise Bryant would witness the Russian Revolution in 1917 where he would later try to create a similar revolution in the U.S. It’s a film that is sort of a rise-and-fall story where John Reed wants to do something in the world of socialism as he and several intellects want to do something for the workers while living a carefree lifestyle with Bryant who would later join him and become part of his world. Yet, it’s also a love story between these two from the moment they meet in his hometown of Portland, Oregon in 1915 where she aspires to be a journalist to his death in 1920 in Russia. All of which plays into two people wanting to make a difference for a better world where they eventually realize that it’s not as easy as they think it is.
The film’s screenplay by Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths, with additional contributions by Elaine May and Robert Towne, explores how Bryant and Reed met where it was merely by accident as Bryant heard of Reed through his work as a journalist as she is a socialite married to a dentist that has become bored of her world. After a series of gatherings, Bryant goes to New York City where she is introduced to Reed’s circle of friends and intellects that include the playwright Eugene O’Neill, Max Eastman (Edward Herrmann), and the renowned anarchist Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton). Bryant would be overwhelmed by these people but eventually would come into her own despite some issues with Reed as she feels like she doesn’t fit in. While their relationship had complications often due to Reed’s willingness to do something for the socialist movement in America with Bryant often being on her own where she would have an affair with O’Neill.
The first act would be about Bryant and Reed’s affair and their marriage where they try to have a normal life but things get troubled because of Reed’s frequent absences to cover things like the 1916 election and taking part in activist meetings. The second act would be about their time in Russia where Reed would write his seminal book as Bryant would find a role in giving lectures as the two believe they’ve done something where Reed goes from being a successful writer to trying to succeed in the world of politics where he tries to do something for an American communist party. Even as he would find himself sparing with other members about motives where he goes to Russia in the hope to get some endorsement. Instead, the third act represents Reed’s fall where he is stuck in Russia as he goes to the country illegally while unaware of the tension that is going on between Russia and Finland over ideals as well as the former’s own view of what communism should be prompting Bryant to make her journey to enter Russia illegally that would add a lot of the drama that occurs in the third act.
Beatty’s direction is quite vast as he would create something that is very offbeat in terms of its narrative structure as well as how he would dramatize these events and the real people involved. While his presentation with the interviews of the people such as the novelist Henry Miller, Roger Nash Baldwin, and many other people who were witnesses to these events that Reed and Bryant are simple. Even as they help set up certain stories about the two along with some gossip about what Reed and Bryant were doing as many of Beatty’s images sort of create images that look like paintings but also compositions that are rich and intoxicating. Most notably the scenes in New York and parts of Great Britain as the east coast to play into a time of innocence but also the desire for change as there’s some Americans who oppose going into World War I as they believe it’s all about profit.
For the scenes set in Russia, much of it is shot in Finland as well as a few locations in Spain and Sweden where it plays into a world that is quite big. Notably as Beatty takes great usage of the wide shots for a few scenes of conflict along with large images of rallies and marches that went on in Russia. There is something that feels grand in these scenes but once the film returns to Russia amidst a fallout over American communists disagreeing about what to do. The film does change where it is not just about the fallacies of revolutions but also why communism in America would never work as it would force Reed to see that as well as deal about what is more important as it relates to Bryant. Even as Bryant would go into her own journey to travel to Russia which would be just as adventurous as Reed’s which shows how much they love each other and why that love is more important than some revolution. Overall, Beatty creates an absolutely sensational and entrancing film about John Reed’s life and his love for Louise Bryant.
Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro does incredible work with the film‘s photography as it plays into a sense of naturalistic lighting schemes for some of the interiors and some of the daytime scenes along with its lush usage of lights for some scenes and some stylish filter shots to play into some of the exteriors set at night as it is one of the film‘s major highlights. Editors Dede Allen and Craig McKay do excellent work with the editing with its back-and-forth cutting style with the interviews and the dramatization as well as some rhythmic cuts for the action and dramatic moments in the film. Production designer Richard Sylbert, with set decorator Michael Sierton and art director Simon Holland, does amazing work with the design of some of the places in Russia from the palaces in its pre-revolution settings to the look of the apartments in its post-revolution as well as the homes in America where Reed and Bryant lived in.
