Word: altmans
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...that stuff" includes a swarm of commercial irritations and handicaps against which Altman has been straining for years. Thieves, for one, is a film which suffers by them. For instance, cinematographer Boffety would have been unavailable had the film been made in New York or Los Angeles; the union would have prohibited him from working. Boffety, distinguished by his work on European productions like The Things of Life, joins Vilmos Zsigmond, who worked with Altman in McCabe and Mrs. Miller and The Long Goodbye, on the list of the world's expert cameramen used in Altman films...
Moreover, laments Altman, Thieves was mishandled in its promotion by United Artists. "I hate 'em," he growls. "The picture is down the tube already. It's gone, it's a lost cause, because they've already pulled the money out of advertising." Part of the problem is that in a system which most respects big films like the catastrophic Lost Horizon or successful Love Story, a production like Thieves is "small"--which means small-budget...
...movement recently for studios to give freer rein to some promising young directors. This has been based for the most part on the enormous success of George Luca's low-budget American Graffiti. Now other young directors--Marty Scorsese, Terry Matlick, Steven Spielberg,--have made successful first films. But, Altman says, there are not enough. And the studios are still trying to keep their hands on the director's shoulder. "There should be room for more than just these," he says. "And Spielberg, for instance, is still under contract to Universal for about five more years, and as long...
...Altman says he doesn't have time to direct and oversee distribution and advertising, but he did intervene in the strange commercial career of The Long Goodbye, released last year. The Long Goodbye, was based on the Raymond Chandler novel, with Elliot Gould playing Philip Marlowe. It dealt with an author untouched since Bogart's formidable version of the hero. Last spring United Artists opened the film at several locations across the country, avoiding the usual New York premiere. The critics reacted with dismay. "The truth is," Altman says, "that most of the reviewers across the country have...
...thing about Hollywood, in Altman's view, is that it can only sell films according to category. And most of his films, from McCabe's special version of the Western to The Long Goodbye's innovations in the Chandler tradition, seek to break out of or enlarge genres. Thieves, with all its similarities to Bonnie and Clyde--robbers enjoying their descriptions in the papers, the shoot out at the motor court--cuts a new trail as well. Altman hopes it will do better when he takes it to the Cannes Festival, where M*A*S*H was a grand prize...