Nashville

Released: June 11, 1975

Studio: Paramount

Genre: drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 9.98 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: ? Worldwide: 29.30

Directing: Robert Altman

Screenwriting: Joan Tewkesbury

Starring: Henry Gibson, Karen Black, Ronee Blakley, Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, Ned Beatty, Lily Tomlin

Review:

This “satirical film…comments upon religion, politics, sex, violence, and the materialistic culture.” ^FS It’s a Robert “Altman pinnacle” ^RS as he perfects “the techniques he pioneered in M*A*S*H (overlapping dialogue; improvisational ensemble acting) and introducing a few new ones (actors singing their own, live-sync songs).” ^PM He delivers “an intricate, free-form, intertwining tale” ^FS “of cogent character studies, comic and poignant vignettes, done in seemingly free-form style.” ^LM It is “a microcosm of America,” ^FS a “brilliant mosaic of American life as seen through 24 characters” ^LM “from politics and country-western music…as the United States celebrates the Bicentennial in the capital of country music.” ^A07

The movie’s protaganists have gathered for “a pop concert and a political rally for the ‘Replacement Party.’” ^FS The “overlapping stories” ^A07 “converge in a massive traffic jam” ^FS at “a violent assassination scene by the film’s conclusion.” ^FS

Some of the more notable characters include “Presidential hopeful Hal Philip Walker, frail, crooning country western sweetheart Barbara Jean (Blakley), singing rival Connie White (Black), folk-singing lecherous lover Tom Frank (Carradine), BBC tele-journalist Opal (Chaplin), a groupie from LA (Duvall), and master of ceremonies Haven Hamilton (Gibson).” ^FS