Costume designer Shirley Ann Russell does fantastic work with the costumes to display what American socialites wore in the late 1910s as well as the more ragged look of the Russians during the post-revolution days. Sound editor Richard P. Cirincione does superb work with the sound to capture some of the sound work that goes on at the meetings as well as quieter moments though the highlight of the sound editing is in the way the recollections of the people interviewed are used in some of the scenes in the film. The film’s music by Stephen Sondheim and Dave Grusin is brilliant with Sondheim providing some old-school rag-time and jazz music to play into the period of the times while Grusin would bring in some orchestral pieces to play into the drama and action.
The casting by Noel Davis and Patsy Pollock is wonderful as it features notable small appearances from M. Emmet Walsh as a liberal party speaker, Roger Sloman as Vladimir Lenin, Oleg Kerensky as Alexander Kerensky, Stuart Richman as Leon Trotsky, George Plimpton as newspaper editor Horace Whigham, Nicholas Coster as Louise’s first husband Paul Trullinger, Harry Ditson as the political artist Maurice Becker, Max Wright as the literary critic Floyd Dell, William Daniels as a socialist party leader in Julius Gerber, and Gene Hackman in a small yet terrific performance as newspaper editor Peter Van Wherry. Paul Sorvino is excellent as an Italian founder of the American Communist party in Louis C. Fraina who wants to do something for the party but has a hard time trying to get things in order due to the demands of others including Reed.
Jerzy Kosinski is superb as Bolshevik leader Grigory Zinoviev who is trying to instill his idea of socialism as he would have conflicts with Reed over how loyal he is towards the revolution. Edward Herrmann is fantastic as Max Eastman as a friend of Reed who also is part of a socialist movement until things go a little too far as he decides to walk away from the movement. Maureen Stapleton is amazing as Emma Goldman as the renowned and outspoken anarchist who is against America’s participation in World War I as she wants socialism to come to America where she is later exiled to Russia where she becomes disillusioned with their ideas of socialism. Jack Nicholson is brilliant as Eugene O’Neill as the playwright who begins an affair with Bryant as he is a man of passion and care while he copes with wanting to be something for Bryant that Reed couldn’t be as he would later help her in the third act.
Diane Keaton is phenomenal as Louise Bryant as a socialite who aspires to write as she befriends Reed and later becomes his wife where she gets caught up in his world where Keaton brings a lot of weight and charisma to her performance. Finally, there’s Warren Beatty in a remarkable performance as John Reed as a journalist who is eager to do something in the hopes he can do good for the workers of America as he would cover the Russian Revolution and later deal with illness and disillusionment over the way the Russians would run things in its aftermath. Beatty and Keaton have some great chemistry in their scenes together in the way they argue as well as in tender moments as they both provide moments that are truly among the highlights of the film.
Reds is a tremendously sprawling and rich film from Warren Beatty that features great performances from Beatty, Diane Keaton, Maureen Stapleton, Edward Herrmann, Paul Sorvino, and Jack Nicholson. Along with Vittorio Storaro’s gorgeous cinematography as well as some amazing technical work and interviews from those who lived during that period. It’s a film that isn’t just an interesting historical film that explores America’s brief flirtation with socialism and the Russian Revolution but also an insight into a man’s attempt for change nearly cost him everything including the woman he loves. In the end, Reds is an outstanding film from Warren Beatty.
Warren Beatty Films: (Heaven Can Wait) - (Dick Tracy) - (Bulworth) - (Untitled Howard Hughes Project)
© thevoid99 2015
Directed by Hal Ashby and written by Warren Beatty and Robert Towne, Shampoo is the story of a hairdresser who deals with his own issues on commitment while seducing many of his female clients in Los Angeles. Set in the span of 24 hours during Election Day in 1968, the film is an exploration into a man dealing with his own identity while his world is starting to change in the course of an entire day as it‘s loosely based on the life of a renowned hairdresser Jay Sebring who would be one of the victims of the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family. Starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Tony Bill, Carrie Fisher, and Jack Warden. Shampoo is an exhilarating and chaotic film from Hal Ashby.
