Review of McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) by Keaton P — 05 Apr 2010

Were Altman attempting to tell a quick story of man and woman interaction on a playing field clad in industrial revolutionary attire, he would have succeeded without flaw. Yet the truth of the matter is that he wants to tell the story of man's place in a woman's mind and how often times difficult for both parties it can be when pride, morals, and most of all true love make their way into the parapet of the self concerned individual.

Where Altman makes his first mistake is the non equally sketched parallels of his two main characters. Mrs. Miller, played by Julie Christie, is a woman in a man's world, and in true to era sexual revolutionary fashion, she is finding whatever way possible to equal the playing fields of the misogynistic county line.

McCabe, played by Beatty, is a hero with a gun filled with blanks, the heart of a loner, the mind of a boy, and the guts of a proletariat. With these layering dimensions given full play by bear bearded Beatty, the viewer can't help but find themselves fully committed to his well being for the full length of the picture.

But where Altman cracks the back of the camel is with the vice. McCabe's being fullish pride, Mrs. Millers' being an underdeveloped tale of opiate addiction and insecurities. Perhaps in the original cut the two where of clear equal proportion, but what comes across in the theatrical release is some what of a unbalanced teeter tot, with McCabe acting as a fat girl, and Mrs.

Miller standing in as a waif. The film as a whole is worthy of praise from far corners of the analysis spectrum. Is it without needed corrections? I believe it could have used a few.