With his 1970 film, “M*A*S*H”, Robert Altman created the ensemble cast movie style in which an ensemble cast replace lead characters in movies. In 1975, he went one step further by using the same premise to portray an epic mosaic of interrelated characters five days before a political rally in Nashville, Tennessee. Since Nashville is the country music capital of the world, music, or more specifically, the country music industry becomes an important aspect to the themes of the movie. Themes that portray the dark sides of American culture and politics, such as greed, ambition, politics and most particularly, celebrity.
Taking place in Nashville, a few days before a large political rally of a radical and surprisingly successful third party candidate for the US Presidency, the plot includes the actions of 24 main characters, ranging from famous singers, up-and-coming stars, a chauffeur driver, a political publicist, aspiring singers both talented and not talented, a British documentary filmmaker, a celebrity lawyer, a celebrity manager who is married to a celebrity, an elderly man dreading the death of his sick wife, a psychopath and many more. The movie begins in a recording studio where a major and established star played by Henry Gibson is recording a new song and ends at a large political rally that features a concert with the same singer. In between, all the characters intermingle and react to each other, as they all end up at the rally in the movie’s powerful ending.
Every single one of the 24 performances is terrific and special mention needs to be made to a few. Gibson who, before this film, was a minor comedian, swings between narcissism, cruelty and sympathy without missing a beat. His character at the outset seems selfish and vindictive, but he succeeds in creating a character arc that allowed me to feel empathy for what it is like living within the established music industry, which is shown to be cutthroat and insensitive. There is also nothing humorous about his character, making his performance that much more surprising. Another even more established comedienne is Lily Tomlin, and she is terrific in an equally somber, unhumorous role as the gospel singer who is not only the mother of two deaf children, but also the husband of the uninterested celebrity lawyer (Ned Beaty). Tomlin shows terrific range in the movie and has two of the most poignant scenes in the film. One where she listens to a swimming pool story told in sign language by her son and another when she sits transfixed and sad in an audience watching the handsome and promiscuous up-and-coming folk singer (Keith Carradine) sing a song that she thinks is directed only at her (which it is not). The first scene is one of the most heartfelt in the movie and the latter one of the saddest. Tomlin’s character, while short on dialogue, is rich in expression, and she knocks it out of the park. Also of note is the standout performance of Ronee Blakley as the most successful of the famous singers who has just recovered from a tragic accident and is neurotic. I thought it was very clever for Altman and his screenwriters to make the most famous and successful character also the least stable. There are many other well-thought-out characters that make this one of the most colorful of movies.
Robert Altman was the most European of all the American directors who came of the new Hollywood from the 70s, and his movies remind me a lot of the French new wave. This movie, especially, as, “Nashville”, is a character-driven rather than plot-driven film that uses its camera to follow not one particular person during each scene, but a group of characters that exist seemingly to create the reality that is the country music capital of the world. This is the movie that finally took Altman’s famous use of overlapping dialogue to its highest level. With so many different characters to be interested in, and only 2.5 hours to show, the vast depth of dialogue is essential here, and Altman hits his stride with his ability to allow his camera to follow the important pieces of what is being said. This allowed me to be invested in each of the 24 main characters, which is an amazing feat. The movie owes a great debt to the musicals of Jacques Demy with the way the camera follows a character and then abruptly takes its aim at another one going in a different direction. The movie also has the heart of Truffaut with its ability to make me care about so many characters. Truffaut’s, “Day for Night”, while much kinder than this film, immediately comes to mind while watching this movie. There, as well as here, there were numerous characters within one framework who never behaved the best, while retaining their humanity, making me care about each of them or at least empathize with each of them.
Altman has said that at least one hour of the movie’s 2.5 hour running time is made up of musical performances. He also asked each of his singing actors to write and then perform their own original pieces. It is hard for me to give an honest critical opinion on the music, since country and Western is probably one of the two musical styles that I dislike the most. If there is only one song within the movie that truly stands out, that would be Keith Carradine’s “I’m Easy”, which won him a surprising Academy Award for best song. That was something that the academy finally got right in that category. The reason for this is that I believe a best song movie award should always be a song that helps to promote the narrative of the movie, which is exactly what Carradine’s song does. While performing it he is singing about the unfaithful way that he conquers women, while in the audience there are four separate women that he took to his bed during the movie, and each one of them believes that he is singing to them. Alongside the almost stargazing looks of those women while he sings, the words take on a whole different meaning. The scene would be funny if it was not so sad.
The first half of the movie, for me, was an interesting and enjoyable introduction to all its moving parts, but it is in the last hour that the movie really takes off. Once I found myself surprisingly taken in by so many different characters, seeing them set themselves up for the epic ending was a pleasure to watch. The movie ends with a prophetic and harsh societal criticism that I will not ruin for those few who have not watched the movie. However, I will say that the ending includes one character of a married lady trying to escape her husband while pleading for someone to allow her to sing a song she had written, who finally gets to perform the song. This scene is so powerful that it reminded me of Kubrick’s poignant ending to, “Paths of Glory” when the poor French girl sings a song of love that brings tears to a crowd of leering soldiers. In, “Nashville”, this closing song evokes a similar feeling as it transfixes the world and stops a feeling of tragedy, if only for the moment that the song is in the air.
As a vehicle for powerful ensemble acting, Altman’s, “Nashville” is second to none. It is, however, even greater than that commendable feat. This is a movie about American culture and it’s not a pretty sight. Almost all the characters in the film use somebody else to that person’s detriment and for their own benefit. They bring about behaviors that are driven by the need to be heard, whether through politics or entertainment. Why do so many Americans want to be famous, and why are they seeking out such callous fake love? That is the question asked by Altman in his movie. This is a great director at his peak and “Nashville” is not only his masterpiece but one of the greatest movies ever made.
1001 Movies before you die 