Rating: 
Summary: complex, dreamy/harsh "western"
Review: Warren Beatty comes to a small mining camp town and tries to create a whorehouse with Julie Christie as partner/madame. Beatty talks tough but it is Christie who is the brains at how to run it best. Things turn with the success of the bordello , as thugs are sent to take over when Beatty refuses to make a deal. The lighting is perfect, murky and dreamy at times. This looks and feels as the west probably did. Visually a wonderful film and a great adventure as well. Both stars are well cast. This is probably one of Julie Christie's best roles.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding period piece.
Review: Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" is one of those jewels that continue to shine while other movies fade. Maybe it is because it is so atypical of the genre and paints a picture so realistic, not only in the period it represents and the mining town itself, but also in the community of people living within. Add to that, one of the most brilliantly conceived final shoot-outs, and you have a film that continues to mesmerize. I believe that this is Warren Beatty's best film. In my opinion, it certainly outshines "Bonnie and Clyde". Once you begin viewing the film, you quickly realize that all the actors play their parts as if they were living their rolls, not acting them, and Julie Christie is especially good. "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" is one of my favorite films and I give it a solid 10 out of 10.
Rating:
Summary: "I have poetry in me!"
Review: It is a line that McCabe speaks when he is trying to articulate his worth in an imagined conversation with the woman he loves. This movie has poetry in it.The first time I watched this movie, I left it in a disoriented haze. It is very unexpected. There were also certain scenes that stuck in my mind, but over-all I could not understand what the hype was all about. I watched it again recently, and the re-watch was worth it. It really is a great film, with the leading performers, Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, giving their finest performances. Both elicit moments of such incredible honesty and poignance, that unusual as their characters are, they inspire interest and genuine affection. Christie was rarely given complex roles (Afterglow in recent memory is another career highlight, where she has a character with which she can colour between the lines rather than just spout dialogue) and frankly, it is a little shocking to see her do so much and not just look incredible. Its Beatty who is the real surprise though. I do think that he is under-rated as an actor, and he is FANTASTIC in this film. The final shoot-out sequence has few equals, and the real star of this movie is Altman, who concocts this movie using his trademark style and his utter unpredictablility. I am thrilled to own this movie.
Rating:
Summary: one of the best sleeper films ever made!
Review: this is film making! the story is simple human lives in a time specific setting, the music is in harmony with the story, all the characters, even the most minor are well played, the attention to period detail is flawless. I would have bought a copy from Amazon, but I already own one!
Rating: 
Summary: Worst Western Ever Made
Review: "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is the worst western ever made. Warren Beatty and Robert Altman join up to destroy the whole western genre single handedly. This is not what the west was all about. Altman has it all wrong. There is no honor, dignity or glory to be found anywhere in this film. That's what the west was really all about. Sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Review: Another film that I was expecting greatness from. This one is one Harmony Korine's top ten favorite films of all time list, from which I have seen 4 films, I believe. It is good, but gets very very slow at times, and the movie lacks the emotional intensity that the other films on Harmony's last have. It sets up a very emotionally complex story, but then cuts it very short.
Rating:
Summary: True starkly real western
Review: Many years ago when I first saw this movie I, like many others, was full of the false impression of the west in the 1800's that was propogated by Hollywood. The good guys always wore white, always won the battle, and always got the girl.
This movie put a different perspective on what the west, in fact the era, was really like. R. Altman created the backdrop for that stark reality using a combination of music and imagery of dismal winters weather and mud lined streets. The characters were not heros but just people doing the best they could to survive in a harsh world.
In the case of Julie Christie's character survival included disappearing from reality through the use of opium. Other characters portrayed are Shelly Duvall as the mail order bride turned prostitute when her husband is killed and Kieth Carradine as a cowboy who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The final shootout is not a "meet in the street and shoot it out" gunbattle but rather a game of hide and seek with survival at stake. Even the final ending has a starkness surrounding it with the bodies probably frozen and hidden by snow until springs thaw and Julie submerging herself in the opium pits to forget the man you think she may actually have feelings for.
This movie is a true reality check on what the west was probably really like and the first of its time to portray a realistic version of it.
Rating:
Summary: American Masterpiece
Review: One reviewer here insists that if you buy this DVD you will not get the basic movie, you'll only be getting a lot of commentary. This is nonsense - this DVD offers the basic movie, plus plenty of commentary if you want it, etc. - all the usual good stuff you want in a DVD.
Having taken care of that, I just want to express my undying admiration for this film. It's probably the only movie I make a point to watch annually, usually in the autumn or early winter. (This ain't a summer picture in any way, shape or form - it's saturated with the feel of bad weather.)
Every moment of "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" works for me. The bridge encounter involving Keith Carradine is my nomination for the single most stunning sequence in the history of the movies. The music - my God - here I go again with another superlative - I really can't think of a film that better unites image and music unless maybe it's 10 or 15 minutes of "Yellow Submarine." Maybe the opening of "2001," OK, that too. Robert Altman once said in an interview in the San Jose Mercury News that he was listening to Leonard Cohen's music in Paris while he was working on the script. While he was working on the script! The music informed the writing! It's an organic part of the whole deal! And on the DVD it's gorgeously clear and vivid. Thank you, Robert Altman. And Leonard Cohen. And Brian McKay and Edmund Naughton. And Warren Beatty and Julie Christie too, and the Mighty Altman Art Players, wherever you have scattered. Your work here will live forever.
Rating:
Summary: Who learned you history "a viewer" ?
Review: You obviously know very little of the west during the 19th Cent.
Rating:
Summary: A Documentary, not the movie
Review: I bought this DVD thinking I was buying the movie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Instead, when I began to play it, I found that it is actually a backdrop for commentary by Robert Altman (the director) and David Foster (the producer). As the movie begins, their commentary on how they made the film begins and there is no way to turn it off. The "Special Features" has a selection for "Commentary", but selecting it does not provide an option for turning it off; there is no way to turn the commentary off. Don't buy this DVD if you want the movie. This is a DVD of Altman and Foster blabbering about the movie with the movie as a backdrop, it's not the movie. I would give the movie five stars, but if there were a way to give this DVD no stars, I would. Don't buy this if you want the movie! You'll be wasting your money.
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