Robert Altman's Mccabe and Mrs Miller

So I have been waiting for this film on Netflix for probably two months. It sat there at #1 with a short wait for quite a while building up some anticipation on my part. Well I finally got my chance to watch it and it was honestly worth the wait. McCabe and Mrs Miller is an offbeat western that manages to involve just about all the highlights of storytelling, comedy, drama, romance, action.

McCabe is a gambling man who comes to the small town of Presbyterian church to start a new whorehouse/bar. After he gets things off the ground the straightforward and smart Mrs Miller comes to town and offers to help him with the business as the madame and a partner. McCabe is a little goofy and dumb while Mrs Miller talks fast and thinks faster, but romance slowly builds up between the two none the less.

In the past I have enjoyed Altman(I've seen Mash and Nashville) but have not found a film of his to really latch on to. So finally with this one I have something to fawn over. In most ways its just another western, but it really stands apart by making significantly different and way more developed characters than usual. Warren Beaty as McCabe is a sort of likeable oaf who sucks at math and mutters to himself "I got poetry in me!" while arguing with himself about Mrs Miller. Now Mrs Miller on the other hand is very smart and always in control. My favorite little bit of character from her was the way she just shoveled food into her mouth with complete disregard for what would be 'lady-like' when she first meets McCabe.

My favorite bit about this film was that it completely played with your expectations. In the western the hero is always in control and tough, he never makes mistakes, and he kills the bad guys when it has to be done. The whores are whores. They aren't smart, they don't have ambitions except maybe to find a good man to wisk them away. But this film just does the opposite of that in almost every way and its a very interesting and it functions as a refreshing take on the western. Its quite interesting how it comes full circle too.

I'd say its a must watch for fans of character studies, and for fans of westerns. It felt like this film foreshadowed Deadwood in many ways both in plot and style. Its a great American film from one of the great American auteurs that shouldn't be missed.

5/5 "Great Characters make a Great Film."