In the early days of what we now refer to as "New Hollywood", studios, such as United Artists and MGM began to hire young filmmakers to direct films with high budgets and high expectations to return a profit. At this time, directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Altman, the auteur who made the film I am reviewing today, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, managed to make a mark in Hollywood which, arguably at least, has yet to be topped. Altman, whose best known work at the time had been the war film, M*A*S*H, was beginning to make a name for himself, and was known for working well with large ensemble casts.
Our story begins with McCabe (Warren Beatty), a gambler who has recently arrived in the town of Presbyterian Church (named after its only substantial building). He quickly finds himself in a dominant position in the hierarchy of the camp, partly due to a rumour surrounding him that he is a famous gunslinger also named McCabe, and partly due to his forceful nature. When he arrives, he brings with him three prostitutes, bought from a pimp in a nearby town, to entertain the simple miners of the town, and builds them a makeshift brothel. One day, an opium addicted "madam" called Constance Miller (Julie Christie) arrives and manages to convince McCabe that she would do a much better job of managing the brothel than he would. Eventually, they become partners and the camp becomes richer than it ever has been before.
What is interesting about McCabe and Mrs. Miller, is seeing just how much Altman developed as a filmmaker between the early to mid seventies. One can see that between M*A*S*H (1970) and Nashville (1975), a very distinct, personal style of filmmaking began to form. For example, if we are looking at the film merely from a technical point-of-view, one will notice that Altman has several tricks up his sleeve which make filming and recording the dialogue of an ensemble cast easier. He would often multitrack the dialogue of every actor on screen, so that regardless of how many characters were interacting at once, one could hear all of them clearly. He favoured panning, tracking shots and using wide camera lenses to catch all the action at any one time. Of course, that is not to say that Altman was the first filmmaker to use such devices, but at the time this was seen as being quite revolutionary.
Altman shot most of the film in sequence, and dressed up the carpenters working on the film in early twentieth century costumes, so that as the camp was being built, so was the film's set. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Altman was already in his mid-forties by the time he started making films, making him fairly mature and adult minded, and working on television prepared him to make films in a fast, efficient way. Such a style of filmmaking, while not unheard of today, is still rare.
Altman, like many filmmakers at the time, was interested in deconstructing some of the myths of frontier life. His films are not particularly dramatic, or even very exciting, traditionally speaking, but their rambling, loose style gives his work an authenticity. Altman, has never wanted his films to be about a particular thing, instead, he tries to encapsulate everything that would happen in a Western camp; from the contraction of the buildings, to the organisation of the camp's power structure. I suppose one could call these types of films "Revisionist Westerns", which attempt to encapsulate the dirtier, grubbier side of the West. However, I think that is too easy and simple to write off a film like this by simply calling it "revisionist", simply because of how influential a film like this is. One can see the muddier, dirtier settings and see where Dances With Wolves, Unforgiven or Deadwood came from.
As it is set in the early twentieth century, the myth of the West was beginning to fade away into non-existence, allowing Altman to magnify many things that we may take for granted in Westerns and look at them more judgementally, rather than romantically. We can see that a man like McCabe is a dinosaur - a relic long since forgotten — yet we can still look upon him with some pity. Best of all, in its deconstruction, the gunfight at the end of the film is remarkably low-key, with no score or soundtrack to accompany the gun shots.
What is perhaps most interesting about the film, partly due to the large ensemble cast, is how affable and likeable the characters are, even when their very profession should make their actions reprehensible. By which I mean, both McCabe and Mrs. Miller are involved with selling and buying women to whore them out to everyone in the camp. McCabe lies about who he is, pretending to be a gunslinger (or, at least, not contradicting anyone when someone tells him he is) yet they are still somewhat likeable. Eventually, as McCabe gets himself in trouble by refusing to sell the camp to some dangerous men, he finds he will have to put his persona to the test, as people come to challenge him. Mrs. Miller too, has a lot of redeemable qualities, as we see her soften towards the end of the film. Both Warren Beatty and Julie Christie are charming, likeable screen actors, bouncing off each other with well delivered one liners and asides.
The film is aided by the Leonard Cohen soundtrack, which, while dated, is atmospheric and brooding, complimenting the film's darker, dirtier look on Western archetypes. While Robert Altman would make better films towards the end of his career, such as Gosford Park and The Player, this is still well worth seeking out.
8/10
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