Nashville (1975) User Reviews

Does Christmas smell like oranges to you?

[slokes · 9/10 · 7 December 2003]

The opening shot of "Nashville" shows a van with a loudspeaker offering platitudes from Hal Phillip Walker, Replacement Party candidate for President and the perfect middleman for the movie "Nashville," which like the never-seen candidate offers a series of apparently disconnected vignettes that touch on deeper truths but remain enigmatic and yet, somehow, substantial and truthful.

"Nashville" is the kind of film scholars champion and no one else watches, which is a shame because it has a lot to offer, and not just to pointyheads. I avoided it for years because of Pauline Kael's iconographic reviews in the New Yorker. If she liked it so much, it couldn't be that good. It was a film where Eastern intellectuals took their shots at country yokels like so many fish in a barrel. Boy, was I wrong.

"Nashville" is an empathic, genuine-feeling soap opera set to country & western music, the kind they used to play before Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks revamped Nashville into Hollywood East. The movie takes a while to get started, and viewers are required to stick with a seemingly random group of characters with the most tangential series of relationships to one another. Over time, however, the vignettes gel into a mosaic of related setpieces that seem to move in tandem, until by the end, they gain a sort of terminal velocity that feels almost like destiny.

There are nearly 30 characters at the center of "Nashville." Some are stars, like Ronee Blakley's fragile Barbara Jean and Henry Gibson's Haven Hamilton. Some are wanna-bes, like Gwen Welles' desperate and pathetic Sueleen Gay and Barbara Harris's red-dot-fixated Albuquerque. Some are good-hearted, like Barbara Baxley's Kennedy-loving Lady Pearl and Lily Tomlin's sign-literate Linnea Reese. Then there's folks like Michael Murphy's sleezy politico John Triplette, Geraldine Chaplin's sophistic reporter Opal, and Shelley Duvall's shallow and slutty L. A. Joan, whom one wishes weren't more representative of the human race.

The nice thing about "Nashville," actually the great thing about it, is how we see these people in such depth and richness. Haven Hamilton opens the film as a petty dictator of sorts, running his recording studio like a rhinestone Hitler as his eyes flash and roll for signs of petty trespass, but we grow to like his hokey showmanship and his genuine impulse to entertain and, at the end, see to it Nashville does not disintegrate into another Dallas. He's not a bad guy, he just has bad moments, and virtually the same can be said of nearly everyone in this film.

Is "Nashville" a political film? There's Hal Phillip Walker, and a final act of political assassination, but it seems more cultural. Certainly it's not topical, though a Washington outsider did win the Presidency in 1976. We aren't really encouraged to take Walker too seriously, not with those wild-eyed Walker girls waving placards with their frosted Manson-girl gazes. Is it a satire of Nashville, or Middle America? It's far more brutal when it takes on the smarmy Triplette, or the transatlantic twit Opal, who seem the most contemptuous of Southern values. Talk about not having a clue.

By the second half of the film, we are locked into all the personal dramas and moments of revelation, to the point we feel them more than the characters themselves. Like Linnea's moment of truth at a dive when Keith Carradine's Tom sings "I'm Easy" as a desperate come-on to her, while three other women think wrongly it is being sung to them and react in varying degrees of smugness. Tomlin can't sing gospel, and she's not as funny as she was in "Laugh In," but her reaction to his performance in that scene fully merited her Oscar nomination. Her eyes are Garbo-inert, and her head seems stapled to the wall as she wishes with all her heart this cup will pass her by.

I wouldn't say that's my favorite scene. It keeps changing with every viewing. I really reacted strongly to Barbara Harris's culminating performance of "It Don't Worry Me" after watching the film for the first time just after 9/11, though it does seem a trifle more apathetic than defiant upon reflection. Still, it has incredible power, because it's sarcastic, hopeful, and revelatory all at once. It's also a perfect note with which to end a rare film that manages to skewer and honor its subject simultaneously, yet ultimately manages to find the redeeming goodness in the blackest night.

Better Than Expected!

