Robert Altman liked to say he hated Westerns. He didn't, for that matter, much enjoy working with Warren Beatty. How he felt about directing Julie Christie is not recorded, but given Altman's big mouth, we may safely concluded his silence counted as consent.
In the winter of 1970, when Altman made this movie in the Pacific Northwest, only a fool would not have connected the Old West --- when the film was set --- to contemporary America. That is, a crook (Nixon) in the seat of power. Violence (Vietnam) as the expression of our national character. And non-conformity (drugs, sex, shaggy hair) as an emblem of dissident youth.
So much of “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” may seem quaint and dated to a new viewer. It would be easy, in fact, for such a viewer to watch it and see only the plot: Warren Beatty (McCabe), a small-time gambler with more dreams than brains, comes to the tiny community of Presbyterian Church to open a bar and bordello. It is his great good fortune to run into Julie Christie (Mrs. Miller), an opium-smoking prostitute who actually knows how to run a whorehouse. They join forces, get successful, have an awkward romance. A corporation decides to buy them out. Christie's in favor of the deal --- she understands the power of Big Business --- but Beattie fancies himself a negotiator. So the corporation dispatches three gunmen to kill him.
I was just out of college when “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” was released. I was a disciple of Leonard Cohen (whose early songs provide a gloomy, dreamy soundtrack). I admired Altman, respected Beatty, had a crush on Christie. My reaction to the film was predictable: It was one of the greater films I'd ever seen.
Most critics didn't agree. Here's Vincent Canby, of The New York Times: “The intentions of 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller' are...meddlesomely imposed on the film by tired symbolism, by a folk-song commentary on the soundtrack...and by metaphysically purposeful photography....Such intentions keep spoiling the fun of what might have been an uproarious frontier fable.”
Talk about wrong-headed! Canby wanted Altman to make another “M*A*S*H.” But Altman wanted to get inside a genre, to show that the West wasn't Gary Cooper and John Wayne --- it was just like now, with little people starting small enterprises and getting a town going, then the Big Boys muscling them out and sucking the soul from the community. The story of the hardware store and Wal-Mart. Kind of the domestic story of our time....
But forget all of that. “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” is no more about its plot than your life is. It's about dreams. And wanting to build something for yourself when you're over your head and you don't really know the players and all you have is you. And then it's about taking the next step --- gambling on love, on dreams. The Leonard Cohen lyric about the gambler says he all: “He's just looking for a card so high and wild he'll never have to deal another.”
And then it's about weather. First drizzle, then snow. And as the snow blankets the town, the movie gets quieter and quieter. The climax is inevitable and dark; it's played out in bright, silent snow. What ends badly also ends beautifully --- so beautifully that you can only imagine what lies Altman told to get the money for this film.
As I write, it's the start of winter, the real winter, the one even global warming can't stop. There's snow elsewhere. The weatherman promises its arrival here soon. Good. In the silent night, with the snow drifting on the eaves and traffic almost nonexistent, I will reach for a film that never fails to do what so few can --- touch every corner of the heart.
--- by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com
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