Set in the day of the life of hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) on what is a very crucial day in American history that is Election Day 1968. The film plays into a world where a man’s often carefree life of doing women’s hair and fucking them starts to finally blow up as he faces his own identity as well as the fears in growing up and being committed to someone. Especially as he has a girlfriend in aspiring actress Jill (Goldie Hawn) while sleeping with a rich woman in Felicia (Lee Grant) whose husband Lester Karpf (Jack Warden) is having an affair with one of George’s former lovers in Jackie Shaw (Julie Christie) who still has feelings for George. In the day, George is working on Felicia and Jackie’s hair while trying to get a loan so he can start his own hair salon as he feels unappreciated by his boss Norman (Jay Robinson). Yet, it all comes to ahead through a couple of parties later in the night as it’s not just Roundy’s life that starts to fall apart but also the reality that is to come upon Richard Nixon in becoming the President of the United States of America.
The film’s screenplay by Warren Beatty and Robert Towne doesn’t just explore a man’s life starting to fall apart in a day where things are about to come to an end. It’s a film where a man is trying to grow up but he often succumbs to his own trappings in sleeping with women throughout the course of an entire day. Upon George’s own turbulent journey in juggling his affairs and work, there’s a lot that is happening as Jill just got a job offer that could help her as she befriends producer Johnny Pope (Tony Bill). While George deals with Felicia and Jackie, he would also have an encounter with Lester and Felicia’s 19-year old daughter Lorna (Carrie Fisher) who hates her mother. All of which plays into his own failings as a man and it would eventually start to blow up in a crazy night where he is invited by Lester to a dinner that Jackie, Felicia, and Jill attend with Pope as Jill’s date.
The screenplay also features some racy dialogue such as Jackie’s own drunken desires at the dinner while the script features this sense of foreboding as the world of free love and drugs is starting to come to a dark end. Especially as Lester is a conservative who has a lot of connections to the Nixon campaign though he is aware of politics’ fallacies while he would also encounter a party with hippies as he realizes that they’re not so bad. Yet, it’s an encounter that would also reveal more about George’s own issues with commitment as his own world starts to fall apart. After that climatic party, George not only faces himself but also the realities that are lurking as it becomes clear how distracted he is in his own bullshit and not knowing about the other people in his life. Even as he also deals with the world of women as it becomes clear that he still has a lot to learn about them.
Hal Ashby’s direction is very compelling for the way he creates a world where the characters are unaware of what is about to happen on Election Night and what is to come in the coming years. It plays into this sense of dramatic irony as the audience know what is coming as it would play into a sense that an end of an era is happening for George Roundy. Much of the film is set in Los Angeles where it plays into a world where the rich and established collide with the more idealistic youth culture as Ashby does create something where the two different cultures seem to try and get to know each other during Lester’s encounter with hippies as he decides to loosen up a bit and not worry about his reputation. Ashby infuses a lot of offbeat humor into these situations as well as the dinner-party scene where it is about a celebration of what is to come but it features a moment that showcases how absurd it is.
The direction also has Ashby use some very inventive framing devices in the way he puts his actors into a frame. Some which involve an actor in the background while the other is shot in a near close-up where the actor in the background is obviously listening or wanting to do something. There’s also moments in the framing where there’s these intricate crowd scenes as it’s shot in a wide frame where the main characters are in the background or in the middle of the frame in a medium shot to play into the sense of chaos they’re in. All of which plays into Roundy’s own messy life as its ending is him trying to come to terms with his life and what he wants to do. Especially in who he wants to be with where it’s an ending full of irony where even though he says that he wants to grow up and live a normal life. It is clear that he is more likely to screw things up and live the same life that he knows. Overall, Ashby creates a very witty yet tender film about a man’s life falling apart in the span of an entire day.
Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography with the colorful look of its daytime interior/exterior scenes to the use of lights for some of the scenes at night as well as the psychedelic party that many of the characters go to. Editor Robert C. Jones does brilliant work with the editing with its seamless approach to rhythms for some of the film‘s humorous scenes along with some unique cutting for some of the dramatic reactions in the film. Production designer Richard Sylbert, with set decorator George Gaines and art director W. Stewart Campbell, does fantastic work with the many homes of the characters to play into their personalities as well as the psychedelic party where most of the characters go to. Costume designer Anthea Sylbert does amazing work with the costume in the design of the late 60s clothing that many of the characters wear to play into their personalities.
Hair stylist Jan Van Uchelen and hairdresser Kathryn Blondell do terrific work with the design of the hair styles and cuts some of the women characters would sport to play with what George is creating Sound editor Frank E. Warren does superb work with the sound in the way some of the music is presented as well as the radio and television as it would play into the sense of foreboding in the film‘s political climate. The film’s music by Paul Simon is wonderful as it’s a very low-key piece that is only used sparingly to play into George’s melancholia with its simple folk-based sound. The film’s music soundtrack includes pieces by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Buffalo Springfield, the Monkees, Herb Alpert, Jefferson Airplane, and the Cookies as it’s all played on location to capture that period in time.
The casting by Jane Feinberg and Mike Fenton is incredible as it features a few cameo appearances from Michelle Phillips of the Mamas & Papas, co-writer Robert Towne, and Howard Hesseman as partygoers in the psychedelic party, Jay Robinson as George’s worrisome boss Norman, Ann Weldon as a salon co-worker, and in her film debut, Carrie Fisher as Lester and Felicia’s daughter Lorna who would have a few tricks up her sleeve as a way to react her hostilities towards her mother. Tony Bill is terrific as the producer Johnny Pope who tries to help Jill with her career while being a very good guy though he is mistaken by Lester as George’s boyfriend. Jack Warden is excellent as Lester Karpf as this rich businessman with all sorts of connections who offers George the chance to run his own salon while dealing with his own marriage to Felicia as well as his affair with Jackie as it’s role that is a bit comical but also a bit serious.
Lee Grant is amazing as Lester’s wife Felicia as she is one of George’s many lovers as she is very demanding while becoming tired in her marriage where her discovery about the things in her life starts to show her acting out. Goldie Hawn is brilliant as George’s girlfriend Jill as this insecure and neurotic aspiring actress who is unsure about the part she is to get as she also starts to question about the state of her relationship with George until she makes her own discoveries. Julie Christie is fantastic as Jackie Shaw as this very posh woman who is torn in her devotion for Lester and her feelings for George as she starts to unravel about the decisions she’s making. Finally, there’s Warren Beatty in a phenomenal performance as George Roundy as this very immature man who is good at his job but the years of sleeping around with women and such has made him lose sight of things as he wants to become a responsible adult but has so many issues that prevents him from doing what is right as it’s Beatty at his most vulnerable.
Shampoo is a remarkable film from Hal Ashby that features great performances from Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, and Jack Warden. Along with a great script from Beatty and Robert Towne as well as witty commentary on a world that is changing through a sex-obsessed hairdresser. The film is definitely of Ashby’s finest films as well as showcasing a period in time where many of the behaviors and attitudes of the 1960s would start to fall apart in a much bleaker decade. In the end, Shampoo is a spectacular film from Hal Ashby.
Hal Ashby Films: The Landlord - Harold & Maude - The Last Detail - Bound for Glory - Coming Home - Being There - Second-Hand Hearts - (Lookin’ to Get Out) - (Let’s Spend the Night Together) - (Solo Trans) - (The Slugger’s Wife) - 8 Million Ways to Die
© thevoid99 2014
Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 11/26/04 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.