[gab-14712 · 9/10 · 18 October 2017]

Director Robert Altman impressed me with this two earlier directorial efforts M.A.S.H and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, but I believe he really comes into his own with 1975's Nashville. The way he directed his movie and the way he made it a very intelligent movie with many important themes but can be understood by the general public is just outstanding. However, if you don't keep up with the movie, you can be sure to get lost in the overload of information Altman throws at you. On paper, the film may seem like a mess but it's really not. The film really does not have an overall plot, but it has interwoven segments that are related with each other and I'll discuss a little bit later on. This film is full of unique performances from an unusually large cast. It's not unusual that there are many characters, but how many major characters there are. There are approximately 25 major speaking roles, and that has to be some sort of record. But all the performances are wonderful and unique and you feel for each character in the country music setting of Nashville.

So what exactly is this film about? Well, that's really hard to pinpoint as there is no one big linear plot line. It is essentially about a group of people living life in Nashville during a political-happy time (kind of reminds me of the current 2016 political race). But let's break down the plot into the little segments. We have Barbara Jean (Ronee Blackley) who is the current reigning country queen of Nashville, but health problems is causing her to fall apart and she also later becomes a symbol for political assassination. Then we have Delbert (Ned Beatty) and Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin) who live a rather sad life because of a failing marriage and trying to take care of two deaf children. Delbert is involved in a politics as he is trying to bring politics and country music together. Then we have a British journalist named Opal (Geraldine Chaplin) who decides to get into the thick of events within the Nashville scene. As the famed movie critic Roger Ebert paraphrases what this movie is about, it's many things. A musical, a docudrama about life in Nashville, a political story that was influenced by events like the Watergate scandal, and it is also a satire about country music.

With such a large ensemble, I was surprised how much Altman was able to get from all of his characters. They were superbly written and the performances were genuine. Many of the characters do their own singing, and you can tell they are not professional singers. While the voices may not be the best ones ever, I loved the raw, edgy sound with added to the realism of the performances. The film is not composed of big stars (at the time or even by today's standards), but they often hit the spot. I loved Ronee Blackley's performance as the country queen, Barbara Jean. Her singing is decent, but she brings a sensitive side to her character and she is involved in a big political showdown at the end of the movie. She reminds me of a similar real-life country singer, Loretta Lynn. Lily Tomlin delivered one heck of a impressive performance as the mother of two deaf children. I relate to her character because I suffer from partial deafness myself and I understand her pains. She brings such vulnerability to her character. Ned Beatty does a good job in playing the asshole husband who doesn't care about his family but only about his job. We have very early performances from future stars from the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Scott Glenn, and Keith Carradine (who was impressive as a rock singer). Henry Gibson does a solid job as another famous country star named Haven Hamilton (and did have a good voice).

So there were many aspects to the plot I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed the rather brutal satire on country music which gathered criticism from people within this industry. But my favorite was the political aspect of the movie. Maybe its because history and politics go hand in hand or maybe we are living in a political-happy environment at current time, but I feel like the politics aspect hold up strongly. I like the random scenes where we have this political party in support of a candidate named Hal Philip Walker whom we never meet, but his presence is always known. His politics and the country stars end up clashing in the end for a very powerful ending.

Overall, I really enjoyed Nashville. I don't think it's good of a masterpiece of Altman's earlier McCabe and Mrs. Miller but this is his more mainstream effort. But use that word "mainstream" lightly because Altman brings his complicated style of directing to this movie. His use of the actors and his political and social commentary is widely shown throughout the film. As I say for most of Altman's films, they are not for everyone. This film has excellent performances from everyone with my favorite performance coming from Lily Tomlin. There is an hour of music recorded for the film and despite the inexperience of the singers, the music mostly works with the film. Nominated for 5 Oscars and a 9 Golden Globes (a record that still holds today), Nashville is a solid work of filmmaking.

My Grade: A-

One of the great films of our time

[anhedonia · 8/10 · 19 August 2004]

I suppose the brilliance of "Nashville" is that almost 30 years after its initial release, Robert Altman's slice of Americana has lost none of its punch. Despite being made in the Watergate and Vietnam era, the film remains relevant as ever.

In fact, one could argue, the film's even more relevant today in this age of celebrity-worship and apathetic, gutless American media who believe missing suburban wives are more pertinent and crucial to this nation's well-being than questioning facts and our leaders' motives for waging a needless, costly war.

The film's about the politics of country music, families, stardom, search for stardom, political manipulation and populist political candidates. The unseen presidential candidate's spiel in "Nashville" could easily have been sound bites from contemporary populists; he could be seen as the cinematic trend-setter for the Ross Perots, Jesse Venturas, Howard Deans and Ralph Naders.

