korevette It takes an acquired taste to appreciate this film. The novelty of a western taking place in the northwest during an oncoming blizzard was a welcome sight, compared to the usual 'out west' westerns. Among my beefs was the dialogue 'chewed' up by Beatty, with the usual cigareen. or whatever you called it, in his mouth. I barely could make out what he was saying. As for the so called romance between him and Christie, had about as much depth to it as him gulping down his 'egg nog' drinks, and for the little time she had on the screen compared to the town, she was nominated for an academy award?The scene with the oversexed cowboy and the wannabee gunslinger was too predictable. Now, if that cowboy had beat the guy to the draw, that would have liven the movie for me..but no, we had to show compassion to the innocent young man, that meant no harm. As for the fire in the church...did anyone ever go into it? Yet, that scene was made bigger than it deserved. It look like it was completely deserted with a lot of rubbish.

powermandan There is nothing that I would change in this. Nothing could have been done better. Spielberg, Scorsese, even Lean or Ford could not have made this movie better than Robert Altman. Robert Altman is one of the best directors in the history of cinema and this was his first crowning achievement and it remains my favourite of his. The year before he did M*A*S*H and Brewster McCloud, the former of which was his breakout film. But McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a visual and social marvel that almost never gets topped.Robert Altman has always loved exploring cinema. He always wanted to go above and beyond basic conventions. This led to him making anti-films. M*A*S*H was anti-war, The Long Goodbye was anti-film noir, 3 Women was anti-friendship, The Player is anti-Hollywood, McCabe & Mrs. Miller is anti-western. The most American movie genre has been given a twist: the costumes look different and the location is so muddy and wet and cloudy and snowy. I haven't read the book which this is based on, but I guarantee the whole anti-western aspect was Altman's idea. The massive change in the genre's look is the first thing people notice when they see this. Regular westerns such as The Searchers and Rio Bravo are colourful, taking place in dusty deserts with the sun beating down on the village. McCabe & Mrs. Miller was filmed in a small Vancouver town where it snows and it would be much easier to capture the look that westerns are not.McCabe & Mrs. Miller starts out with businessman John McCabe (Warren Beatty) travelling through and making a stop at the tiny mining community of Presbyterian Church (named after its only significant building). Legend has it that he is a violent gunslinger who recently killed a man. Is he really who people think he is? Presbyterian Church has literally nothing to it. When McCabe arrive and has some beers, it is so dark and damp. The village is presented like a cave. But McCabe has an idea: make prostitution the driving force for the town. McCabe's idea works as Presbyterian Church grows from nothing into something. Buildings are being built, and Altman got real construction workers to wear costumes as they build in real time. And it is great to see Presbyterian Church evolve thanks to driving force of John McCabe. He is a pimp who often wears the fur coat that 70s pimps wear. But he is very complex, something Beatty successfully tackles. Not far into his ventures, cockney Constance Miller (Julie Christie) offers to help McCabe's whorehouses grow as only she knows. McCabe doesn't want partners, but he reluctantly agrees. It is thanks to Mrs. Miller that prostitution empire grows into such a big deal. She is smarter than McCabe, but can he accept any of that? The main plot of the film (the first half is the titular characters building a community) happens about halfway through when McCabe is offered to be bought out by successful businessmen. The money is huge, but McCabe's personal pride shoots them down. Mrs. Miller tries to talk him into accepting the offer, but he disagrees with her. More businessmen come to Presbyterian Church and McCabe's ego may be the end of it all.Aside from the murky look of the film, the movie centring on prostitution may also put people off. The women in this film are treated as low-class people only good for one purpose: sex. While McCabe is the driving force, it is the hookers that provide the satisfactory. And it is Mrs. Miller who was the smart one of the titular characters. This movie shows that women actually ARE powerful, sometimes more than men. If women were in charge, Presbyterian Church would not have turned upside down. Altman's themes of pride and women and rumours are all phenomenal, and the anti-western shtick is great, but it is Altman's filming that gets this such a high honour. Despite such a reclusive place, the viewer is immersed in this tiny town just a few acres. And the the general look is surprisingly exquisite. It may not be as beautiful as Barry Lyndon or Dances With Wolves, but Altman is able to make many scenes look like paintings from National art museums. The whorehouses look like palaces. The cinematography is A-1. Each shot is carefully framed and set up. His lens choice packs everything needed for a scene and the zoom lens very effective in each shot. Some bits of dialogue are muddled (such as McCabe talking to himself), but it worth seeing why some bits are heard and some aren't. It is worth seeing all of Atman's cinematic choices.Lastly, Leonard Cohen makes a haunting soundtrack. There's only three songs used to perfection. I wish I could go on about this, but I can only write so much on this site.

