--- title: "McCabe & Mrs. Miller: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/mccabe-and-mrs-miller/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/mccabe-and-mrs-miller" critics_score: 82 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971): what the critics said Critics' score 82 from 11 reviews: 10 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics warmly praise McCabe & Mrs. Miller for stripping the Western of heroic certainty and making frontier life feel inhabited. Praise centres on Robert Altman’s overlapping dialogue, the town’s lived-in production design and Vilmos Zsigmond’s photography. Leonard Cohen’s songs also draw admiration for their contribution to the atmosphere. The reviews find substance in the film’s treatment of greed, community and individual vulnerability, with further praise for Warren Beatty and Julie Christie’s uneasy romance and Mrs Miller’s independence as a businesswoman. The spread is wide, but the disagreement is concentrated: ten reviews are positive, with Variety providing the sole negative assessment. It finds the film overlong, the photography pretentious, the dialogue hard to hear and the plot displaced by bawdiness. These objections concern many of the same choices that admirers value for their naturalism and atmosphere; there is little sign of a broader critical split. ## Empire — Colin Kennedy Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 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. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/mccabe-mrs-miller-review/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 30 July 1971. 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. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mccabe-and-mrs-miller-1971) ## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 May 2002. 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. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/mccabe-and-mrs-miller/) ## Evening Standard — Derek Malcom Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 5 April 2012. 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. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/mccabe-and-mrs-miller-7381601.html) ## Little White Lies — Martyn Conterio Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 24 June 2016. 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. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/mccabe-mrs-miller-feminist-masterpiece) ## The Guardian — Xan Brooks Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 4 May 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/may/04/drama.robertaltman) ## The New York Times — Peter Schjeldahl Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 25 July 1971. 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. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/25/archives/mccabe-mrs-miller-a-sneakygreat-movie-mccabe-is-sneakygreat.html) ## Time Out — JdeG Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. 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. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/mccabe-mrs-miller) ## Variety — A.D. Murphy Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 25 June 1971. 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. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1971/film/reviews/mccabe-mrs-miller-1200422462/) ## Collider — Liam Gaughan Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 March 2023. 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. [Read the review](https://collider.com/mccabe-and-mrs-miller-western/) ## The Playlist — Jason Bailey Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 24 June 2021. 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. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/mccabe-and-mrs-miller-50th-anniversary-20210624/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/mccabe-and-mrs-miller.md