McCabe & Friends
Robert Altman‘s McCabe and Mrs. Miller (’71) was among the 25 films added today by the The National Film Registry to its list of “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” films. My favorite scene is when Julie Christie explains the whore business to Warren Beatty. Closing line: “Now I haven’t got a lot of time to sit around and talk to a man who’s too dumb to see a good proposition when it’s put to him. Do we make a deal or don’t we?”
Also named were Alan Pakula‘s All The President’s Men, John Badham‘s Saturday Night Fever, William Friedkin‘s The Exorcist, Blake Edwards‘ The Pink Panther, the Zucker brothers’ Airplane! and John Huston‘s Let There Be Light.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller “was originally called The Presbyterian Church Wager,” says the Wiki page, “after a bet placed among the church’s few attendees about whether McCabe would survive his refusal of the offer to sell his property. Altman reported that an official in the Presbyterian Church called Warner Brothers to complain about having their church mentioned in context of a film about brothels and gambling. The complaint prompted a name change to John McCabe, but it was further changed and released as McCabe & Mrs Miller.”
And Malcolm X. Nice work, Film Registry.
Let’s not forget Empire Strikes Back, either… along with Lucas’s THX short from USC. Pretty good year for him.
Glad you singled this out. One of the best films of all time. So annoying to see everyone else leading with Empire Strikes Back, blah blah…
Regarding Empire Strikes Back, I just wonder which version is actually going into the archives? Will it be the original, superior, theatrical print, or the heavily Lucas tinkered SE of more recent times?
Presumably Lucas will insist on the latter going in, his ‘completed vision’ but the Registry must insist on the original print. Surely?
I believe I read the original ESB is going in.
Interesting, I didn’t know about the original title – the one they went with is much better.
Also Matt Holmes’ point needs addressing!
I cry bullshit about the original cut of Empire being superior. Okay, there’s that unnecessary insert of Vader’s ship that everyone gets all up in arms about, but this film was tampered with the least out of the three and it’s certainly nowhere near a Greedo Shoots First crime. Matt Holmes’ claim of “heavily tinkered” is autopilot fanboy whining that just doesn’t apply here. Lucas even removed the scream from Luke’s final plunge that was in the Special Edition.
Improvements include (and I’m talking about the DVD versions here): Ian McDiarmid replacing that old weird woman in the Emperor’s brief scene, streamlining of the snowspeeder effects (something pretty glaring in the original), and most importantly a better look at the environment designed for Bespin, not just in the shots where windows and outside backgrounds were added, but also in that initial fly-in establishing scene where we get a nice view of the city, and thankfully free of the digital clutter that marred the similar intro to Mos Eisley in the Special Edition of A New Hope.
Haters gonna hate…
I got poetry in me. I do!
Great to see Empire and McCabe, in particular. I’ve seen Empire twice recently and am absolutely convinced of its greatness. Like Top 20 movies of all time level greatness.
McCabe would also be in my top 20. The first time I saw it, it flattened me.
I got poetry in me.
Capacitor china Solar China Wind Turbine China