Based on the novel McCabe by Edward Naughton, McCabe & Mrs. Miller is the story about an entrepreneurial gambler who teams up with a brothel madam to become business partners for ventures in a town that is just developing in the late 1800s. Directed by Robert Altman and screenplay by Altman and Brian McKay, the film is a revisionist western set in the Pacific Northwest during the late 1800s where it explores ambition and the people that would come in to ruin the dreams of these two individuals. Starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine, Rene Auberjonois, William Devane, John Schuck, and Hugh Millais. McCabe & Mrs. Miller is an evocative yet entrancing film from Robert Altman.
John McCabe (Warren Beatty) arrives on a horse to a small town where he stops at a saloon to gamble where he meets its own Sheehan (Rene Auberjonois) and a patron named Smalley (John Schuck). McCabe stays at the saloon where he reveals in wanting to build a new saloon and a gambling casino as well as a bathhouse. With Smalley and other men helping out, McCabe also bring in three homely women as prostitutes until a brothel madam named Constance Miller (Julie Christie) looks on as she meets with McCabe. Miller is aware that McCabe wants to create a brothel but felt the women he brought in aren't good enough as she can get more classier girls from Seattle where they make a deal for Miller to run the brothel while Miller also helps McCabe become successful. With the town being built as a group of people arrive including a barber named Washington (Rodney Gage) and a young woman named Ida Coyle (Shelley Duvall), the small town is finally completed where McCabe and Mrs. Miller's business ventures become successful.
With Ida becoming a prostitute for Mrs. Miller after the death of her husband and the arrival of a young cowboy (Keith Carradine), a local mining business is interested in buying out McCabe as two men in Sears (Michael Murphy) and Hollander (Anthony Holland) offer McCabe a substantial deal. McCabe's decision upsets Miller who thinks that McCabe should've taken the deal but McCabe wants to stick to his dream of running a small independent business. After some discussions with Miller, McCabe starts to consider the offer as he turns to a lawyer (William Devane) who tells McCabe what he should do. Meanwhile, a gunman named Butler (Hugh Millais) arrives with two men whom McCabe believe are from the mining company. After an incident that leaves both McCabe and Mrs. Miller shaken, McCabe realizes what he must do to save his dream.
While Miller & Mrs. McCabe, like many Westerns, have a shootout scene. Altman presents the scene in a more unconventional way, especially done in a hazy, snowy way where McCabe is battling Butler but at the same time, something else is going on in the town. Altman's directing style done in widescreen camera angles is very succinct and elegant in its look, notably for the fact that it doesn't look like any other Western. Thanks to a strong, ambiguous script by him and Brian McKay, the film is filled with many ideas and comparisons to the time of the late 1800s and the Vietnam-era of 1971. The film's business ideals and sense shows the idealism of the 1960s with many of the dialogue done in a more contemporary way with a lot of profanity. Yet, when the third act begins with death, it's not just McCabe's dream that falls but also something that many film critics had suggest that the death of an even bigger dream. This is why Altman's directing is so dead-on in its presentation, especially since he knew that big business would take over the little business soon, one way or another.
Whereas most Westerns had a desert, sunny look, Altman chose for a bleak, rainy, snowy look in McCabe & Mrs. Miller where he shot the film, entirely in Canada. Helping Altman with his hazy vision is the grainy, desaturated cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond, who brings a colorless look of muddy grounds, leaves, and everything else that isn't bright except for the sunlight in one scene. For the lighting, Zsigmond goes for candlelights in a lot of the interior scenes while in the exteriors, goes for graininess in its look. With production designer Leon Erickson and art directors Phillip E. Thomas and Albert J. Locatelli, the film has a very detailed look of the late 1800s Western saloons, bathhouses, and brothels, especially the bridges that connect in some of the lake areas. The film also has a strange, atmospheric sound with its wind and music box chimes that is captured wonderfully while Lou Lombardo's editing really helps give the film a nice pacing while in the shootout scene, help plays to the film's unconventional style.
