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The movie itself is one of the most important American films of the 1970s. It's a sprawling, multi-layered reflection with a myriad of characters of a particular slice of Americana. All of the performances are fantastic. This is Robert Altman at his best.
Regarding the music: I'm not into country myself, but I do appreciate the songs in the film, most of which were written and performed by the actors, which give them a feel more authentic to the characters than if they had been done by professionals. The songs are used beautifully in the film, funny, dramatic, ironic, always character-driven.
Molly Haskell's comments on the film from the Criterion website: http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2978-nashville-america-singing
Something I always thought was interesting about Keith Carradine's songs for the film:
Carradine wrote “I'm Easy” when he was a teenager. Altman heard the song during the shooting of their previous collaboration ‘Thieves Like Us,’ and built one of the standout scenes of Nashville around it. Carradine's earnest if naïve love song is turned into a cynical piece of manipulation.
Conversely, Carradine wrote “It Don't Worry Me” while working on Thieves Like Us, inspired by the folk music of the Depression era during which that film was set. This ironic song is used by Altman at the conclusion of Nashville as an anthem of unity and perseverance in the face of tragedy.
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Posted: |
Jun 21, 2014 - 11:14 AM
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By: |
Regie
(Member)
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Thank you for these interesting responses!! Altman was into 'ensemble' pieces and I didn't like "Gosford Park" at all; I was bored to death, but I enjoyed "The Company". Don't remember many of his films at all really.
I try and get a hold of "Nashville", though, if only to see what all the talk is about. I didn't like those Bob Rafelson films of the 1970s - in fact, many 70's films just didn't do it for me at all. For me, the best films of that era were "All the President's Men", "Chinatown", "Cuckoo's Nest", "The Last Picture Show", "Paper Moon" and "Annie Hall" - if that tells you anything about my taste.
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Posted: |
Jun 21, 2014 - 12:10 PM
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By: |
Essankay
(Member)
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That's a film I've never seen, but I've sure heard enough about it. The title put me off because I loathe 'country music'. Could I tolerate the film when I feel this way?
I'm not a fan of country music, but I grew up with it and know its fads, foibles, and first-rank achievements. As Molly Haskell says in her essay on the film, "Along with works by Ronee Blakley, the only actual singer-songwriter in the company, were ones written by various cast members, ranging from the silly, the simpleminded, and the deliberately risible to the charming and the moving, sometimes all at once—in sum, a pretty good facsimile of the dirges and ballads to which they pay playful homage." Frankly, and sad to say, if you "loathe" country music I don't think you'll be able to appreciate the movie, even though it's not *about* country music.
Lucas and Spielberg brought life and fun back into the cinema!
Lucas and Spielberg made movies safe again for the "It Don't Worry Me" crowd.
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Posted: |
Jun 21, 2014 - 10:33 PM
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By: |
Doc Loch
(Member)
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Self-serving plug: If you're interested in the music in Altman's films you might check out my article on the subject in Robert Altman: Critical Essays, edited by Rick Armstrong.
I did a "look inside" action on the Amazon site for this book and couldn't work out which article you were referring to in the above comments. I'm thinking it's "Genre, Gender and Subversion..."
Can you confirm which one it is because I'd like to read it, having purchased books on film in the areas of directors, critical studies, music and theory.
That's the one. It's called “Doing Some Replacin’: Gender, Genre and the Subversion of Dominant Ideology in the Music Scores.” It was supposed to be "...in the Music Scores of Altman's Films" but the publisher apparently decided that since the whole book was about Altman's films they didn't need the last part, so the title ends up sounding kind of clumsy. I believe the original title I submitted was much shorter, but they didn't think it was descriptive enough. Also, I'll apologize in advance for getting the title of one of Leonard Cohen's songs wrong (should be "Winter Lady" instead of "Traveling Lady"). I caught it right after sending in my draft and tried to get it corrected on the proof pages but it never got changed. I think there's probably a couple more typos in there somewhere but have long since forgotten what they are. A lot of things can get changed between the submitted manuscript and the final printed copy.
The article was part of a longer piece I did on Altman's music and mainly focuses on his films involving musical performances (Nashville, A Perfect Couple, The Company and A Prairie Home Companion), but there are observations on the scores for several of Altman's other films as well. If nothing else, it gave me a chance to interview Ted Neeley of Jesus Christ, Superstar fame about working on A Perfect Couple. I'd also recommend Krin Gabbard's article in the same anthology on the use of jazz in Short Cuts.
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Nice to see that others appreciate the "Nashville" soundtrack. I saw the movie when it was first released and simply loved it, and it remains my favorite film directed by Robert Altman. I immediately bought not only the soundtrack but also solo albums by Ronee Blakely and Keith Carradine. Blakely's "Welcome" has an interesting variation on her intoxicating "Tapedeck" and Carradine's album had the classic "I'm Easy." I've always wanted to transfer to CD the amusing audio heard at the beginning of the movie that sounds like a frantic ad for the soundtrack. I think that I was starting to lose interest in the film, so when Criterion released its special-packed Blu-ray I was tempted not to buy it, but did anyway, and it's such a wonderful presentation of the film that it brings "Nashville" alive for a whole new generation. I've always been thrilled that so many of the actors/singers in the film wrote their songs, including the 2 I just mentioned as well as some by Karen Black and Henry Gibson. Wonderful movie with an excellent song-filled soundtrack. And if you have the movie on DVD and have been debating about upgrading to Blu-ray, believe me, it's worth it!
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