R.I.P. Robert Altman

I first began to look at movies seriously as an art form when I was in college in the early 70's. Robert Altman's work was one of the things that caused me to become interested in film.The anti-establishment black humor in M*A*S*H*, the beknighted idealism of The Long Goodbye, the grit of McCabe and Mrs. Miller, the complex interplay among characters in Nashville, were all classics. His work was uneven but rarely boring. I thank him for the joy he brought to my life.

Hello All,
Amen, Mr. Chips, amen.
I, as a young man, was touched by M*A*S*H*, Nashville, and Buffalo Bill
and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson while
my daughter discovered him in Gosford Park. He also directed a number
of TV episodes, ranging from Maverick to Route 66 to Bonanza to Combat to
name a few.
An unique talent is lost...
Take Care,
Fieldthistle

Robert Altman was pure genius, he will be missed

One of my favorite film directors. I loved The Player, really enjoyed A Prarie Home Companion (and this is coming from someone who is not a fan of the radio show at all), Short Cuts, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, so many great movies.

His miniseries Tanner '88 is worth checking out. It's a bit dated now but has really strong performances from Michael Murphy as a presidential candidate and Pamela Reed as his campaign manager.

My favorite Altman movie might be Secret Honor. A one-man show starring Philip Baker Hall (he's the only person in the whole movie), it's a really wild and interesting examination of Richard Nixon, his rise and his downfall. Hard to find but worth tracking down.

I particularly enjoyed McCabe and Mrs. Miller. I will have to make a point of seeing A Prairie Home Companion real soon.

I know it's been awhile since anyone posted in this thread but I've been thinking about politics today. I'm a reporter for a small-town newspaper. Even though the election is next year, I'm already getting emails from Joe Biden's campaign, and Giuliani's campaign, and John McCain's campaign. Those emails got me to thinking about my favorite fictional presidential candidate, Jack Tanner.

Tanner '88 was an HBO mini-series created by Robert Altman and Garry Trudeau. This speech, which I was finally able to track down, is the highpoint of the mini-series. In the mini-series, Jack Tanner is plagued by self-doubts. His campaign team isn't sure why they're working for him if he himself doesn't believe in himself. After this speech, the campaign re-energizes.

Not matter which way you lean, right or left or center or whatever, I think this is a great speech about America, the idea of America. I'd kill to write something this good. Wouldn't it be great if all politicians could talk like this, with this much fire and passion?

You know, T.J., just before you called me last spring, Lexy and I went down to the Democratic Leadership Conference in South Carolina. The last night, we were sitting aroud with Kirk O'Donnell, and Hart, and Biden, a couple of the other candidates, who were shooting the breeze about how much the party had changed since the Sixties.

And suddenly, out of the blue, Lexy turned to Hart and she asked him who his favorite Beatle was. Now, at first, Hart laughed, and then he stumbled around trying to remember a name. Then she repeated her question for Biden, and Biden said, well, he'd never been a Beatles fan, he was into jazz. And Dukakis answered Paul, 'cause he liked his wife or something.

Now, I don't know if Lexy knows the names of all the Beatles herself, let alone the answer to her own question, but it suddenly dawned on me that I sure as hell did. And I knew for sure that anybody who didn't had absolutely no claim to generational leadership. Now I must have, what, uh, ten years on Joe Biden; but, dammit, he wasn't paying attention back then, and I was. And one of the things I figured out very early on was the singer mattered as much as the song - that ideas were only as valuable as the people who got behind them. I mean people that wouldn't settle; people unafraid of honest inquiry; people who didn't mind asking the impertinent question.

God, the impertinent question. Where the hell would we be without it? It's the glory and the engine of all human experience. Copernicus asked it, and shook the foundations of his world. Darwin asked it, he's repudiated to this day. Thomas Jefferson asked it - so invigorated by it he declared it to be an inalienable right. I'm not smart enough to know all the answers. But I do know we've got to keep asking the questions.

That's what the American experiment is all about. It's at the very core of our character as a people. We owe our vigor to its constant renewal. You know, I don't have much patience for these guys who go around saying the pride is back in America. For some of us, it never left. Vietnam may have covered some patriots in shame, but not this one. We got in there for moral reasons, and, by God, we got out of there for moral reasons. Where else on this Earth does such debate settle on anything other than expediency? Only in America.

Watergate - triumph of the system. How could anybody watch Barbara Jordan thunder away at those House hearings and not feel a surge of pride in the miracle of this country? And then there are those people who tell you that our noisy dissent, our raucous squabble, weakened us as a country - caused us to lose our supremacy.

Don't you believe it. We are the envy of this world. Why? Because, throughout our history, we have always maintained that we could do better. We have insisted that we could do better. We've always been willing to reinvent ourselves for the common good. And in our darkest hour, leaders, real leaders, have always stepped forward to hold the American people to the responsibility of citizenship. Well, it's time for that kind of leadership now, T.J. And I'm not sure that it's me, but I'd like the chance to find out.

[He starts to leave the room, then turns back]

Oh, and if you young people are still wondering, the right answer is John Lennon.