How Do I Write About "Nashville???????????" I Don't Know, But I Will Try!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              It amazes me that, as far as I know, and I may be wrong, no one has ever done a thesis or dissertation on this film.  I always felt that would be inevitable, and if someone has done it, or is working on it now, I would love to have it shared with my readers.

                              I will never forget my first exposure to "Nashville."  It was 1975, I was all of 20, and waiting in a doctor's office, when I spotted it as "Newsweek's cover story.  There, on the cover, were Robert Altman, and someone I had never heard of, named Ronee Blakley.

                              The film opened, and so many of my friends, at the time, were going crazy over it.
They kept telling me I HAD to see it, that I would just LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                But I ignored them.  Because I had seen Altman's previous film, "California Split," starring Elliiot Gould, and George Seal, all about gamblers and prostitutes.  I had no idea at the time that one of the prostitutes was played by Gwen Welles, whose performance in "Nashville" would be the crown of her career.  All I knew was that, when I walked out of the theater, I hated the film, and declared myself finished with Altman..

                                 Later, in 1976, when the Oscar nominations were out, I saw a clip from the film--the scene where Ronee Blakley sings, then breaks down on stage.  I was hooked.  I HAD to see that film.

                                 By now, the film had completed its first run.  Suddenly, after seeing the film clip, the Fox Theatre in Woodbridge, not far from where I then lived, in Highland Park, New Jersey,  was going to have a special screening of "Nashville."  But on a Friday, at midnight.

                                  I had to go.  But my parents, knowing, as I told them, the film ran three hours, did not relish the idea of me riding home alone on Route One, at three in the morning.  So, it was decided my father would accompany me, which is how I came to see "Nashville."   I believe he was impressed by the film; he never fell asleep, but I was never quite sure what he thought of it all.

                                   Countless viewings later have still convinced me not only was this Altman's masterpiece, but in its ground breaking blending of media, politics, and music, (almost foreshadowing the social media of today) "Nashville" was and is the "Citizen Kane" of the Baby Boomer generation.

                                       Seeing it recently, at the Film Forum, after a 14 year interval, it held up remarkably.  The cast, the performances are everyone doing their best work.  The humor and heartbreak flow.  Though the film is enjoyable, two scenes I dread--the assassination, and the look on Keenan Wynn's face, as Mr. Green, when the  hospital nurse tells him his wife has passed.  Remarkable acting, but one of the saddest images captured on film.

                                          Every great film has one memorable tracking shot. "Nashville," however, is a compendium of tracking shots, each and every one a gem.  I cannot break the film down frame by frame, but I will mention, the track-in on Ronee Blakley's face, while singing "My Idaho Home," and that of Lily Tomlin, while Keith Carradine sings "I'm Easy," are two of the best in a film made up of almost nothing but brilliant tracking shots.  And this technique is as central to the narrative as the dialogue, music and actors.

                                            It has the most arresting title opening in film history, an overlapping mélange of songs and voices, as an announcer announces the title and cast, as both the actors' names, and songs run down the side.  Right away, "Nashville" alerts one, through parodying 70's record compilation commercials, that this will be a different kind of film, one that will force the viewer to be on guard, and try to look as far beyond center, as one can.

                                             "Nashville" cannot be seen just once.  Only after several viewings does one begin to see the brilliance of what Altman has done, in a time, when it could be done.  "Nashville," sadly, could never have been made today.

                                                 The film is as prescient now as it was 44 years ago.  I cannot urge enough those who have never seen it, and those not old enough to have seen it in 1975, to visit the Film Forum, before the run ends.  You will be in for the cinematic ride of your lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!