The film is at once a political drama, musical and documentary all effortless woven together by a master storyteller, who truly is an American treasure. In "Nashville," Altman's overlapping dialogue works to perfection as he captures this panoramic view of five days in Nashville through the eyes of two-dozen characters.

With so many characters, it's Altman's genius that he keeps this an engrossing character study. Although he tosses aside all conventions of narrative storytelling, we get to know characters better in "Nashville" than we do in many contemporary dramas with fewer characters. There's Ronee Blakley's country singer; Lily Tomlin's doting housewife and mother; Scott Glenn's caring soldier; Keith Carradine's lecherous pop star; Ned Beatty's disinterested father; Keenan Wynn's loving husband; Michael Murphy's sleazy campaigner; and Gwen Welles' sad wannabe country singer, whose scene at a political fund-raiser is heartbreaking. And Jeff Goldblum's motorcyclist and Geraldine Chaplin's Opal are the threads that weave through all the lives in this marvelous tapestry.

There are plenty of terrific songs in "Nashville" - some might complain too many - but the best are Carradine's Oscar-winning "I'm Easy" and "It Don't Bother Me." They add to the nice sense of cynicism that layers the movie.

Altman's one of the big reasons the 1970s is regarded as the greatest decade of American filmmaking. Look at just a few of his contributions in that decade - "Nashville," "MASH" (1970), "Brewster McCloud" (1970), "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971), "Images" (1972) and "The Long Goodbye" (1973). His films also influence other talented filmmakers, including Alan Rudolph (who worked on Altman films) and Paul Thomas Anderson, whose storytelling style - "Boogie Nights" (1997) and "Magnolia" (1999) - clearly is Altman-inspired.

Altman's Masterpiece: "The Damnedest Thing You Ever Saw"

[gftbiloxi · 10/10 · 21 May 2005]

Robert Altman is an extremely divisive director in the sense that you either "get it" or you don't--and those who don't despise his work and take considerable pleasure in sneering at NASHVILLE in particular. But there is no way around the fact that it is an important film, a highly influential film, to most Altman fans his finest films, and to most series critics quite possibly the single finest film made during the whole of the 1970s.

According to the movie trailer available on the DVD release, NASHVILLE is "the damnedest thing you ever saw"--and a truer thing was never said, for it is one of those rare film that completely defies description. On one level, the film follows the lives of some twenty characters over the course of several days leading up to a political rally, lives that collide or don't collide, that have moments of success and failure, and which in the process explore the hypocrisy that we try to sweep away under the rug of American culture. If it were merely that, the film would be so much soap-opera, but it goes quite a bit further: it juxtaposes its observations with images of American patriotism and politics at their most vulgar, and in the process it makes an incredibly funny, incredibly sad, and remarkably savage statement on the superficial values that plague our society.

What most viewers find difficult about NASHVILLE--and about many Altman films--is his refusal to direct our attention within any single scene. Conversations and plot directions overlap with each other, and so much goes on in every scene that you are constantly forced to decide what you will pay attention to and what you will ignore. The result is a film that goes in a hundred different directions with a thousand different meanings, and it would be safe to say that every person who sees it will see a different film.

In the end, however, all these roads lead to Rome, or in this case to the Roman coliseum of American politics, where fame is gained or lost in the wake of violence, where the strong consume the weak without any real personal malice, and where the current political star is only as good as press agent's presentation. For those willing and able to dive into the complex web of life it presents, Altman's masterpiece will be an endlessly fascinating mirror in which we see the energy of life itself scattered, gathered, and reflected back to us. A masterpiece that bears repeated viewings much in the same way that a great novel bears repeated readings. A personal favorite and highly, highly recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

One of the best and most insightful portraits of America ever filmed

[Woodyanders · 10/10 · 13 September 2017]

Robert Altman's sprawling, yet remarkably rich, compelling, and cohesive mosaic of Bicentennial-era America chronicles several days in the lives of a vivid and eclectic array of people in the country music capitol of Nashville, Tennessee. Altman and the incisive script by Joan Tewkesbury astutely captures the hopes, dreams, and delusions of America in the mid-1970's, with a specific emphasis on our nation's obsession with fame, success, and celebrity, the fierce distinction between the haves and the have nots, the complex interrelationship between politics and entertainment, and the various ways men exploit, abuse, and/or degrade women. Few movies depict both the negative and positive aspects of American culture with the same wit, warmth, and vitality as this pip does.

