Anyone with a head on his shoulders will notice that the title of this page is a reference to a very lame attmept at a witty line in Swimming with Sharks, and interesting film that falls apart very quickly.

Robert Altman, however, is one of Matthew J. McCue's heroes, cocaine habit or not (and rumor has it that has long since stopped--given Bob's age, I hope so).

Robert Altman is a premiere American Auteur who has never been given his due. Although the Golden Globe Awards are often referred to as Star F---er awards, it is truly the only place where Bob has earned a good deal of respect. In 1992, for example, one of Mr. Altman's finest pieces of work, The Player, based on the novel by Michael Tolkin, was awarded the Golden Globe for best comedy feature. How it ever found itself in the comedy category is an admitted shock... but it deserved Globes and Oscars nonetheless. When the Oscars rolled around that spring, Altman found himself with a directing nomination, but the film went un-noticed. Apparently Academy members were too caught up with the "wonder" that was Unforgiven.

It was after Pret-a-Porter a.k.a. Ready to Wear that McCue began his deep love of Robert Altman. He realized that one of the favorite films of his youth was in fact and Altman-- Popeye! (Exclamation point may be optional.) It was Altman's incredible style, based on long takes, a heavy dose of camera movement, and reality (which includes overlapping dialogue) that really hooked McCue. Short Cuts the film adapted from a collection of Raymond Carver stories proved perfect material for Altman and was the fourth Altman film to be seen by McCue.
Later, as McCue continued his studies in film, he realized that it was also Altman's intention to undercut the audiences preconceptions of given genres and of "traditional storytelling" in general. With films like Thieves Like Us, and Buffalo Bill and the Indians, Altman received a lot of criticism for being just plain dry and boring. Others, however, pointed out the games that Altman was playing by selecting stories that had either been previously adapted for the screen from literature or history. Film, as Altman understands it (and as McCue certainly understands it), is instrumental in constructing people's perceptions. It is not only a vital component in shaping the world as it relates to the particular story at hand, but it begins to train the viewer to judge all tangentially related material (which can be boundless) with new eyes.

Probably the film that Altman is most famous for is M*A*S*H, though many do not recall that he was the director of the original film. The television series that came out of the film is still the most successful (viewership-wise) television show ever, and it is also apparently unchallengeable since cable has so divided the televisio audience.

(There will be more to come about Nashville as my thoughts gel on that one.) 1

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