Research Catalog

Title

Robert Altman : in the American grain / Frank Caso.

Author

Caso, Frank.

Publication

London : Reaktion Books, 2015.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

287 pages : illustations; 20 cm

Summary

Known as an iconoclast and maverick, film director Robert Altman has consistently pushed against the boundaries of genre. From refashioning film noir in "The Long Goodbye," the western in "McCabe & Mrs. Miller," the psychological drama in "Images," science fiction in "Quintet," and the romantic comedy in "A Perfect Couple," he has always tested the limits of what film can and should do. In this book, Frank Caso examines the development of Altman s artistic method from his earliest days in industrial film to his work in television and feature films. Altman is one of those directors whose films audiences can easily recognize, but what exactly are the distinctive elements that have become his signature? Caso identifies more than twenty such elements in Altman s style, tracing some such as his use of free-hand cameras and engagement with Christian imagery to the beginning of his career. Caso also examines Altman s unsettling mix of offbeat comedic tone with a predominance of violence, murder, and death, showing how their counterpointing effects rendered his films at once naturalistic and otherworldly. Exploring these and other aspects of the Altmanesque style, Caso maps the innovations that have made Altman a master filmmaker. Enriched with illustration throughout, "Robert Altman" will appeal to fans of this distinctive American auteur or anyone interested in ground-breaking cinema.

Subject

• Altman, Robert, 1925-2006 > Criticism and interpretation
• Motion picture producers and directors > United States

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (271-273), filmography (pages 275-278) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Part One: Apprentice and Journeymen -- Kansas City -- Journeyman's Blues -- Part Two: The Artist in Bloom -- M*A*S*H and its Immediate Successors -- The Neo-noir Director -- Paradise Lost -- Strange Interlude -- Career Ebb -- Part Three: Exile -- The Play's the Thing, Part One: Television Work -- The Play's the Thing, Part Two: Features Again -- Part Four: The Prodigal's Return -- Renaissance -- Crime, Punishment and Vaginas -- Death is the Only Real Ending.

ISBN

• 9781780235226 (pbk.)
• 1780235224 (pbk.)

OCLC

• 917367433
• SCSB-11540183

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library