Moreover, the uniformly terrific cast rates as another substantial asset: Ronee Blakley as the fragile Barbara Jean, Allen Garfield as her overprotective husband Barnett, Keith Carradine as callous and narcissistic womanizing heel Tom Frank, Henry Gibson as the arrogant Haven Hamilton, Michael Murphy as smarmy politician John Triplette, Lily Tomlin as the sweet Linnea Reese, Ned Beatty as her neglectful lawyer husband Delbert, Gwen Welles as the ambitious, but untalented Sueleen Gay, Geraldine Chaplin as clueless and obnoxious reporter Opal, Shelley Duvall as kooky groupie L.A. Joan, David Hayward as troubled loner Kenny Frasier, Barbara Harris as the daffy, but determined Albuquerque (the climax with Harris belting out "It Don't Worry" me on stage is a real show-stopper), Bert Remsen as her cranky husband Star, Karen Black as the haughty Connie White, Scott Glenn as the smitten Private Glenn Kelly, Barbara Baxley as the brash and outspoken Lady Pearl, Robert DuQui as the hard-nosed Wade, and, in an especially poignant role, Keenan Wynn as the kindly Mr. Green. Best of all, it's a total treat to the watch the colorful characters continually cross paths with each other in a multitude of surprising and inspired ways, with a particular highlight being when Carradine sings the excellent song "I'm Easy" in a club to a handful of women who he's seduced and bedded. The songs featured on the soundtrack range from the sublime (the rousing "My Idaho Home") to the gloriously hokey (the jingoistic tune "200 Years"). Essential viewing.

Powerful commentary on 70's America

[filmster1 · 1 March 2002]

If not the greatest, it certainly is one of the cleverest movies ever made, in the same league as Citizen Kane or Dr. Strangelove. This movie is jam packed with messages that hit the audience like a machine gun via its many interweaving vignettes, songs and witty dialogue. Cannot recall another movie that has so much all bundled up in one.

I will not be able to discuss all the wonderful scenes in the limited space here, but one stands out in my mind is the lady-killer Tom Frank's mesmerizing rendition of his own song "I'm Easy" to his many women admirers. The intense facial expressions of all involved spoke more than words ever could. The sad irony is that such a sensitive, talented and handsome guy is in fact the most selfish heartless male chauvinist in the whole movie. That scene has not dated one bit after so many years and probably won't for a while.

This is a film some will love and some will hate. But regardless, it's a must-see for all and definitely a landmark movie that will stand the test of time. 9/10(1 point off for lack of a plot).

a milestone in my filmgoing experience

[[e-mail] · 10/10 · 21 August 2004]

I saw Nashville when it was first shown, billed as Altman's "birthday card" to America on the occasion of the bicentennial. The greatest tribute I can pay is that, despite its frequent shifts of location, many individual scenes and characterizations, as well as the overarching story line, remained vivid in my mind over the years before I was able to purchase the film on video. When I taught Film History at my college I used Nashville as the final examination for the course. After having viewed the film, students were instructed to identify the elements of film technique previously studied(such as overlapping dialogue, jump shots, widescreen, etc) in order to forward the narrative, as they were employed by Altman. In general, they did very well; even those who disliked the film. There are too many admirable performances for me to mention; however, those that remained most vivid in my mind over the years were those of Gwen Welles, Ronee Blakley, Henry Gibson, and Lily Tomlin. One last note of appreciation regards the fact that all the characters were introduced within the first twenty minutes at the airport; their personalities brought out in the highway scene;and their being brought together again, cyclically, during the last twenty minutes at the "Parthenon". It has been several years since I used Nashville for pedagogical purposes. When I purchased the DVD recently I found that, despite my numerous viewings and classroom analysis, the impact was virtually the same as when I first saw it in 1976. For me, it did not "murder to dissect" this personal milestone.

Best Movie

[tragiclaura5 · 10/10 · 5 April 2002]

Nashville is a great movie. It is so multilayered, you'll be able to watch it again and again and slowly peel back each layer to see more and more. Amazing all around--amazing ability to hand you dozens of different characters and make you feel like you know each and every one very well. Most movies today can't even make you like even one character, much less 20.

Songs are memorable, some are hilariously bad, others are quite good. Hilariously funny at times, poignant and thought-provoking and heartbreaking. Amazing film.

