RIP Robert Altman

[RGMike]

one of the great filmmakers of our (or any other) time.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/11/21/entertainment/e082959S65.DTL

[princessofcairo]

so long, mister hit-or-miss.

[urth]

Damn. So sorry to see him go. But at least he was active and vital right up to the end (although I can't say I saw Prairie Home Companion, more out of a distaste for Garrison Keillor than anything else).

Suicide is painless...it brings on many changes....

[RGMike]

Damn. So sorry to see him go. But at least he was active and vital right up to the end (although I can't say I saw Prairie Home Companion, more out of a distaste for Garrison Keillor than anything else).

I was quite disappointed by PHC, not a great swan-song for the man. But overall quite a body of work.

[RGMike]

A nice remembrance from Jeffrey Wells at hollywood-elsewhere.com:

We were both at the Cannes Film Festival, and I was trying to get quotes for an EW piece about celebrity reactions to the Rodney King riots that had just happened in Los Angeles. I asked Altman for a quote at a black-tie party on the beach, and he scowled again. "This subject is too important to comment about for Entertainment Weekly," he said, and then turned his back.

You can't hear me, Bob, and if you were here you wouldn't give a shit anyway, but I've been telling people that line for the last 14 years and getting a good laugh from it every time.

I lived in a studio on Hightower Drive in the Hollywood hills in '85 and '86 precisely because it was on the same little street where the way-up-high, elevator-access, deco-styled Long Goodbye apartment was located -- the one that Elliot Gould's Philip Marlowe lived in. You know, the one with the naked hippie-girl neighbors who used to ask him to pick up some brownie mix on his way out to the super market at 1:30 am?

[urth]

Damn. So sorry to see him go. But at least he was active and vital right up to the end (although I can't say I saw Prairie Home Companion, more out of a distaste for Garrison Keillor than anything else).

I was quite disappointed by PHC, not a great swan-song for the man. But overall quite a body of work.

That was his whole career though--hits and misses, but always true to his style and vision. Even though PHC was kind of a turkey, several of his later films, like Gosford Park and Cookie's Fortune, were quite great. The latter was maybe the most uncharacteristic film of his career--it was a small film, much more folksy than many of his, but with the trademark ensemble cast and a great, great story.

I was amused that the obit in the Chron referred to Ready to Wear, rather than the name it was originally released under, Pret a Porter.

[RGMike]

I was amused that the obit in the Chron referred to Ready to Wear, rather than the name it was originally released under, Pret a Porter.

By either name, that one was a turkey. And not in the 10@10 sense, either :wink:

[princessofcairo]

Damn. So sorry to see him go. But at least he was active and vital right up to the end (although I can't say I saw Prairie Home Companion, more out of a distaste for Garrison Keillor than anything else).

I was quite disappointed by PHC, not a great swan-song for the man. But overall quite a body of work.

That was his whole career though--hits and misses, but always true to his style and vision. Even though PHC was kind of a turkey, several of his later films, like Gosford Park and Cookie's Fortune, were quite great. The latter was maybe the most uncharacteristic film of his career--it was a small film, much more folksy than many of his, but with the trademark ensemble cast and a great, great story.

I was amused that the obit in the Chron referred to Ready to Wear, rather than the name it was originally released under, Pret a Porter.

yes, i thought cookie's fortune was a great film, too!