Author: iysmall@aol.com (Ron Small) McCABE & MRS.MILLER (1971) Grade: A- Director: Robert Altman Screenplay: Robert Altman, Brian McKay Starring: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, William Devane, Shelly Duvall, Keith Carradine
A young gunslinger stands on one end of a suspension bridge. On the other end, a kind, young man (Keith Carradine) who simply wants to cross the bridge. The gunslinger won't let him; he obstructs, badgering the poor fellow. The young man has revealed his weakness; he doesn't want any trouble. Though the gunslinger is eager to test him, and push him so he could kill him, which he does.
"Let me see your gun," the gunslinger demands.
The young man stammers slightly before reluctantly pulling it out, with no intention of using it. The gunslinger shoots the young man dead, as the denizens of the town look on. The moment is directed with such casualness that it feels more authentic than any kinetic gun battle Peknipah staged. Both of the actors chosen for the minor parts add additional layers to the scene. The kid who plays the gunslinger has harmless, cherubic features, resembling a younger, chubbier Leonardo Di Caprio. This makes his actions appear much more disturbing than if a more macho actor had played him. We get the feeling that this kid has been raised in a culture where killers are lionized, and cowardice is despised. He has found a prey that is weaker than him; therefore it would be foolish not to attack. He's like a child playing COWBOYS AND INDIANS, only for real. Keith Carradine acts so kind, and endearingly, it's dismaying to see him die because of those very qualities. I think the scene's ultimate effectiveness lies in its jarring placement. It happens mid-way through the film, and has nothing to do with the "story". But it also has everything to do with it.
McCABE AND MRS.MILLER is a Western, though unlike most. Its "hero" is indeed a mysterious stranger who rides into town as mysterious strangers often do in Westerns. He's also a drunk, and a gambler, with little honor; he's not above shooting an enemy in the back. Julie Christie plays his "love interest", a surreptitious, drug-addicted madam with an incentive towards cash that supersedes everything else. She is a hooker, and one with a heart of coal. These cleverly employed details (details that turn the usual cliches upside down and inside out) are trademarks of a director partial to deconstructing a genre rather than perpetuating it. Robert Altman does just that, exploding Western myths and putting his own in there place. This was a common practice of directors in the mid-1970's. Speilberg did a similar deconstruction of the action-adventure genre with JAWS.
The setting of McCABE is a dilapidated frontier town blanketed with mud and snow. Interiors are dully lit by gas lamps, illuminating dirty faces with a vague, red-yellow hue. Nothing is idealized in Altman's vision, not even the hookers, who look just as dirty as the town.
The film was based on a conventional Western novel, written by Edmund Naughton. Altman lobotomized the novel, taking it's basic story and improvising his way through it, as is his style. This particular method has produced some masterpieces (M*A*S*H, SHORT CUTS), and just as many abysmal failures (QUINTET, READY TO WEAR). True to Altman's form, much of the speech is purposely muddied, and occasionally words are drowned out by other words. The dialogue is conversational (one man asks another if he should trim his facial hair), and often amusingly so; we're not used to seeing characters make small talk in a Western. This is the antithesis of a generic Sergio Leone flick; it's like viewing a slice of life that just happens to take place in a Western setting. Because of this, the plot points seem to come informally and not always when expected.
Warren Beatty plays McCabe as a stubborn anti-hero with an unflappable cool the actor can't seem to shake. Beatty's persona is an intermittent parody of a traditional leading man, and a rendering of one. He speaks in a fearlessly controlled tone, conveying his self-righteousness. And that self-righteousness is his characters' inevitable downfall.
Julie Christie plays the madam (McCabe's business partner), Mrs.Miller. When the two meet, they immediately dislike each other, trading insults as most future lovers often do in the movies. We naturally expect them soften up, and fall in love. That never happens, though they do have cold, calculated sex. They're relationship doesn't go were it is "supposed" to, and I am forever thankful for both of they're fates. Altman closes his film with some understated, lyrically profound shots that are haunting and poignant.
To call McCABE a simple exercise in genre deconstruction would be a misrepresentation. It's a work that is alive with emotion and lyricism. Altman's greatest films have much in common; they rely on naturalistic, meandering encounters, languidly building to a substantial close. And it works the best when the characters are fascinating and multifaceted. That is the case with this film. The seemingly inconsequential moments add up to something very consequential.
http://www.geocities.com/incongruity98 (Ron's Movie Reviews)
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