Scattershot satire does unveil one terrific new talent...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 23 February 2001]

Director Robert Altman's sprawling put-down of the Capitol of Country Music features a headache-inducing amount of overlapping dialogue recorded in a fuzzy, pseudo-documentary manner; add to that an over-abundance of 'colorful' characters and muddy cinematography, and "Nashville" nearly self-destructs before its second-half. Saved in the end by terrific performances, Altman gets superlative acting turns from Shelley Duvall and Keenan Wynn (in the film's most moving side-plot), Henry Gibson (perhaps doing a Conway Twitty), Lily Tomlin (excellent), Gwen Welles as a would-be singer who ends up stripping, and of course Ronee Blakley (whose Barbara Jean might be modeled after Loretta Lynn). Blakley's breakdown in front of an outdoor audience is unforgettable, her sanity slipping away as she babbles along happily. Otherwise, the film has a dated, drab look, talky passages that stall the momentum, and not enough sly humor (the picture leaves a sour aftertaste). Professional critics were split when the film was released in 1975; it certainly isn't easy faulting a film that begins with a plug for its own soundtrack (clever...almost too clever), and as a vehicle for the talents of Ronee Blakley, who never got a chance like this again. **1/2 from ****

Refreshing and Brilliant

[kagaka · 10/10 · 27 August 2003]

After having seen this film for the third time - the first was in film school many years ago - I'm struck by the amount of action going on within many of the shots. Mention is frequently made of Altman's use of overlapping dialogue in the sound but what struck me this time around is how often two or more characters, acting out different lines of the story are captured within the same shot - giving this film much of its sense of verisimilitude, a fantastic control of pace while feeling natural. Unarguably, much of its naturalism comes from the lens and cinematographic choices but part of it also stems from the choices made available in the cutting room, which give it an excellent pace and rhythm.

Add to that some wonderful performances, especially by Henry Gibson and Ronee Blakely, and you have a quintessential American Independent film that speaks about America in terms that no marketing agency of the current generation would ever tolerate.

The movie don't worry me much, but it's still out there bothering other people.

[ironhorse_iv · 7/10 · 26 December 2012]

