This is Robert Altman's attempt to rewrite the genre of the western. This western takes place in the northwest (somewhere near Seattle, maybe even in Canada where it was filmed). The film shows the town of Prebyterian Church being built and it eventually takes shape, with the new resident McCabe investing his money in a tavern and whorehouse. He soon teams up with Mrs. Miller. McCabe's arrogance at rejecting a mining companies offer to buy him out gets him hunted down, and like any western the film ends with an action sequence and a gun fight. What is unusual is that it is in the middle of a snow storm, and the town is preoccupied with the church that has caught fire. The film is really about the harsh realities that people faced when risking the move westward. It makes sense that people started to resort to violence - they understood it to be inherent in the environment. Nature as they experienced it was violent, human control of nature was violent, it was only a matter of time until you saw your neighbor as threat rather than a friend. Altman's final twist on the western is to turn the story from one of heroes and adventure, to one of fallible characters and tragedy.
July 27, 2006
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3 comments:
Interesting. I should be watching this sometime over the weekend. It's gonna be the first Altman I've seen since Short Cuts (1993). Given the man's history and breadth of work, that's somehow disparaging to me.
And Scoop is supposedly getting trashed by every critic out there. Supposedly, it's a return to mediocrity for Allen. Instead, Miami Vice is getting raves. Go figure.
Altman's best may be The Player. I should have given it a 7, but it is better than Short Cuts.
Miami Vice actually does sound pretty good. Mann is the original writer and if he wants to update it and make it more intense, why shouldn't he? Alot of Heat comparisons, I might go see this.
Miami Vice sounds like it's going to be a lot more than some shoot-'em-up. Especially with Mann involved. I think he's one of the best Hollywood directors alive right now.
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