Warren Beatty’s only western was described as “perfect” by Roger Ebert

By 1971, Robert Altman was already a major celebrity and awards darling. His 1970 war drama, “M*A*S*H,” was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, and became a cultural touchstone a few years later when adapted into a hit television series. The same year, Altman directed the famous “Brewster McCloud” and his style was consolidated. He was a naturalist filmmaker, favoring layered, improvised dialogue and keeping his camera at a distance, giving his films a relaxed, realistic, yet decidedly artisanal artistry that would change the cinema of the 1970s. Readers will not be surprised to learn that Altman began making documentary films in the 1950s.

In 1971, Altman produced what many consider his first masterpiece, “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” a western with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” was only nominated for one Oscar — Christie was up for best actress — but it’s one that film professors regularly put in their syllabuses. “McCabe’s” reputation was a long time coming, as it received many negative reviews upon its first release. Rex Reed criticized the film as amateurish and superficial, and Vincent Canby of The New York Times felt its symbolism was tired and lacked intrigue.

But other critics were raving about the film. Pauline Kael deemed it a modern classic, and Roger Ebert immediately named Altman one of the most important voices in modern cinema. Ebert’s vintage four-star review is available for reading on its websiteand he then inducted “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” in his list of great films. Oddly enough, “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” is the only western ever directed by Warren Beatty. And even then, its gender can be debated.

“McCabe & Mrs. Miller” follows the relationship between an itinerant businessman (Beatty) and an enterprising madam (Christie) as they attempt to start a brothel/bathhouse in a remote Washington boomtown in 1902. Travelers pass by for drinks and games, and McCabe hopes to provide the travelers with hot water and the companionship of a sex worker. He aims to become rich, but it is implied early in the film that he has already failed in other endeavors. At first, McCabe thinks he can run a brothel himself, but Mrs. Miller arrives from England, convincing him to hire her as manager. Their business acumen soon leads their brothel/bathhouse to become the largest business in town.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller also develop a sort of romantic outlook, although, as this is an Altman film, their love is not expressed greatly. Later in the film, an aggressive business consortium comes to town to buy out McCabe’s brothel, and he refuses to sell. This leads to resentment, backstabbing, and a plan for bloody revenge.

Ebert noted that “McCabe” was different from other westerns in one essential respect, writing:

“Death is very definitive in this western, because the film is about life. Most westerns are about killing and being killed, which means they aren’t about life and death at all. We spend a moment in the life of a small frontier town, which grows before our eyes from raw, unpainted wood and tube canvas tents. We get to know the town quite well, because Altman has a gift for making films that seem to spy on activities that would have place anyway.”

A western about life.

“McCabe & Mrs. Miller” may annoy some modern audiences because its pace is very slow. Altman’s use of naturalistic camera setups means he’ll spend a lot of time watching people move from building to building in swirling snow. Yes, it’s a realistic depiction of how people traveled in 1901, but it doesn’t always represent drama for a nervous viewer accustomed to action. Ebert noted that these moments, however, reinforce the sense of community in Altman’s film. This was not just a drama about businessmen, but a fully formed community, somehow filmed as if Altman was listening with a time machine.

In 1999, Ebert was still ring the bell of “McCabe and Mrs. Miller”, include it as one of his great films. Indeed, Ebert claimed that Altman’s 1971 masterpiece was that rarest of animals: a perfect film. He began his 1999 essay with:

“It’s not often that a director gets to make a perfect film. Some spend their lives trying, but always fail. Robert Altman has made a dozen films that can be called great in one way or another, but one of them is perfect, and that is ‘McCabe and Mrs. Miller.’

He says that all of the film’s most significant moments are small, quiet and unobtrusive. McCabe says he has poetry in him during a brief, intimate moment with Miller. Miller, for his part, is resigned, uninvolved, long abandoned by the romance of the world. The people of the small village are simple, happy to dance. A magical moment takes place in front of a jukebox. And then it all ends with a nostalgic death. But not in a nihilistic way. A way that emphasizes the loss of a precious and enriched life.