Opening credits reads for a very long time, but once it's starts, it's really does start. It captures the time and place so vividly. A film on superficiality and hypocrisy of the American people for how is created. This is a riot. Even if Robert Altman is exaggerating about how loose this was, it is amazing how much of this was done essentially the fly and assembled in the editing room. The musical film follows country, gospel music stars, and 24 near normal people in Nashville, TN. The movie is full of musical numbers, and multiple story lines. Having 24 characters in a movie for the audience to watch, and care is hard to follow. It get somewhat confusing, and the story only have a overaching story arc with each character trying to become somebody. Most of the characters come together at Parthenon in Nashville to witness a outdoor concert for a populist running for President of the United States on the Replacement Party ticket. The overarching plot takes place over five days leading up to a political candidate Hal Phillip Walker ralley, who is never seen throughout the entire movie. Hal Phillip Walker's folksy political aphorisms is mixed with overblown songs juxtaposed with country superstar intended to commemorate the upcoming Bicentennial. The most popular country singer is Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley) just return to Nashville who just agree to join the ralley despite having health issues and the 'Main' Main character. Barbara Jean continue to struggle in her return to the point that she refuse to sing songs, and rather rambling stories about her childhood. After several false starts, Barnett escorts her from the stage and tells the disappointed audience that they can come to the Parthenon tomorrow and see Barbara Jean perform for free, thus committing her to the Walker concert. Without spoiling the end-- the Climax at the Walker concert is one of the most deep movie ending ever. It's still chilling to watch even today. Other key characters are Opal (Geraldine Chaplin) a wacky, celebrity-obsessed, self-absorbed radio reporter. As a surrogate for the audience, she provides an outsider's perspective on the business of music. She is never seen with a film crew, to the point she may not even be a filmmaker but just a groupie who uses fake credentials to gain access to famous people. Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) Grand Ole Opry star. His political ambitions play a pivotal role in the film's plot. Pfc. Glenn Kelly (Scott Glenn), a Vietnam War veteran looking forward to Barbara Jean performing in a stalking type of way. Sueleen Gay (Gwen Welles) a pretty young waitress at the airport lunch counter and a talentless, aspiring country singer. Her refusal to recognize her limitations and face reality gets her in trouble is one of the best characters in the film. What a great character! I felt such pity and embarrassment for self-deluded Sueleen, but the scene at the stag fund-raiser was heartbreaking, nonetheless measure of control of of the rheum. Several characters are based on real country music figures: Ronee Blakely's Barbara Jean is based on Loretta Lynn. There are also cameos from real stars Elliott Gould, Julie Christie, Vassar Clements and others all playing themselves. The actors and actresses composed some of the songs they performed in the film. The movie has some of the best songs, "Since You've Gone" This beautiful song, performed by the fictional folk trio Tom, Bill and Mary written for the film by Gary Busey. Weird. The whole sub-plot affair between Tom Frank (Keith Carradine) and Lennea Reese (Lily Tomkins) can be solve by the song 'I'm Easy" which won Best Original Song at the Academy Award. This song still holds up and to think that it was actually written by an actor like Keith Carridine. Such a poignant moment in the film. He had all those girls fooled into thinking he liked them individually and he called up another gal while Lily Tomlin's character was getting ready to leave. Lily's face near the end is absolutely heartbreaking, that scene had to have gotten her the Oscar nomination.Carradine also wrote "It Don't Worry Me", which is heard on the soundtrack throughout the film, and is the closing number performed by Barbara Harris onstage at the Parthenon. She sang it beautiful, it's a shame Barbara Harris didn't go on to greater things - she's a country gem. She plays as an aspiring singer-songwriter who failures to get a break, comes in the end, and opportunity is calling. Sueleen Gay, leaning against the post watching Harris performs, coming to grips with the fact that her big break is not happening. But still patiently waiting for it. You could look at it like that, or you could see the indifference as rather the ability of Nashville (or even, the country at large) to carry on with the show, despite the tragedy - which would signify, fundamentally, a collective belief that the show must go on. Altman's film remains, to me, the greatest example of cinematic Impressionism (it's not really made up of multiple overlapping stories --but he just touched on every right moment for each character and you caught that. Still it's spotty. The movie was widely despised by the mainstream country-music community at the time of its release; many artists believed it ridiculed their talent and sincerity. Of course almost all of those people have since passed. Nowadays country music is just rock n roll with a twang anyway. Then there are those that says the politics really hurts the movie. Everybody thought that the South's time was over but it sound like Altman's was saying - America is the South - parody does not mean offense. That's why Nashville keeps being the masterpiece it is. It is simple and complex at the same time. Mr Altman leaves everyone free to form an idea of his/her own about the story told on the screen

One of the greatest films of its era.

[gittes98 · 10/10 · 15 May 2004]

Can't believe I've taken this long to reply re: Nashville. It is simply the movie that has had the biggest influence on my life since I first had the honor of viewing it one hot August day in Seattle in 1975. Leaving the theatre dazed, numbed and shattered, in a way only a truly great work of art is able to accomplish, at having seen something so unique and so powerful it helped this then 21 year old Canadian see life and the possibility of film in an entirely different light. That's a pretty lofty thing for a movie to do, but Nashville is the most defining movie of my lifetime, the one that all others were judged by or compared to. Over the years I have viewed this movie countless times in second-run, revival houses, and even on television where it's impact is of course diluted by commercials and indifferent presentations It was the first movie I bought on DVD, even before I owned a player and have scoured newspapers, books and magazines long before the access of the internet to read everything available on this film. Unfortunately, Nashville's reputation suffered during the dark years of the 1980-90s (the complete exclusion from the AFI's list of 100 greatest films of all time was especially vexing but rallied a bit with its availability on DVD. True, it is a love it or hate it movie, most great works of art do bring out these strong emotions and I have experienced both during the close to 30 years since the movie's release, but for those of us who love it, there are very few others that compare.

Not my thing

[alansabljakovic-39044 · 6/10 · 3 May 2020]

Nashville has 24 "main" characters and I didn't care about a single one! The movie is overstuffed and mostly boring, the characters aren't that interesting (except maybe 1 or 2 of them) and it's really hard to keep up what's going on. Most of the time I was like wait who are you again? The second part of the movie was much better and some character development was happening, I also loved the ending! This is my first Altman but I'm excited to watch more of his movies.

This isn't Nashville...it's an insane asylum!

