McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

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McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) – R. Altman

I was listening to Leonard Cohen’s debut album not too long ago and, naturally, it reminded me of this Robert Altman film that prominently uses three songs from that LP (“the stranger song”, “sisters of mercy”, and “winter lady”).  These songs lend a very melancholy feel to the film and surprisingly were added after the film was already written, even if their lyrics feel very apt.  The plot is pretty melancholy too – Altman called it an “anti-Western” but methinks it isn’t unlike other traditional Westerns that show changes as the wild frontier gave way to business interests. Perhaps the implied destruction of the American dream by unfeeling corporate monoliths (even if the small business focuses on booze and hookers here) is at odds with John Ford’s focus on community building (even if the community was sometimes racist). This description reminds me just how American the Western genre really is. But it’s true that Altman has put his own spin on things here, importing his muttered/overlapping dialogue into the sound design and working with cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond to “flash” the film before shooting (creating a hazy appearance that makes indoor scenes by candlelight/firelight warm and cozy). The camera also zooms and tracks, catching incidental action or drifting in and out of focus on gambler/businessman McCabe (Warren Beatty) and brothel manager/prostitute Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie) who may or may not be developing a relationship before everything goes sour.  It’s not surprising that Christie escapes from this reality by smoking opium, lending even more haze to a picture that feels like an impressionistic (if possibly realistic) look at the past as prelude.