FILM FRENZY

Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider (Photo: Warner Bros.)

By Matt Brunson

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.)

CHEYENNE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1955-1962). The most famous “umbrella series” (the rotation of more than one show in the same weekly time slot) might be The NBC Mystery Movie from the 1970s — the lineup that originated with the powerhouse trio of Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan & Wife — but the first was ABC’s Warner Bros. Presents back in 1955. It didn’t last long, with two of the three programs, adaptations of the classic films Kings Row and Casablanca, clocking only 7 and 10 episodes respectively. But the third show, Cheyenne, was successful enough to break out on its own — when the dust finally settled, the Western series had lasted seven seasons and 107 episodes. Clint Walker stars as the title character, a hulking, handsome cowboy who wanders the West as a jack-of-all-trades. The first episode (guest-starring a pre-Maverick James Garner) finds him working as a mapmaker for the U.S. Cavalry; later episodes see him serving as a ranch foreman, a trail boss, an army scout, an undercover government agent, a sheriff, a deputy, and more. The first television series backed by a major movie studio, Cheyenne offered solid, straightforward entertainment, with Walker a reassuring presence in the central role of a man who was raised by the Cheyenne (his parents had been killed by another tribe) and was atypically sympathetic toward the plight of Native Americans. While Cheyenne wasn’t a ratings bonanza like, well, Bonanza (or Gunsmoke or Wagon Train), it did well enough over the years, peaking at #12 in the Nielsen ratings in its third season.

The only Blu-ray extra is a 2006 interview with Walker.

Series: ★★★

DIRTY HARRY (1971) / THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (1976) / PALE RIDER (1985). Three more Clint Eastwood hits are reaching 4K, one featuring his most iconic character and the other two showcasing his ascendancy as a director of note.

Dirty Harry introduces the character of Inspector Harry Callahan (Eastwood, of course), a gruff San Francisco cop who uses any means necessary (even illegal ones) to catch his man. These tactics come in handy once he tangles with a psycho killer who calls himself Scorpio, a giggling nutcase who mainly divides his time between sniper-shooting civilians and kidnapping children (Andy Robinson effectively plays one of the screen’s great villains). Director Don Siegel’s 1958 Invasion of the Body Snatchers was alternately read as both right-wing (anti-Commie) and left-wing (anti-McCarthyism), and he found his controversial police thriller experiencing the same sort of dichotomy. On one hand, it’s clear that Harry has little use for liberal laws that protect potential criminals (critic Pauline Kael famously called him a “fascist”), yet the character was championed by some on the other side for being so decidedly anti-Establishment. (And who on either side of the great divide doesn’t side with Harry when he tortures the unquestionably guilty Scorpio in order to save a little girl’s life?) Either way, there’s no denying the brute force of this expertly constructed picture, which proved so popular (it was #6 at the 1971 box office, just under the 007 offering Diamonds Are Forever and just above an even more controversial film, A Clockwork Orange) that it led to four sequels (’73, ’76, ’83, ’88). The taciturn acting style of Eastwood (in a role first offered to Frank Sinatra!) helps make the classic quips (including “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya … punk?”) stand out even more.

An important movie in the maturation of Eastwood as both actor and director, The Outlaw Josey Wales finds the legend cast as a Civil War-era farmer whose wife and son are killed by rampaging Union soldiers. Josey Wales seeks those responsible for the senseless slaughter, but this isn’t a mere “revenge yarn” pitting a gruff loner against impossible odds. Instead, Wales finds himself picking up sidekicks throughout the film like so many stray puppies —  he’s in effect still a family man without realizing it — and the finality of both killing and dying, weighty issues that would dominate later Eastwood efforts like Unforgiven and Mystic River, is treated with some measure of import (at least most of the time; when the victims are worthless rednecks, Wales spits out his chewing tobacco on their lifeless bodies, a running gag that never grows old). Progressive in its sympathies for the plight of Native Americans, the film offers a plum supporting role to Chief Dan George as Wales’ talkative companion — he’s as delightful here as in his Oscar-nominated turn in 1970’s Little Big Man — and even finds a spot for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’s Will Sampson as a Comanche chief (the solitary scene between Sampson and Eastwood is superb). Philip Kaufman, who would go on to co-write Raiders of the Lost Ark and direct The Right Stuff, co-penned the screenplay with Sonia Chernus (adapting Forrest Carter’s book Gone to Texas) and actually began as the film’s director until Eastwood elected to fire him and take over. This earned composer Jerry Fielding an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score.

