Review of Brewster McCloud (1971) by Stephen C — 23 Jul 2012
If your Robert Altman how do you follow the success of MASH ?
Well you make a film so totally off the wall ,its on the floor by the wall and this film is one heck of a movie.
Altman takes the story of Brewster McCloud a boy who yearns to fly and grafts on references to the Wizard of Oz ,Bullit and god knows what else.
This is Altman at his freewheeling best and of course the cast is great as always ,Bud Cort who would latter star in the equally odd Harold and Maude is perfect as Brewster, Sally Kellerman plays Brewsters fairy Godmother and Michael Murphy gets to Channel Steve McQueen as San Fran cop Frank Shaft.
The plot also includes a series of bizzare murders where the only clue is bird droppings and a mad college Professor forgetting the first lines of the film and slowly turning into a bird and Stacey Keach made up to look like a 100 year old man as Brewsters boss.
Add to that the credits re starting when a choir go out of key and all the cast turning up as Circus performers at the end and its now wonder the studio were totally baffled.
A film as mad as this would never get made in todays money driven climate and it proves once again just how good a director Altman was when he was on top form .
This review of Brewster McCloud (1971) was written by Stephen C on 23 Jul 2012.
Brewster McCloud has generally received positive reviews.
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