Three Is The Charm, With "Three Women!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                  Darlings, you simply have to see this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  When "Three Women" came out, in 1977, it was called Robert Altman's "Persona."  The latter is a 1966 Ingmar Bergman film in which two women through the course of the film switch personalities.  But on my third viewing of "Three Women"--and I hope to have many more-- I find that while there are similarities to Bergman it is not simply a redo.

                                        Sissy Spacek delivers the best performance as Pinky Rose, who goes from being a childlike woman to a gun toting' mama, sexy as all get out, who emerges as the kind of woman Shelley Duvall's Millie Lammoreaux desperately wants to be, but fails on all counts.  The kind of woman who thinks serving pigs in a blanket is sophisticated, and that the best dinner recipes come from the back of Campbell's soup cans.  Are you kidding me?

                                              Janice Rule as a pregnant Willie Hart, paints murals on drained swimming pools in the area, and it this artwork that gives the film its most fascinating imagery and uses the paintings and water to transition into other areas of the plot.  Pinky's transition is triggered by a horrible event, which Millie is the cause of, but has no clue to that at all.

                                                     Girls, you have got to see Sissy at the pistol range, with her pink halter top outfit; this is the best moment in the film.  Willie has a baby and the women ban together to deliver the child and some frontier justice.  Sissy Spacek seems to transition back to a child but watch out for those eyes.  She is fierce.   Shelley Duvall seems to morph into a shell of her former self, while Willie ends up owning the place.

                                                        The plot is fascinating, but so are the endless displays of imagery and color passing before the viewer's eye.  And wait till you see the Dodge City theme park (the film takes place in Palm Springs, CA) with its miniature golf course.

                                                              Altman based this film on a dream he had, but the images of double personae, such as the twins, or Spacek and Duvall pressed against a window looking out, suggest a splitting and transition of personalities that morph throughout the film.  Will these stay permanent at the end?  That is up to the viewer to decide.

                                                                I can tell you that this is Altman's best--and most minimalist film--since "Nashville.:

                                                                 It makes me want to wear Spacek's pink halter outfit and paint the walls of drained swimming pools!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!