[Rob-120 · 1/10 · 22 August 2009]

"Nashville" is supposed to be Robert Altman's best movie. But I have to say, I just didn't get it! The movie is like some kind of surreal satire on the city of Nashville, and the state of America in the 1970's. It's Nashville...but it's like an alternate universe Nashville where the people talk endlessly, on and on, about nothing! It's like "Seinfeld" without the jokes or character development.

This Nashville is filled with people who are completely clueless about how superficial their lives are, who seem to have no idea how stupid they are. A key scene early on involves a multi-car pile-up on the interstate. But instead of running around from car to car asking "Is everyone all right? Is anyone hurt?", the people in the pile-up (who are all, by strange coincidence, characters in the movie) seem more annoyed that this accident will make them late for dinner, or to whatever they have to go to. They talk with each other, exchange phone numbers, buy and sell goods, eat popsicles bought from an ice cream. Nobody seems phased that they've just been through a massive near-death experience. These are not "people," they are "characters in a social commentary."

Altman's take on the country music industry is very strange. In this version of Nashville, there are a lot of country music singers who can't sing! I don't just mean the "wannabe singers" like Suleen Gay (Gwen Welles) who is too stupid to realize she doesn't have any talent. I mean established country stars like Tommy Brown (Timmy Brown), Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson), and Connie White (Karen Black), who are singing onstage at the Grand Ole Opry, but who have limited pitch ranges, and slide their notes up and down the scale as they sing. These "country stars" wouldn't last 30 seconds at an "American Idol" audition. Simon Cowell would eat them alive and spit them out!

Most of the songs in the movie seem to be country song pastiches. (One song includes the lyrics, "The pilot light of our love has gone out" and "If makin' love is margarine, then you're a slippery spread.") Only occasionally do we get a sincere, well-sung country song, like Keith Carradine's "I'm Easy." Ronnie Blakely has a good role as a Loretta Lynn-style country singer who has an onstage meltdown at Opryland. But even her onstage meltdown seems phony -- it is a caricature of an onstage meltdown written by a Hollywood screenwriter. (Did she really need to make chicken sounds onstage to make the point that she was cracking up?)

The city of Nashville seems to have gone insane, but nobody seems to notice. A sound truck drives around, blaring political arguments for a populist presidential candidate. A man (Jeff Goldblum) rides around on a three-wheel motorcycle, stopping occasionally to do magic tricks. An annoying British journalist (Geraldine Chapman) keeps showing up at parties and bars and sticking her microphone in people's faces, asking them questions and ignoring their answers.

And of course, people talk, non-stop, about nothing in particular, in Altman's trademark overlapping dialogue, for two hours and forty minutes. This form of movie dialogue may be considered realistic, but in this case, I found it very boring.

Yes, I know, Altman was making a comment on the times, and the 1970's were a very surreal and superficial time. But the fact that Altman captured the surreal, superficial qualities of the 70's doesn't necessarily mean it's an interesting movie. I found the characters dull, the dialogue boring, and the plot fairly nonsensical. If I ever pass through this Nashville, remind me to stay on the bus to Memphis.

Robert Altman's masterpiece

[gortx · 14 October 2022]

Robert Altman's sprawling masterpiece is a brilliant look at not just America in the mid-70s, but a reflection of the nation we were to become. Set during a Presidential campaign it weaves themes both large and small. The U. S. was about to celebrate its Bicentennial. Watergate had forced Nixon to resign. The revolutionary 60s had become the Me decade.

Altman and writer Joan Tewkesbury created a mosaic to explore and provoke. NASHVILLE may be set against the worlds of politics and country music, but, it really isn't about either. It's about a nation that is divided along many lines right down to the individual.

The massive cast (24 'main' characters) includes supreme turns by Lily Tomlin, Ronee Blakely, Ned Beatty, Henry Gibson, Karen Black, Keith Carradine, Gwen Welles and more.

In a decade where Altman also made MASH, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER and THE LONG GOODBYE he stood as tall as anyone of that era.