From the silent era through the 1970s, one couldn’t turn around without seeing the name of a Western blazoned across the nearest movie marquee. In the 1980s, though, there was more chance of finding a cactus needle in a haystack than in locating the name of an oater in the newspaper’s movie showtime listings. Bless Eastwood, then, for climbing back into the saddle during a period when most others preferred to climb into a spaceship. Arriving in the same summer season as another rare Western, Lawrence Kasdan’s enjoyable if hardly authentic Silverado, Pale Rider is decidedly more old-school in its approach, leaning heavily on Shane (and, to a lesser degree, Eastwood’s own High Plains Drifter) to relate a somber and satisfying drama. In a small mining community in California, Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty) is just one of the gold prospectors being bullied by Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), a powerful industrialist who covets the miners’ stretch of land. Into this skirmish enters a stranger (Eastwood) who, because he’s wearing a clerical collar, becomes known as “Preacher.” Preacher accepts his apparent calling as the people’s protector, leading LaHood to seek out the services of a corrupt marshal (Western veteran John Russell) and his six deputies — meanwhile, both Hull’s fiancée (Carrie Snodgress) and her 14-year-old daughter (Sydney Penny) find themselves attracted to this man of mystery. This is a handsomely mounted picture that has great respect for genre trappings, and it possesses a tinge of the supernatural that allows for additional interpretations.

All three titles are available individually in 4K + Digital Code editions. Extras on Dirty Harry include audio commentary by film critic and author Richard Schickel (Clint Eastwood: A Biography); interviews with Eastwood and Robinson; the 2000 American Masters career retrospective Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows; and “Fighting for Justice,” an episode of 2021’s 9-part TV limited series Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy. Extras on The Outlaw Josey Wales includes audio commentary by Schickel; a making-of featurette; a look at Eastwood’s Western canon; and “Reinventing the Western,” an episode of 2021’s 9-part TV limited series Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy. Extras on Pale Rider include an interview with Penny; the 2013 career retrospective Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story; and “Reinventing the Western,” an episode of 2021’s 9-part TV limited series Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy (yes, the same episode on the Josey Wales 4K). Each edition also contains a look at the contributions of Bruce Surtees, who was Eastwood’s cinematographer on 12 films (including these three) over a 14-year span from 1971 through 1985.

Dirty Harry: ★★★½

The Outlaw Josey Wales: ★★★½

Pale Rider: ★★★

FOUL PLAY (1978). Following his appearances in two skit-styled films about television, 1974’s The Groove Tube and 1976’s Tunnel Vision, and on the heels of his 1976 departure from Saturday Night Live early into its second season, Chevy Chase landed his first major role opposite established comedienne and Oscar-winning actress Goldie Hawn in writer-director Colin Higgins’ Foul Play. The action-comedy-thriller was a box office hit and led to the stars being reunited for 1980’s equally successful Seems Like Old Times. In a role earmarked for — and turned down by — Harrison Ford, Chase plays second fiddle to Hawn, who’s cast as lovable librarian Gloria Mundy. It’s Gloria who picks up a hitchhiker (Bruce Solomon) being pursued by a couple of shady figures — he’s soon murdered, but not before hiding a roll of film in her cigarette pack. Soon, various strangers are all trying to kill Gloria, leading San Francisco detective Tony Carlson (Chase) to get involved. This breezy picture was clearly inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock filmography: The roll of film serves as a handy MacGuffin, and The Man Who Knew Too Much, Dial M for Murder, Spellbound, and Psycho are among the Hitch flicks saluted. Dudley Moore is hilarious as a hapless would-be swinger who has the misfortune to keep running into Gloria. “Ready to Take a Chance Again,” the theme song performed by Barry Manilow, earned a Best Original Song Oscar nomination and peaked at #11 on the Billboard chart. A 1981 TV adaptation with Deborah Raffin and Barry Bostwick lasted all of five episodes.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include entertainment journalist audio commentary; a piece on Higgins; and theatrical trailers.

