MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971) *** How the West was won in a card game, and then stolen by an unholy alliance of criminals and big business, as organized religion looked on in naive neutrality. The religious metaphors of Presbyterian Church (the town) are one of my favorite parts, everyone drops everything to put out a church on fire but no one will lift a hand to help an innocent man being gunned down on the street. Having demythologized war with M*A*S*H, Robert Altman sets out to do the same thing with westerns, and again succeeds. Oregon was rainy and muddy, wages were low to nonexistant, the hookers were ugly, the opportunities existant only to the extent that you were willing to regularly put your life on the line for them, and ethics got left at the churchhouse door. Leonard Cohen's music fits the scenes perfectly, I wasn't there but it feels very real to me. Warren Beatty plays dumber and less heroic than real life, with flashes of transcendance mixed in when his character takes a chance too far. It takes a slight leap of faith to accept Julie Christie as a $5 hooker in any economy, but explanations are offered and she plays it well and seriously; to even more effect than Willam Devane's excellent and insane young lawyer who knows the law and assumes that it will protect what it says it will. Hugh Millais is as good as any of them as Butler the intimidating corporate hit man who loves his job, Rene Auberjonois a toadying spineless squid incarnate. Perfectly matched Leonard Cohen soundtrack and performances, plenty of stuff for technique junkies and metaphor hounds but the popcorn and soda set may find themselves wondering what's going on in the lobby.
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