The Cinema of Robert Altman

The Cinema of Robert Altman
Author: Robert Niemi
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2016-03-01
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0231850867

In a controversial and tumultuous filmmaking career that spanned nearly fifty years, Robert Altman mocked, subverted, or otherwise refashioned Hollywood narrative and genre conventions. Altman's idiosyncratic vision and propensity for formal experimentation resulted in an uneven body of work: some rank failures and intriguing near-misses, as well as a number of great films that are among the most influential works of New American Cinema. While Altman always professed to have nothing authoritative to say about the state of contemporary society, this volume surveys all of his major films in their sociohistorical context to reposition the director as a trenchant satirist and social critic of postmodern America, depicted as a lonely wasteland of fraudulent spectacle, exploitative social relations, and unfulfilled solitaries in search of elusive community.

Robert Altman

Robert Altman
Author: Mitchell Zuckoff
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 578
Release: 2010-12-07
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0307387917

Robert Altman—visionary director, hard-partying hedonist, eccentric family man, Hollywood legend—comes roaring to life in this rollicking oral biography. After an all-American boyhood in Kansas City, a stint flying bombers in World War II, and jobs ranging from dog tattoo entrepreneur to television director, Robert Altman burst onto the scene in 1970 with M*A*S*H. He reinvented American filmmaking, and went on to produce such masterpieces as McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. In Robert Altman, Mitchell Zuckoff has woven together Altman’s final interviews; an incredible cast of voices including Meryl Streep, Warren Beatty, Paul Newman, among scores of others; and contemporary reviews and news accounts into a riveting tale of an extraordinary life.

Robert Altman

Robert Altman
Author: Robert Altman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2000
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9781578061860

Collected interviews with the unpredictable and controversial filmmaker of M.A.S.H., Nashville, and Short Cuts

Altman (Text-Only Edition)

Altman (Text-Only Edition)
Author: Kathryn Reed Altman
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2017-10-31
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1683351916

This intimate and critical biography of the pioneering director explores his life, work, and creative process—with contributions by fellow filmmakers. For decades, Robert Altman fascinated audiences with films such as McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Nashville, Gosford Park, and many others. He won critical acclaim by combining technical innovation with subversive, satirical humor and impassioned political engagement. His ability to explore so many different worlds with a single vision changed the landscape of cinema forever. This signature "Altmanesque" style is, in the words of Martin Scorsese: "as recognizable and familiar as Renoir's brushstrokes or Debussy's orchestrations." Now, the Altman estate opens its archive to celebrate his extraordinary life and career in this authorized biography. Written by Altman’s widow Kathryn Reed Altman and film critic Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, this volume brims with personal recollections of the director. Alongside the intimate story of his life is a complete historical and critical narrative of Altman’s films and his process. To honor the Altman trademark of using a wide cast of characters, Altman also features contributions from his collaborators and contemporaries including Frank Barhydt, E. L. Doctorow, Roger Ebert, Jules Feiffer, Julian Fellowes, James Franco, Tess Gallagher, Pauline Kael, Garrison Keillor, Michael Murphy, Martin Scorsese, Lily Tomlin, Alan Rudolph, Michael Tolkin, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Robert Altman

Robert Altman
Author: Patrick McGilligan
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 682
Release: 1989-07-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780312304676

The most prodigal, prolific, and visionary director to emerge from post-sixties Hollywood, Robert Altman is a man whose mystique sometimes threatens to overshadow his many critically acclaimed films (including MASH).

The Nashville Chronicles

The Nashville Chronicles
Author: Jan Stuart
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2003
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0879109815

The Nashville Chronicles is a fascinating journalistic tour de force of the movie that legendary film critic Pauline Kael called "The funniest epic vision of America ever to reach the screen." In writing this book, Jan Stuart enjoyed the benefit of full cooperation from Altman, who sat for many hours of interviews, as well as most of the motley crew of cast and characters. Illustrated throughout with behind-the-scenes photos.

Altman on Altman

Altman on Altman
Author: David Thompson
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2011-04-07
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0571261647

In Altman on Altman, one of American cinema's most incorrigible mavericks reflects on a brilliant career. Robert Altman served a long apprenticeship in movie-making before his great breakthrough, the Korean War comedy M*A*S*H (1969). It became a huge hit and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, but also established Altman's inimitable use of sound and image, and his gift for handling a repertory company of actors. The 1970s then became Altman's decade, with a string of masterpieces: McCabe and Mrs Miller, The Long Goodbye, Thieves Like Us, Nashville . . . In the 1980s Altman struggled to fund his work, but he was restored to prominence in 1992 with The Player, an acerbic take on Hollywood. Short Cuts, an inspired adaptation of Raymond Carver, and the Oscar-winning Gosford Park, underscored his comeback. Now he recalls the highs and lows of his career trajectory to David Thompson in this definitive interview book, part of Faber's widely acclaimed Directors on Directors series. 'Hearing in his own words in Altman on Altman just how much of his films occur spontaneously, as a result of last-minute decisions on set, is fascinating . . . For film lovers, this is just about indispensable.' Ben Sloan, Metro London

Robert Altman's America

Robert Altman's America
Author: Helene Keyssar
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 408
Release: 1991
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

Robert Altman is the most quintessentially American of contemporary directors. His films cut across virtually all genres, and though few have met with huge commercial success (apart from the blockbuster M*A*S*H), Altman's unique vision of our society, his distinctive directorial signature, and his defiance of conventional film "language" have all helped reinvent the way we look at America. Keyssar shows why it is time for us to consider this unusual auteur among the pantheon of great directors. She identifies the peculiarities of the Altman style, discusses his films from both a feminist and political perspective, and offers a chapter-length discussion of one of his most important films, Nashville (1975), a "gleeful vision of an American landscape perpetually exploding upon itself."--From publisher description

Robert Altman's Subliminal Reality

Robert Altman's Subliminal Reality
Author: Robert T. Self
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2002
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780816637904

With his complex and unconventional films, Robert Altman often draws an impassioned response from critics but bafflement and indifference from the general public. Some audiences have dismissed his movies as insignificant, unsatisfying, and unreadable. Ironically, Altman might agree: he makes films in order to challenge filmgoers' expectations of straightforward narratives and easily understood endings. In Robert Altman's Subliminal Reality, Robert T. Self sheds light on Altman's work and provides the most comprehensive analysis of his films to date. With close readings of classics like MASH, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and Nashville, as well as the more recent films The Player, Short Cuts, and Cookie's Fortune, Self asserts the value of Altman's work not only to film theory and the entertainment industry but to American culture. Book jacket.

A Companion to Robert Altman

A Companion to Robert Altman
Author: Adrian Danks
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 534
Release: 2015-06-22
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1118288904

A Companion to Robert Altman presents myriad aspects of Altman’s life, career, influence and historical context. This book features 23 essays from a range of experts in the field, providing extensive coverage of these aspects and dimensions of Altman’s work. The most expansive and wide-ranging book yet published on Altman, providing a comprehensive account of Altman’s complete career Provides discussion and analysis of generally neglected aspects of Altman’s career, including the significance of his work in television and industrial film, the importance of collaboration, and the full range and import of his aesthetic innovations Includes essays by key scholars in “Altman studies”, bringing together experts in the field, emerging scholars and writers from a broad range of fields Multi-disciplinary in design and draws on a range of approaches to Altman’s work, being the first substantial publication to make use of the recently launched Robert Altman Archive at the University of Michigan Offers specific insights into particular aspects of film style and their application, industrial and aesthetic film and TV history, and particular areas such as the theorisation of space, place, authorship and gender