Movie: ★★★

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (1980). This horror yarn combines the social conscience occasionally found in Roger Corman productions with the expected nudity and gore, although in this case, more of the latter ingredients were added after the initial shooting in order to provide it with extra exploitation oomph. Issues of environmentalism and racism (in this case, against Native Americans) figure in director Barbara Peeters’ film about a fishing village in which locals divided over the prospect of a new cannery must put their differences aside to ward off lurking salmon-monsters intent on mating with human females. Peeters was fired after she refused to include the additional material, resulting in another crew member taking over to pump up the volumes of flesh and blood. The resulting mishmash isn’t bad, and Doug McClure is typically stalwart as the beefy hero.

The 4K + Blu-ray edition contains the U.S. theatrical release and the uncut international version which made the global rounds under the unhelpful title Monster. Extras consist of film historian audio commentary; a making-of featurette; Corman’s discussion of the movie with film critic Leonard Maltin; deleted scenes; an alternate opening title sequence; a still gallery; theatrical trailers; and TV and radio spots.

Movie: ★★½

MOTORPSYCHO (1965) / UP! (1976). The Blu-ray series “Russ Meyer’s Bosomania,” presented by Severin Films in collaboration with The Russ Meyer Charitable Trust (go here for reviews of the first three releases in the line), continues with two more T&A efforts that can be both Titillating & Asinine.

If nothing else, Motorpsycho should be acknowledged (but generally isn’t) for helping kick off not one but two exploitation genres — and I’m not even including the usual Meyer classification of sexploitation, since this film isn’t as pronounced in that department as most of his other works. First, it was one of the earliest biker flicks, a subgenre that enjoyed great popularity throughout the second half of the sixties thanks to such hits as The Wild Angels, The Born Losers, and, of course, Easy Rider. And second, it was one of the very first (if not the first) vetsploitation films, and considering it was made before the Vietnam War began dominating the stateside news cycle, it’s surprising to see that its primary villain is a crazed vet suffering from PTSD. That would be Brahmin (Stephen Oliver), who, along with his sidekicks Dante (Joseph Cellini) and Slick (Thomas Scott), enjoys beating up men and molesting women. But after the three bikers rape the wife (Holle K. Winters) of a veterinarian (Alex Rocco) and murder the redneck husband (Coleman Francis, creator of the MST3K classic Red Zone Cuba) of a Cajun beauty (Haji), they find themselves being pursued by the vengeance-minded hubby and the hate-filled widow. Rough but watchable, Motorpsycho is far less playful than later Meyer movies, although the auteur would basically remake it later that same year as the cult fave Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, replacing the three murderous male bikers with three murderous go-go dancers (including one played by Haji). Most of the cast would remain firmly entrenched in low-budget flicks, but Rocco (here making his film debut) would enjoy a sustained career in film and television, famously playing Moe Greene in The Godfather and earning an Emmy for his supporting role in the Jon Cryer sitcom The Famous Teddy Z.

Up! (aka Russ Meyer’s Up!, aka Not the Pixar Flick With the Lovable Dog Dug) turned out to be the filmmaker’s penultimate theatrical release, followed only by 1979’s Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens. Like that final picture, this one was also co-written by film critic and Meyer buddy Roger Ebert (here using the pseudonym Reinhold Timme), yet while it’s just as bawdy and bizarre, it’s much more satisfying. This one posits that Adolph Hitler (Edward Schaaf) is alive and well and living in California under the name Adolph Schwartz. After enjoying his latest S&M romp with several women and a young guy named Paul (Robert McLane), the bisexual Fuhrer is murdered when an unknown assailant drops a piranha into his bath. Could the killer be Paul? Paul’s girlfriend Sweet Li’l Alice (Janet Wood)? Homer Johnson (Monty Bane), a good ole boy sheriff straight out of a hicksploitation flick? One of the three women at Hitler’s orgy, one Chinese (Su Ling), one Ethiopian (Elaine Collins), and one masked (Candy Samples)? Or is it Margo Winchester (Raven De La Croix), a busty newcomer to the town? At least we can rule out The Greek Chorus (Kitten Natividad), only on hand to offer running commentary embellished with Shakespearean quotes. It’s all outrageous, idiotic, and undeniably entertaining.

