Robert Altman: My Imaginary Doctorate

Kim’s Cinematic Corner

I never got the whole super duper sadness Dead Heads still feel over the death of Jerry. It was August 9th, 1995, I was still working at Food For Thought, mostly counting money, and data entry, when Andy, my morning head cashier came into the money room crying. Andy whatʼs wrong? Jerry died. Whoʼs Jerry? I still bump into Andy, and we still laugh at what an uncaring bitch I was. Then November 20th, 2006 came to pass, and so did Robert Altman. I finally had empathy for all those silly Dead Heads. )

I watched the directorʼs cut commentary in one of his movies and think I remember him saying that all his put together told one long story, bam the thought came quick. If I was writing a dissertation, it would be on this theory. I would try to find the bigger picture. This thought happened long ago and slowly turned into another project I sort of started, only to have be swept over by real life. I googled Robert Altman to see if anything new about him had emerged, and lookie what I found.

http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2015junaug/altman.html

It isnʼt exactly my dissertation, but it is amazing and makes me very happy. *This list has a few movies earlier than I thought I figured out was his first feature film. So if this were a true degree in the making, Iʼd have to go back and rethink my conclusions.

Robert Altman: my imaginary doctorate

I donʼt remember where, I think while listening to the directorʼs commentary of Prairie Home Companion, I heard, from his own mouth, that his movies told one long story and that he never repeated a theme, or genre. So in one manic episode I went and researched his career and decided his first real motion picture, (he had a prolific career in directing television.) was Countdown, from 1968, starting James Caan, Robert Duvall, and later I recognized Ted Knight from the Mary Tyler Moore show.*

I had been sitting on it for about a month before I popped the VHS I got form ebay, I think fee shipping, for less the ten bucks, in. I watched it while tired, and yet jacked on caffeine. My kidsʼ school Halloween event past me, with only our own family Halloween party ahead. The race to the moon was the back drop, and Caan and Duvall were the men to walk it. Knight was the governmental press secretary, I think.

James Caan had his commanding screen presence as well as Duvall, who even in 1967 had his signature head of hair. Having been born in 1968, I only saw them in their later films, after their rise to star power, and at 43 years of age now, it all makes sense to me, ever so clearly why my motherʼs eyes lit up.

Spoiler alter. When Robert Altman finished the movie and the studio executives saw the dailies, Altman was locked out of the studio and his more tragic ending was altered with Caanʼs character finding the beacon. Altman had him miss, and therefore alerting the audience that the astronaut would die on the moon, leaving his wife a widow and his sons fatherless. Also, Altmanʼs signature style of overlapping dialogue started here and was another part of the reason he was fired.

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Last night I watched That Cold Day in the Park, Robert Altmanʼs second film and again I was tired from a lot of driving back and forth in my hamster wheel of a car. I watched it with a busy mind as I was thinking how could this movie be a continuation of Countdown and exploration came to mind and being trapped.

I found myself totally engaged although the movie did meander and didnʼt have the excitement needed to keep my eyes open, but it was thrilling enough to keep my mind aware and therefore eventually awake and paying attention.

This time I know none of the actors by name. Sandy Dennis has top billing, but I didnʼt know who she was. I did recognized one character’s face, but not name. I think he might be in Tanner 88, but this actor was part of the core group of people Altman created with, throughout Altmanʼs career.

My mind begins to spin as I think about what really lies ahead if I truly want to think I see one overall story in all his work. I justify my lack of alertness and note taking as the fly over, so to speak. Can I see quickly any correlation in a relaxed state of being? I can try to be a biased observer and then recall solely on memory the day after, as I am watching already thinking and quite possibly forcing a correlation in my mind. I was, however, an Art History major, so I have practice in trying to prove an abstract point about a work of art. Itʼs all about research and quotes.

The back of the box gives away practically the whole story. And itʼs a way out there story, but told in such an interesting sometimes whimsical way. A boy sits on a park bench in the rain under the window of a very eccentric women. She calls him in, at first he seems mute. And a relationship between the two of them begins, and it ends up being a twisted mess for all concerned. There are scenes when the young man is alone in the womanʼs apartment, and he is generally in a towel and the play with it, is, to me, the lighter side of the film, and are my favorite scenes.

Michael Burns plays the young man, and I canʼt remember if his characterʼs name is ever used. Michael does such a wonderful job at using his face to set the state of mood by his expression, especially his eyes. Altman continued his ambiguous ending, with it tilting to the more ominous side. The movie closes on murder and uncertainty for the young man, and in kind of the same way Countdown did, centering the ending with a lean towards certain death. A young man locked in a house with a woman no longer on the verge, but in full swing melt down could very easily be like the slow drawn out misery of waiting for back up alone on the moon.

The young man and James Caanʼs characters remind me of each other in the sense, that they both started on their adventure willingly, but with some caution, only to ignore it and delve right in, making their path picking moments: Caan with landing without sighting the beacon, and the young man by climbing back through the window. They both sealed their less then ideal fate with making the wrong choice.

Side notes

James Caan in Elf is my all time favorite Caan movie. The scene of Will Ferrell in an elf suit trying to hold James Cannʼs hand while walking out of jail, is one of the funniest moments of my movie watching life.

Robert Duvall as the Great Santini, just his aura of that role and how potent the end is. I donʼt remember much, but I use moments of mean parenting as my Great Santini ones. And his Old Man in The Road, that character will never leave me,

Ted Knightʼs, “Mary,” was on my mind every time he came on screen, but of course back then he hadnʼt said it yet. I am sure I experienced his part completely differently than when it was first released.

Robert Altman: My Imaginary Doctorate

Robert Altman: my imaginary doctorate

Countdown

Elf

The Great Santini

The Road

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

That Cold Day in the Park

Sandy Dennis

Michael Burns

Michael Murphy

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