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Susan King spotlights the series in the Los Angeles Times.
Mark Olsen celebrates Robert Altman in the Los Angeles Times.
Among the directors whose work is discussed under the rubric of the New Hollywood, that radical re-flowering of the American film establishment in the late 1960s and early 1970s, none stands out more distinctively than Kansas City native Robert Altman. Already a veteran of industrial films and television with one studio feature and a handful of independent productions under his belt, Altman was older than the recent film-school graduates making their mark in the shifting industry. The astounding, serendipitous success of M*A*S*H in 1970, however, rendered Altman a figure of international renown, praised as an innovator and a trailblazer. Studio executives would have been happy to bottle this lightning and share in the praise, but the newly vindicated auteur routinely chose unlikely projects, bucked studio authority and developed a working method (famously involving improvisation and experimentation) that delighted some collaborators (particularly actors) and alarmed others (including many writers, and some executives). Consigned at times to seeming exile as an independent, Altman nonetheless powered through the decades, amassing an astoundingly diverse, innovative, personal and fruitful cinematic legacy. This retrospective celebrates the major achievements of that career, offering screenings of prints from Altman’s private collection---now held by UCLA Film & Television Archive; feature restorations performed by the Archive; examples of his work in television, industrial filmmaking and independent production; glimpses of Altman in the films of others; and a special screening of the new biographical documentary Altman (2014), exploring his life and work.
Special thanks to: Kathryn Altman; Matthew Seig—Sandcastle 5 Productions; Ron Mann; Jill Burkhart, Lisa Ellenbogen, Kirk Iwankowski, Justin Rebelo—Epix.
Thanks to: Ron Magliozzi—Museum of Modern Art, New York; Jesse Wente—TIFF Bell Lightbox; Mary Huelsbeck—Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research; Wisconsin Historical Society; Rick Prelinger—Prelinger Archives; Kyle Westphal—Northwest Chicago Film Society; Gary Huggins.