Extras on Motorpsycho consist of film historian audio commentary; interviews with Haji and Rocco; and the theatrical trailer. Extras on Up! consist of film historian audio commentary; an interview with De La Croix; and a radio spot.

Motorpsycho: ★★½

Up!: ★★★

POSSE (1975). One of the many sturdy Westerns that emerged from 1970s Hollywood sporting a chip on its shoulder, Posse, like other oaters of the past 50-odd years, offers lessons in genre revisionism that make it a distant cousin to the cynical likes of Little Big Man and Unforgiven. Whereas Sergio Leone’s seminal Once Upon a Time in the West viewed the intrusion of the railroad on virgin territory with a resigned yet hopeful eye, Posse views it as nothing less than the rape of the land, poisonous “progress” that allowed political corruption to make a clean sweep of the country from coast to coast. Kirk Douglas, also serving as producer and director, stars as Howard Nightingale, a U.S. Marshal who rests his political aspirations (he’s running for Senate) on his ability to capture Jack Strawhorn (an excellent Bruce Dern), a notorious bank robber who just might be his mental match. But the lawman’s self-serving ambitions, his muddy ties to the powerful railroad industry, and the ruthless behavior of the hotshots who make up his posse (ones played by Bo Hopkins and Luke Askew among them) end up making the outlaw’s old-fashioned villainy seem preferable by comparison.

Blu-ray extras consist of film historian audio commentary; the theatrical trailer; and trailers for other titles offered by Kino.

Movie: ★★★

SNEAKERS (1992). An enormous amount of levity is injected into this techno-thriller, so much so that any and all attempts at creating suspense are immediately doomed. Still, when your cast includes such all-stars as Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier, there are worse ways to spend 126 minutes. Redford is Martin Bishop, a professional hacker who runs a company used by banks to test their security systems. When two government suits (Timothy Busfield and Eddie Jones) blackmail him into helping them acquire a black box, he tackles the assignment by assembling his team — a former CIA agent (Poitier), a conspiracy theorist (Dan Aykroyd), an excitable kid (River Phoenix), and a blind soundman (David Strathairn) — and recruiting his former girlfriend (Mary McDonnell). But once it’s revealed that the black box is really the world’s most advanced code breaker and the agents are actually imposters, Bishop et al find themselves on the run. Ultimately, it all revolves around a figure from Bishop’s past: Cosmo (Ben Kingsley), a megalomaniac seeking possession of the black box. Sneakers often plays like a kiddie version of Redford’s ‘70s gem Three Days of the Condor, with the paranoia replaced by pranks and the frightening real-world villains swapped out for Bond-level goons (and what is Kingsley’s Cosmo if not a less menacing version of the madmen running the shows in 007 entries like Dr. No and Moonraker?). But smart casting and agreeable performances make all the difference.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include audio commentary by writer-director Phil Alden Robinson and writer-producers Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes, and a making-of featurette.

Movie: ★★½

THIEF (1981). One of James Caan’s most celebrated roles (at least among cineastes) can be found in this slick heist flick. Caan plays Frank, a no-nonsense type who’s hoping to make enough from one last job in order to quit the business and settle down with his new sweetheart (Tuesday Weld). To accomplish this goal, he unwisely enters into a partnership with a bigwig named Leo (Robert Prosky), a shrewd character who’s reluctant to let go of his best burglar. Director Michael Mann made his feature debut with this film, and it laid the groundwork for the sleek stylistics later seen in his influential TV series Miami Vice. Caan delivers what might be the best performance of his career, while Prosky, James Belushi (as Frank’s right-hand man), and Dennis Farina (as one of Leo’s thugs) are among those making their big-screen debuts (you can also spot William L. Petersen, star of Mann’s 1986 Manhunter, very briefly as a stick-wielding bartender). Donald Thorin’s cinematography and the score by Tangerine Dream also add to the film’s atmospherics (speaking of the Tangerine Dream score, see Paging Oscar: The Worst Razzie Nominations of All Time here).

