Long Days, Long Months: 19 August

Bit the bullet, so to speak (or should I say, "Washed away the bird dropping") and bought a bootleg of Brewster McCloud, which for some inexplicable, inexcusable reason has not been made available on D V D. Suffice to say, it's a brilliant film. Robert Altman at his best gave us such unsettling juxtapositions of comedy and tragedy, and this film surely does so.

The extraordinary run of films Altman directed from 1970 to 1977:

M.A.S.H., perhaps his most known - only because of the T V series that resulted - is fine, but nothing extraordinary. It gave him the freedom to do Brewster though; both were released in 1970;

McCabe and Mrs. Miller [1971] adroitly takes the concerns and biases of the era and social setting in which it was made - the sexual revolution, the political radicalism, Leonard Cohen songs - and applies them to the Western genre;

Images [1972] was unfairly ignored at the time and only recently made available again, presumably because of its simplicity: only a few actors, but more so because of the main character's mental problems are presented literally: a real man imagined by her - and the viewer left to decide for himself exactly what did or didn't happened; laid the groundwork for 3 Women;

The Long Goodbye [1973]: Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe, updated for the "baby boomer" generation; the screenplay adapting Raymond Chandler's novel written by Leigh Brackett, who'd also adapted The Big Sleep - what else to say?;

Thieves Like Us [1974] - a remarkable recreation of 1930's U S A, almost makes Bonnie and Clyde seem pedestrian;

California Split [1974] - as with Thieves, a realist film, in this case about gambling; as with Nashville, an revealing glimpse of the times, on the micro level though;

Nashville [1975] - a remarkable creation of 1970's U S A, and as with Brewster (set in Houston, largely at the Astrodome) the viewer gets a glimpse of the Southeast during a time of massive changes for the region;

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson [1976] is - despite what anyone might tell you - hilarious; Altman delivered the perfect bicentennial film; when it comes to the Hollywood New Wave satirizing U S A history, few match this one; compare it to Arthur Penn's Little Big Man, which switches from humor to serious historical commentary somewhat awkwardly;

3 Women - an artistic peak in terms of narrative and photographic experimentation, the where and when of the story being less determined, by far, than in any other Altman film except for Images.

The next period, 1978-1980, offered some fine films, but Altman was treading water somewhat [A Wedding (1978), Quintet (1979) and A Perfect Couple (1979)]. After Popeye's flop (though like H.E.A.L.T.H., also released in 1980, it's a fine comedy) lack of funding impelled Altman toward the filmed theatrical productions of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean [1982], Streamers [1983], and Secret Honor [1984], all of them quite astounding.

After another brief downturn, Altman again turned to another medium - television - to make his comeback: Tanner '88 and Vincent and Theo. Hoping that some day will see the original mini-series version of the latter made available, not just the shortened feature-film version.

Altman's last period, for all its highlights, saw the director veering between comedy and drama, in contrast to the deft melding of the two he'd mastered in the past. The comedies: Short Cuts, Prêt-à-Porter, Cookie's Fortune, Dr. T and the Women, and A Prairie Home Companion, and the dramas: The Player, Kansas City, The Gingerbread Man, Gosford Park, The Company. Yes, The Player and Short Cuts are a cut above the rest, slightly... not being an auteur, Altman the interpreter of others' writings got rich material to work with - the Michael Tolkin novel, Raymond Carver stories.

The Company and A Prairie Home Companion stand apart because Altman, advanced in age, creatively speaking was the second-in-command for both films. The latter, of course, was Garrison Keillor's project. The former grew out of actress Neve Campbell's desire to make a film about ballet dancers, the result - as with, to a lesser extent, Companion - was a unique combination of narrative and documentary film.