McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

Robert Altman's fourth movie is perhaps his most perfect film, an expert and elegant deconstruction of the Western myth. The organic production design and Vilmos Zsigmond's photography stand out in this quiet revolution of a film.

Robert Altman's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is like no other Western ever made, and with it Altman earns his place as one of the best contemporary directors. The critic singles out the film's ability to make the frontier town and its inhabitants feel organically alive through unobtrusive camerawork, naturalistic dialogue, and a sense of community.

The film is an anti-Western masterpiece that offers perhaps the most authentic depiction of frontier life ever committed to screen, using overlapping dialogue, zoom, and a deconstructive approach to myth to explore the tension between individualism and encroaching big business. Altman is praised for his objective yet compassionate portrayal of characters and for the evocative power of Vilmos Zsigmond’s cinematography and Leonard Cohen’s songs.

Altman's McCabe and Mrs Miller is defiantly left-leaning in tone, focusing on greed and how little fish get eaten by bigger ones in a strikingly beautiful, elegiac and romantic western. It remains relevant today despite its 1971 origins.

The critic praises the film's progressive portrayal of Constance Miller as a strong, independent businesswoman who defies traditional gender roles in a revisionist western. They highlight how the story critiques male incompetence and celebrates female agency in a male-dominated frontier.

The 1971 anti-western looks even richer, stranger and more daring on re-release. It is a wry, muted tragedy with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie as romantic fools, their interactions framed by Vilmos Zsigmond's delicate photography; the critic now slightly prefers it to Nashville.

The film is a "sneaky-great movie" and a brilliant work of art about the American past. The critic singles out Altman's studied avoidance of Western convention as the key to its wonderful, bemusing power.

The review calls it one of Altman's best early films, a non-heroic Western that focuses on the harsh realities of frontier life and the insignificance of the individual against nature and society.

Robert Altman's film is a disappointing mixture that succumbs to its liabilities despite some assets. The critic singles out the overlength, pretentious photography that backfires, diffused plot shoved aside for tasteless bawdiness, and largely inaudible mumbling soundtrack as major flaws.

The critic calls McCabe & Mrs. Miller the greatest Western ever made for its grounded, unsentimental approach to frontier life. They single out its realistic depiction of a poor mining town and the harsh conditions faced by its inhabitants.

The critic describes the film as a beautifully made paradox where craft is both omnipresent and invisible, calling it filmmaking sorcery on its 50th anniversary. They single out the lived-in atmosphere, experimental cinematography, overlapping sound design, Leonard Cohen songs, and the shift from earthy bustle to ghostly silence in the finale for particular praise.