Review of McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) by Darryl J — 08 Dec 2008
To just call this a "western" would be just like calling "2001", a film about space. Robert Altman deconstructs the western genre and makes a film that's entirely his own. He wisely sidesteps a lot of they typical cliche's that people are used to when they hear the term "western".
He crafts this film around his original and exciting characters. That probably doesn't come as a huge surprise if you've seen an Altman film before. This film works for so many different reasons.
Altman's flawess direction is numero uno but the cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond and the quotable screenplay are right on his tail. The acting is great by all but the standouts as you probably could've guessed are McCabe & Mrs.
Miller a.k.a. Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. I've always had this thought in my head that Beatty was just another actor but he's blown me away in this and in Bonnie & Clyde. I need to wise the fuck up.
Hmmmmm. Let's just give the film more compliments. It contains two of the saddest death scenes. I've rarely seen snow used so effectively. The soundtrack by Leonard Cohen(I need to get an album of his!) fits just right with the whole melancholic tone of the entire film.
This also contains one of the most haunting endings I've seen.
This review of McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) was written by Darryl J on 08 Dec 2008.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller has generally received very positive reviews.
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