Following the recent Robert Altman retrospective at the BFI, we’re back with a survey of his work ranging from early corporate films like the ‘The Dirty Look’ (1954) up to his 2006 swansong, A Prairie Home Companion, via a glut of bona fide classics of American cinema and one or two legendary flops – i.e. Quintet (1979).

We discuss the key features of Altman’s visionary film style, trace the vicissitudes of his storied career and ‘get into it’ on a number of real favourites, including the essential revisionist western texts McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971) and Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) and the brilliantly realised comic musical, Popeye (1980), before finishing up with our top 5 Altman films (at the time of recording!).

Featuring covers of ‘The Stranger Song’ by Leonard Cohen, ‘Thieves like Us’ by Iceage, a Hornpipe/Popeye Theme medley arrangement, ‘It Don’t Worry Me’ by Keith Carradine and ‘Everything is Food’ by Harry Nilsson.

Full filmography (in chronological order):Modern Football (1951) The Dirty Look (1954) The James Dean Story (1957) Alfred Hitchcock Presents: “The Young One” and “Together” (1958) M.A.S.H (1970) Brewster McCloud (1970) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) Images (1972) The Long Goodbye (1973) Thieves Like Us (1974) California Split (1974) Nashville (1975) Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) 3 Women (1977) Quintet (1979) HealtH (1980) Popeye (1980) Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) Secret Honor (1984) Aria (1987) Tanner ‘88 (1988) The Player (1992) Short Cuts (1993) Kansas City (1996) Dr. T & The Women (2000) Gosford Park (2001) The Company (2003) A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

Bibliography:David Thomson (ed.), ‘Altman on Altman’, 2006.Doran William Cannon, ‘The Kid Wanted to Fly—So They Gave Him the Air’ in The New York Times, Feb. 7, 1971.Mitchell Zuckoff (ed.), ‘Robert Altman: the Oral Biography’, 2009.Robert Niemi, ‘The Cinema of Robert Altman: Hollywood Maverick’, 2016.Robin Wood, ‘Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan… and Beyond: Expanded and Revised Edition’, 2003.

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Co-produced by Emmett Cruddas and Sam Storey