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Film maker as old ma ster
Robert Altman (1925-2006) had many characteristics that are typical of experimental innovators.
Among them, as noted in an appreciation in The New York Times:
He was middle-aged when he achieved some of his greatest successes. In 1970, at about age 45, he directed the critically acclaimed "MASH," his first Hollywood film after a career in industrial movies and television.
Other successes came near the end of his film career, including "Gosford Park" at about age 76.
Unlike conceptual innovators, he didn't think through his films in detail in advance, but created them experimentally in cooperation with improvising actors during the filming process.
His comments about a film could contain a partial echo of experimental painters like Cezanne who cared little for their finished work. " 'MASH' was a pretty good movie," he said, "It became popular because of the timing (during the Vietnam War). Consequently, it’s considered important, but it’s no better or more important than any of the other films I’ve made.”
Some of his characteristics fit the mold of a conceptual innovator:
He continually changed his subject, from the antiwar "MASH" (1970) to the Western “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” (1971) to psychological drama in “Images” (1972), to the detective story of “The Long Goodbye” (1973), the gambling film “California Split” (1974) and the gangster movie “Thieves Like Us” (1974).
His most critically acclaimed films, including "Nashville" in 1975, came near the beginning of his Hollywood career.
Altman “never stopped experimenting,” said Bloomberg film critic Peter Rainer:
“For Altman, movie-making was a supremely collaborative art. He once told me how much he loved to sit around after a day's shooting and watch the dailies -- the unedited footage -- with his cast and crew.
“Watching a few edited sequences of ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ with him that day, I was struck by how instantaneously vigorous he became the second he looked at the footage. He rhapsodized about working in the high-definition format, which allowed him to film cheaply, quickly and continuously without the need for cumbersome lights.
“When he died, Altman was the youngest ‘old’ director in the business. He never stopped experimenting; he never lost the ability to be astonished.”
Altman was not included in Galenson's 2005 study of experimental and conceptual film director, "Filming Images or Filming Reality: The Life Cycles of Movie Directors from D.W. Griffith to Federico Fellini."
This abbreviated chart of eight Altman movies demonstrates the patterns of his middle-aged and late-career successes:
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IMDB.com
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RottenTomatoes
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RottenTomatoes
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Film
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Year
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Age
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ratings:
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critics' ratings
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viewers' ratings
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MASH
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1970
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45
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7.5/10
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93%
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89%
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McCabe & Mrs. Miller
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1971
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46
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7.5/10
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89%
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90%
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Nashville
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1975
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50
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7.6/10
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94%
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100%
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Three Women
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1977
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52
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7.7/10
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95%
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80%
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Popeye
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1980
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55
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4.7/10
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72%
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77%
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Kansas City
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1996
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71
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5.7/10
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59%
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75%
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Gosford Park
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2001
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76
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7.2/10
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87%
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69%
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Prairie Home Companion
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2006
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81
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7.3/10
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80%
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84%
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