Then, there's the film's soundtrack which features three songs by Leonard Cohen, The Stranger Song, Sisters Of Mercy, and Winter Song which all came from Cohen's debut album. The use of Cohen's songs helps bring a dark, bleak atmosphere where everything is amiss and a sense of doom is set to emerge. Winter Song serves a nice accompaniment to the opium-induced mind of Mrs. Miller while The Stranger Song is perfect for the brooding McCabe. Sisters Of Mercy is also wonderfully used for the three homely prostitutes McCabe brings. Even in their extended instrumental sections that Cohen added to the film, it's melancholic folk-driven tone really gives the film a different feel in comparison to many Westerns.
Then, there's the film's amazingly sprawling cast of actors. Hugh Millais is wonderfully sadistic and charismatic as Butler with his British, roguish tone where he seems like a likeable villain while Michael Murphy and Anthony Holland are sleazily brilliant in the respective roles of Sears and Hollander. Shelley Duvall is lovely as the aloof mail-order bride Ida who doesn't know much but her scenes with Christie are wonderfully executed. William Devane is exquisitely charismatic as McCabe's attorney who shares his dreams in a way that seems very off but with some humor. Rene Auberjonois is also wonderful in his small role of Sheehan as is John Schuck as McCabe's business associate, Smalley. Rodney Gage, Bert Remsen, and many other small characters are wonderfully acted but biggest standout in the smallest of roles is Keith Carradine as a doomed, young cowboy who gets killed for no reason since all he wanted was to get new socks inside the saloon.
Warren Beatty, often seen as an iconic, handsomely old man, brings in an amazing performance as John McCabe. In his bearded look, Beatty brings a mix of humor, romanticism, idealistic, and charm to his role as the somewhat simpleton, chauvinistic McCabe. The scenes where Beatty talks to himself are funny sometimes but also sad since there's a sense of doom laying for him. Beatty really shines in this performance where he plays against type as a man who is just a bumbling, two-bit gambler who achieves something more than his simple, foolhardy dream. Julie Christie is the film's best performance, not to mention that she received an Oscar nod for Best Actress for this film, thanks to her Cockney British accent and smart, business tactics as Mrs. Constance Miller. Though the character was more interested in her opium pipe rather than the world around her, Christie brings grace and sympathy to her role, as a woman who is trying to ignore the world around her yet couldn't escape it. Christie also brings a sexiness that is a wonderful presence despite not showing a lot of skin as she transcends her beauty with grit and intelligence.
Beatty and Christie are wonderful together in their scenes and thankfully, Altman chose for them to go more into a sense of business rather than into a full-on romance. Though, there's hint of it, Beatty and Christie chose to act like business partners rather than reluctant lovers. Though the two care about each other, they know what's important first. It's one of the best pairings in cinema.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a magnificent film from Robert Altman that features incredible leading performances from Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in the title roles. Armed with a great supporting cast, Vilmos Zsigmond's lush cinematography, strong themes, and Leonard Cohen's seductive soundtrack. It's a film that is definitely among one of Altman's best films as well as one of the most unconventional westerns of that genre. In the end, McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a brilliant film from Robert Altman.
Robert Altman Films: (The Delinquents) - (The James Dean Story) - Countdown (1968 film) - (That Cold Day in the Park) - M.A.S.H. - Brewster McCloud - (Images) - The Long Goodbye - Thieves Like Us - California Split - Nashville - Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson - 3 Women - (A Wedding) - (Quintet) - (A Perfect Couple) - (HealtH) - Popeye - (Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean) - (Streamers) - (Secret Honor) - (O.C. and Stiggs) - Fool for Love - (Beyond Therapy) - (Aria-Les Boreades) - (Tanner ‘88) - (Vincent & Theo) - The Player - Short Cuts - Pret-a-Porter - (Kansas City) - (The Gingerbread Man) - Cookie’s Fortune - Dr. T & the Women - Gosford Park - The Company (2003 film) - (Tanner on Tanner) - A Prairie Home Companion
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