Rating: 
Summary: Money and pain....pain, pain, pain.......
Review: This is first class film-making all the way. The West of Robert Altman (Pacific Northwest more precisely) is not the the usual West of Hollywood. Peopled by poor working stiffs & idiots at the mercy of hustlers, gamblers, killers and whores, and inevitably, by politicians & big business in the form of the quietly rapacious Railroad, it is wet, nasty, dirty, and harsh. A small-time gambler McCabe (Beatty) becomes an entrepenuer (saloon & brothel) in the soggy and filthy mining town of Presbyterian with the aid of a sharp and clever English madam (Christie) only to have his newfound prosperity & "status" threatened by a ruthless larger enterprise. This is a true American story. Not the only American story, but just as valid as any others. Filmed in real rain and real snow on location, this film just has lots and lots of good stuff. The plight of the cowboy on the bridge (Keith Carradine) facing a psychotic baby-faced gunslinger, McCabe's desperate battle in the snow, the overlapping dialogue with very funny throw-away lines, the appropriate use of Leonard Cohen's songs, and the beautiful cinematography. It is a rich film that only improves on multiple viewings. This movie says more about the underlying dark side of the conquest of the American West than Cimino's Heaven's Gate did in half the time and probably 1/10th of the budget. Of course, that is the difference between a would-be "artiste" and a guy who makes movies that turn out to be art. The quality of the VHS is only fair. This film cries out for DVD. But, if this is the only way to see it....see it.
Rating:
Summary: Bring this out on DVD NOW!!
Review: On October 1, 2000, I wrote: "I agree with all the 5-star reviews of this great great film. The VHS version is very murky and hard to watch, but until something better comes along, this is better than nothing. If anyone at Warner is reading this: You need to bring this out on DVD immediately!" Now it's gonna happen. Buy it if you like Warren, Julie, offbeat Westerns, interesting photography, Leonard Cohen, or just good moviemaking.
Rating:
Summary: What movies CAN be......
Review: If only all movies were this good. Beatty's best role as McCabe, an alcoholic, turn-of-the-century businessman who, with his business partner Mrs. Miller (Christie), is being overtaken not only by "a syndicate" but by the changing times. Anyone who thinks they were born 100 years too late could get a realistic look at life in the late 1800's in this movie. It shows the sometimes quiet, sometimes violent desperation and uncertainty of the life in this mining town in the Northwest. Leonard Cohen's songs and the weather puntuate the melacholy. One of my favorite flicks of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Sad Spellbinder, A Beautiful Film!
Review: The deglamorization of the western has never been made so beautifully. One of the sadest films ever made. Altman has basically no compassion for his characters, that is the reason we care so much about them. Warren Beatty gives probably his best performance as the gambler McCabe who transforms a small mining town into a busy boomtown. Julie Christie is also excellent as the business wise hooker that brings 'high class girls' to the town. What make this one unique are the beautiful landscapes that are expertly captured by the masterful cinematography, the haunting and unforgettable Leonard Cohen songs, and powerhouse direction by Altman who brings us richly textured characters that provide a breathtaking and unforgettable cinematic experience. The film also features one of the saddest deaths in Western history, young cocky Keith Carradine is tricked by a ruthless gunslinger and meats his death on that fatal bridge. The last scenes in the snow storm where the antihero McCabe is put into a heroic position is unbearably poignant and unbelievably beautiful. A fascinating film that has a lot to offer. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 9!
Rating:
Summary: Altman at his best.......
Review: Masterful character study manages a rare feat: demystifying the West without resorting to heavy-handedness and obvious targets. While the overall soundness of expansion is questioned, Altman is far more interested in the dynamics of community and how individualism is often sacrificed in the name of "progress." McCabe, played by Warren Beatty in what might be his best performance, is a vintage anti-hero; self-absorbed, bumbling, deluded, and concerned only with his own interests. Mrs. Miller, played wonderfully by Julie Christie, manages to evade cliché at every turn, never resorting to a "heart-of-gold" status and always keeping her eye on the bottom line. Their relationship, central to Altman's vision, gives us a dirty, unglamorous frontier, full of mindless violence, decay, and prostitution; again not the Hollywood version, but rather as it most likely was (and is). McCabe & Mrs. Miller co-exist not as friends or lovers, but rather as a business alliance, reinforcing Altman's belief that communities come together not out of a sense of sentiment or loving connection, but rather to build industry and frankly, make money. Once again, Altman uses overlapping dialogue, muffled conversations, and music (the soundtrack consists solely of sad Leonard Cohen songs) to convey character and the inability of people to engage in meaningful interactions. As McCabe wanders in a blizzard near the end of the film attempting to evade death at the hands of hired guns, members of the community he helped build remain oblivious to his plight as they instead focus on a burning church. Hopeless, alone, and facing a meaningless death, we are again put face to face with the stark truth provided by Altman. In the Old West, like any other historical era or region, there are no last-minute heroics or gentlemen atop white horses, only the sounds of the pipe dreamers and individuals gasping their last breaths as the wheels of capital grind on.