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition consist of archival audio commentary by Mann and Caan; archival interviews with Mann, Caan, and Tangerine Dream keyboardist Johannes Schmoelling; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU’RE DEAD (1995). Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 Pulp Fiction was so influential that the rest of the decade found movie theaters and video stores clogged with hipper-than-thou crime flicks featuring colorful characters, stylized dialogue, and twisty narratives. Most, of course, were junk — I recall a particularly dreadful one called Destiny Turns on the Radio, which even featured Tarantino in its cast — and that was the consensus on Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, which was swooped up and heavily promoted by Miramax, only to then suffer a quiet death once it opened in only a few cities before hightailing it to VHS. Thirty years later, when it can breathe on its own, it plays a bit better, even if it still qualifies as an also-ran. Andy Garcia is Jimmy the Saint, a former criminal forced to perform one last task for underworld kingpin The Man With the Plan (Christopher Walken). Jimmy puts together a team comprised of Franchise (William Forsythe), Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), and Critical Bill (Treat Williams), but after the assignment gets botched, the men find themselves being pursued by a hired assassin known as Mr. Shhh (Steve Buscemi). Williams earned the best reviews at the time of release, but everyone is in fine form, and their collective participation helps the overripe dialogue and by-the-numbers existentialism almost seem convincing.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include audio commentary by director Gary Fleder and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg; interviews with Garcia, Fleder, and Rosenberg; and a production featurette.

Movie: ★★½

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

BRUBAKER (1980). In the same year that Robert Redford made his directorial debut with Ordinary People (and won an Oscar for his efforts), he lent his box office clout to Brubaker, a tough prison yarn that was a commercial success despite its hard-sell topic (to put it in perspective, it grossed almost as much as the same year’s popular comedy Caddyshack and popular slasher flick Friday the 13th). Loosely based on a true story (with an Oscar-nominated screenplay by W.D. Richter and Arthur Ross), the movie follows prisoner Henry Brubaker (Redford) as he enters an Arkansas state penitentiary, where he immediately sees that the institution is teeming with corruption and weaker inmates are being beaten, tortured, and/or raped on a daily basis. Eventually, Brubaker reveals himself to be not a prisoner but rather the new warden, and he rapidly starts to work on comprehensive prison reform. But his efforts are thwarted not only by many inside the institution but also by politicians and board members who are resistant to any change. The first half-hour is powerful stuff, but after Brubaker reveals his true identity, the movie begins to falter, with the one-dimensional nature of the characters (particularly the earnest warden himself) eventually stripping the story of any dramatic charge. Only Yaphet Kotto, as one of the prison trustees, is allowed any ambiguity in his character, although even here, there’s never any real doubt where his allegiance will ultimately fall. The cast is packed with name actors and familiar faces, including Morgan Freeman in one of his earliest big-screen roles (as a Death Row inmate).

Movie: ★★½

A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1949). Writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s riveting melodrama is set up like a whodunit, only instead of a murderer, the guilty party is a philandering husband. Based on A Letter to Five Wives, a Cosmopolitan piece by John Klempner, the plot centers on the sensitive Deborah Bishop (Jeanne Crain), the sensual Lora Mae Hollingsway (Linda Darnell), and the sensible Rita Phipps (Ann Sothern), three women who can’t seem to stop discussing their frenemy Addie Ross (Celeste Holm, heard in voiceover but never seen). As the three prepare for a boat trip to supervise a group of children, they’re handed a message from Addie informing them that she has run off with one of their husbands (Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, and Jeffrey Lynn). Thus, out to sea and with no way to go home, they spend a torturous day trying to decide if their spouse is the wayward one. The various plotlines are played out in juicy flashbacks, and the ending is both surprising and satisfying. Douglas was still on the ascendancy at this early point in his career, but it was already clear he was star material (he would in fact become a full-fledged one with the same year’s release of Champion); his segments with Sothern as his wife are the best of the flashbacks. An Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, this won Mankiewicz Oscars for Best Director and Best Screenplay. The very next year, he would repeat the feat, with the masterpiece All About Eve likewise taking home the awards for Director and Screenplay (plus four more, including Best Picture).