g-bodyl McCabe and Mrs. Miller is another excellent film that helped define the era of film in the 1970's. The decade where "New Hollywood" is off and running. This movie has that authentic 70's feel and it's the slow burn western drama that you would expect to see in the late 1960's, early 1970's. The movie takes its time, but I found the film incredibly engaging because of the performances of Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. I loved the scenery shots of the film, and it really made the Pacific Northwest look beautiful. Another thing that stood out to me is the soundtrack made by the great Leonard Cohen, a gifted songwriter. His songs worked well with the film and it breathed more life into this western.Robert Altman's film is about a businessman named John McCabe who builds a whorehouse in a remote Western town. Soon after his new tavern is built, Mrs. Miller arrives and she offers herself as a business partner to McCabe's booming business. Soon after that, several businessmen arrives asking to buy McCabe's business, but his answer may bring consequences to himself, Mrs. Miller, and the whole town.Also prevalent in 70's movies are films that don't rely on big casts. This film is an example of that statement. The only two big name stars are Beatty and Andrews. They both are excellent, and both share on screen compatibility. I love how the film doesn't really push a romance between the two characters. There is no doubt a sense of affection and perhaps a tough love for each other, but no falling in love kind of thing. At least it wasn't obvious.Overall, McCabe and Mrs. Miller is a very impressive film. The film takes its time to tell the story and sometimes that is a cause of frustration. But I fell deeply in love with the characterization and I wanted to see what happens to both main characters. The tone is often gritty and dark, which I enjoyed. Once again, the film is just beautiful to look at, even without the technology used in today's film. Altman made himself noticeable with MASH, but he opened my eyes with McCabe and Mrs. Miller.My Grade: A-

ma-cortes A braggart and wheeler-dealer called Mr Cabe (Warren Beatty) arrives a in a remote Old West mining town , and he opens a bordello . His ambitious enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene . There then appears an ex-whore named Mrs Miller (Julie Christie) who offers to use her experience to help McCabe run his business, while sharing in the profits . Both of whom become business partners . Soon after , the mining deposits in the boom small-town attract the attention of a major enterprise , which wishes to buy out McCabe along with the rest . He refuses and then problems emerge .This stunning Western contains drama , thrills , a love story , wintry realistic vision , and shootouts at its ending . Life in the turn-of-the-century Northwest is given an awesome treatment in filmmaker Altman's visually splendid Western drama and including some brief touches of comedy . The biggest complaint against this film , as it seems to me , is that results a little bit boring , overlong and slow-moving . Being based on Edmund Naughton's novel titled ¨McCabe¨ and adapted by Brian McKay and the same Robert Altman . We meet a fantastic cast of roles, played by many of the best actors around giving marvelous acting . As top-notch acting by Warren Beatty as an ambitious small-timer businessman as well as two-bit gambler . However , Robert Altman's initial preference for the role of McCabe was Elliott Gould, whom the studio producing the film refused to accept . Nice performance from Julie Christie as as a prostitute with heart that beats to the jingle of gold . First-class support cast such as Rene Auberjonois , William Devane , John Schuck , Corey Fischer , Bert Remsen , Keith Carradine's film debut , Michael Murphy and Shelley Duvall , Altman's usual , in fact , this is second of seven films that actress Shelley Duvall made with director Robert Altman . Many of the people playing small parts, bit roles, and extras were allowed to create their own characters for the movie . Sensitive score plenty of wonderful as well as sad songs by Leonard Cohen . During post-production on this film, 'Robert Altman' was having a difficult time finding a proper musical score, until he attended a party where the album "Songs of Leonard Cohen" was playing and noticed that several songs from the album seemed to fit in with the overall mood and themes of the movie . Cohen, who had been a fan of Altman's previous film, Brewster McCloud (1970), allowed him to use three songs from the album - "The Stranger Song", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Winter Lady" . Colorful and evocative cinematography in Panavisión by classic cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond , giving a rich texture on the Western atmosphere .The motion picture was well directed by Robert Altman who offers an adequate image of Western period , as he deglamorizes ordinary mood with his realist sights . At the beginning Altman realized Shorts and he then went to Hollywood to direct Alfred Hitchcock's TV show . From here, he went on to direct a large number of television shows, until he was offered the script for ¨M.A.S.H.¨ (1970) in 1969 . This wasn't his first movie , but it was his first success . He was hardly the producer's first choice - more than fifteen other directors had already turned it down . Altman filmed another Western titled ¨Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson¨ starred by Paul Newman . After that, he had his share of hits and misses, but ¨The prayer¨ (1992) and, more recently, ¨Gosford Park¨ (2001) were particularly well . And this ¨Mr Cabe and Mrs Miller¨ that ranked #8 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Western" in June 2008.