Rating:
Summary: One of the BEST Films Ever Made
Review: McCabe and Mrs. Miller is yet another brillant work from Robert Altman who along with Scorsese ranks as the two greatest filmmakers America has produced. Next to "Nashville", this is Altman's best film. One of Altman's devices is to take an established genre of filmmaking and turn it completely inside out and reexamine it. Here, Altman has made a Western (or is is an Anti-Western)like no other. This neither looks nor feels like any other film I've seen. Warren Beatty gives the performance of his career here(you would'nt know he and Altman were at odds the entire shoot) and I will forever remember the lovely Julie Christie as Mrs. Miller, the tough talking shrewd and business smart prostitute. Altman's sensational style of filmmaking perfectly suits the material, his remarkable use of overlapping dialogue demands multiple viewings, and Vilmos Zsigmond's incredible, ususual cinematography is endlessly fascinating to look at. And ,as with most of Altman's work, one can interpet the film a number of ways. Is it a tough look at achieving the American Dream, or is it a study of American frontierism/individualism vs. community/democracy? Is it (as one previous reviewer commented)an indictment of Capitalism and a look at the way Big Business encroached on the frontier and a simple way of life. Is it a study of loneliness and heroism? The answer is yes to all of these. To top it off, Altman's use of Leonard Cohen's songs to accompany the film adds to the overall sense of melancholy, it fits it beautifully. If I sound like I'm gushing, I am, great films have that effect. See this now!
Rating:
Summary: A western for people who don't like westerns
Review: The fact that this film isn't as celebrated as some of the other classics of the early 70s is a shame. It perfectly captures a unique mood and setting. The last 20 minutes are among the greatest in film history. Beatty and Christie are perfect in their roles. Hugh Millais, making his acting debut, deserved an Oscar for his icy portrayal of Butler, the bounty hunter. I consider myself a fan of Altman, but I think his loose style has ruined many of his films. However, all the pieces fall into place perfectly here. You will need to watch this at least twice, to catch all the dialogue and other little subtleties. Plus, the ending's depressing. But it's worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable...thoroughly enjoyable.
Review: Warren Beatty is at his finest in this film. Julie Christie plays, with style, the opium-addicted whore-mistress. The great Leonard Cohen gently rocks the viewer back and forth into a depression with his melancholic music...for example, the final scene... no one will help our "anti-hero", despite his being the town founder, yet, ironically enough, the song playing is Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy"...etc, etc. Oh...and Bobby Altman is doing quite well here too. Quite well indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect storytelling of another time
Review: You can watch McCabe and Mrs. Miller today without knowing that is was shot in the seventies and marvel at its acting, script, direction, sound, and cinematography. But what is it really about? Is it an indictment of capitalism, a period piece, a love story, an anti-western, or about nothing at all? I believe that great films are tough to pin down. The resist easy analysis. For me, this movie is about the difficulty of rebuilding our lives when we want to start again. McCabe and Mrs Miller both want a fresh start, but they cannot shed their former selves. What we aspire to be can be our ruin and our salvation. This movie is a work of art that only grows more powerful upon reflection.
Rating:
Summary: Altman's best
Review: I generally hate thinly veiled indictments of capitalism, which is of course the favorite theme of the major hippie filmmakers -- and certainly a favorite topic of film critics feeling the need to prove they went to college. But this movie looks and feels so genuine that I will forgive its dime-store Marxism and simply enjoy the groundbreaking use of overlapping sound; the authentic frontier town recreation; the wonderfully grubby-looking extras; the unusually filtered cinematography; and the best film performance Warren Beatty has ever given or ever will give. Altman's even manages to make use of the songs of Leonard Cohen. To be frank, Cohen is pretty hard to take; he is in fact the most pretentious singer-songwriter of the last thirty years. (That's quite a claim, I realize -- and yes, I'm familiar with Harry Chapin.) But Altman manages to find images resonant enough to stand up underneath Cohen's bombast, even making it sound appropriate. Having read a little about the, um, undisciplined way that Altman makes movies (not to mention his clashes with Beatty), it seems unbelievable that this turned out so well. But in fact it's Altman's best film, one of the better films of the 70's and perhaps, heaven forbid, a masterpiece.
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