Movie: ★★★½

THE NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY (1966). What Cheyenne’s Clint Walker lacked in dramatic range, the barrel-chested — make that barrels-chested — actor made up for in sheer physicality. Despite his 6’6” presence, Walker was never able to make the leap to movie stardom, although he did score a supporting gig as one of the titular 12 in 1967’s The Dirty Dozen. He also enjoyed a rare leading role in the previous year’s The Night of the Grizzly, which was made by Paramount Pictures but often plays like the sort of live-action flick Disney was routinely offering during this decade (e.g. Swiss Family Robinson, In Search of the Castaways). Walker stars as Big Jim Cole, a sheriff who gives up the badge once he inherits a prime stretch of frontier land. The difficulties begin immediately for Jim, his wife Angela (Martha Hyers), and the rest of their extended family. They use most of their savings to pay off an outstanding mortgage; the house is in dire need of repair; a local bigwig (Keenan Wynn) covets the valuable property; a bounty hunter (Leo Gordon) Jim once sent to prison appears on the scene; and, most damagingly, an imposing grizzly bear known as Old Satan has a reputation for unexpectedly showing up and killing man and beast alike. The everything-but-the-kitchen-sink plotting keeps the film percolating on a low simmer, although the frequent broad humor is often too broad to allow the picture to maintain any dramatic consistency.

Movie: ★★½

RAISING CAIN (1992). Following the critical and commercial drubbing he received for 1990’s The Bonfire of the Vanities, it’s no wonder Brian De Palma retreated back into the world of thrillers for his next screen credit — it’s just a shame the resultant picture proved to be one of his weakest. It’s like an off-center carbon copy of De Palma’s superb 1980 hit Dressed to Kill (with pinches of Michael Powell’s 1960 Peeping Tom added to the mix), coming off as hokey and jokey rather than clever and suspenseful. John Lithgow overacts outrageously in a number of roles, including a weak-willed psychiatrist, his demented twin brother, and their domineering father, a sadist whose scientific experiments require the kidnapping of several small children (and the murders of any attendant adults). A couple of scenes evoke De Palma in his prime — check out that tracking shot through a police station’s corridors — but the majority is shamelessly derivative and played for too many cheap laughs. Two decades after its release, a fan named Peet Gelderblom, working from De Palma’s original script, rearranged the order of sequences and called his edit Raising Cain Recut. De Palma himself loved the new version and lobbied to have it released on Blu-ray (where it was tagged, perhaps disingenuously, as “The Director’s Cut”). While this new edit does allow the film to build more steadily and flow more easily, it still ranks as a mediocre thriller.

Movie: ★½

SHORT CUTS (1993). The opening shot in Robert Altman’s masterful feature is that of helicopters spraying the Los Angeles landscape in an effort to control the Medfly problem. It’s an apt metaphor, as this 188-minute masterwork shows how a veil of poison has likewise blanketed its various characters’ lives. Working from Raymond Carver’s short stories, Altman follows 22 middle-class people as they struggle with harsh circumstances plucked from the real world: An arrogant cop (Tim Robbins) hits on numerous women, although he doesn’t fool his spouse (Madeleine Stowe) for one second; a haughty doctor (Matthew Modine) still suspects his artist wife (Julianne Moore) of having had an affair three years earlier; a happily married couple (Andie MacDowell and Bruce Davison) are devastated after a car accident puts their son in a coma; three men (Fred Ward, Buck Henry, and pop star Huey Lewis) discover a corpse and decide to continue with their fishing trip before reporting it; and so on. What an amazing feat Altman has pulled off, as, in true Nashville fashion, he juggles a profusion of storylines which combined reveal a certain spiritual malnourishment at this nation’s heart. The performances are uniformly excellent, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Lemmon, Frances McDormand, Lyle Lovett, and Lily Tomlin also located among the all-stars. Rarely has a slice-of-life film been so delicious to consume. Altman, who earned a Best Director Academy Award nomination for 1992’s brilliant The Player, nabbed a second consecutive one for his work on Short Cuts — it was the only nomination thrown the picture’s way.

Movie: ★★★★