The Most Human Film of All Time

[movies-109 · 10/10 · 27 December 2000]

I first saw Robert Altman's Nashville when I was 19-20 years old, during it's rounds in the cheap theaters. I remember it impacting me but then promptly forgetting the details, but never forgetting the impact. I saw it again when I was perhaps 30, and my wife at the time fell asleep halfway through it. But again remembering the impact if not the details. A few weeks ago I purchased the new DVD release, and I've watched it three times and all I can think about is watching it again. At the age of 43, I am even more in awe of this film than ever. The other commentary here is full of superlatives, all of which I concur with - so I will have to say something about it's special impact on me. You see, I find myself growing to love all these characters in the film, for their imperfections and their human-ness. It is said truth is stranger than fiction, but the truth of the entirely fictitious Nashville is remarkably close to the real thing. How can anyone forget scenes like Keith Carradine listening to his own songs while making love to a different woman in each scene... and on the phone to the next before she is even dressed and out the door? How can anyone forget the frail Ronnie Blakley singing "In The Garden" from her wheelchair in the hospital chapel? Or Keenan Wynn's silent reaction to news of his wife's death? I am still amazed at how much can be told about the soul of a character in just a few minutes of screen time. Like Kenny, the angry young drifter who seems aimless yet befriends the lonely Keenan Wynn character. Barbara Jean telling her life's story in just a few precious minutes while her frustrated band aborts for the third time, before being hustled offstage by her type-A husband. I am even starting to love the songs, many of which were written by the performers themselves - one stroke of genius of many by Robert Altman to induce each actor to perform from the heart. I truly feel sorry for the reviewer who walked out halfway through this movie. If you watch for the first time, pay attention... and look for the first mention of the word "Parthenon"! Then you will want to go back and watch the first half again, when it's over. I recommend watching it alone, with no distractions. There is no movie like Nashville -- it could be a little bit of American Graffiti, a little bit of Forest Gump, and even a little bit of Mad Mad Mad Mad World. But mostly it's like nothing else. Robert Altman was recently quoted as saying this movie "just happened". Thank you Mr. Altman, for letting it happen.

who said it's not a comedy ?

[hawaiitude · 10/10 · 10 January 2007]

I grew up in Nashville. I laughed myself sick when I first saw this film. It is funny start to finish. Sometimes, the humor's cruel, sometimes it falls flat, sometimes it is tongue-in- cheek, sometimes it is outright hilarious.

There is a scene where there is a multiple car pile up on the interstate. People get out of their cars and start selling things and fighting and going on with life with an utter unselfconsciousness about themselves - like they have no memory about the situation - it's like watching a dog lick its own ass ! They don't think, they just exist in the moment. That scene is at the beginning of the movie and the movie just gets better.

I was twelve when "Nashville" premiered in Nashville. It was a BIG DEAL of course. And it was a huge scandal afterwords because Nashville had put out the red carpet for Altman to make the film. . . and then to see it - it was scathing! It makes fun of bumpkins and the superficiality of country music and the pettiness of people and their sad delusions of fame and talent and the exploitive nature of the music industry (and politics). It skewers Nashville. Thing is - many Nashvillians came out of the theater not quite getting it.

It's like the joke was over their head. THAT'S HIS POINT - RUBES !!

To be fair, this is a movie which could have been made any number of places. A number of times Altman tried to do just that. After all, how many communities center around self- important people who believe they are more righteous and more important and live better than anyone else or at any other time ? Plenty, that's how many.

It's just that In "Nashville", everything came together. The country music industry was at a nadir; its product was falsely folksy lyrics set to over-produced sound. All (but one) of the actors in this film wrote their own songs so convincingly that the parody is not obvious. For example, Henry Gibson's "For the Sake of the Children" relates directly to Lorretta Lynn's "One's on the Way, which was a #1 hit in 1971. How do you parody something which already seems a parody of itself (or at least those who listen to it)?

Country music seems to glorify being uneducated and poor, just like mid-1970's fashion produces the ugliest and most awkward clothes imaginable. (We knew that at the time, right?) To top it off, the hoopla of the upcoming 1976 Bicentennial broadened the scope of the message to apply to America as a whole. The movie anthem "We must be doing something right to last two hundred years," resonates today as we exclaim "We're #1" as if we are playing (and winning) some big football game with the world. We make our deals and exclude outsiders and live in the ignorant belief no one else could be so wonderful.

Robert Altman's "Nashville" is if nothing else a comedy. It tells us this - from the scope of our national psyche to the most personal aspects of our own egos - when we take ourselves too seriously and can not laugh at ourselves, then we are just sad.

Unique Masterpiece!

[jeffy-3 · 10/10 · 20 September 2000]

I loved this movie. Loved it! I just saw this on widescreen DVD and had never seen it before. It's the first movie I have seen in a few years that had me smiling from ear to ear as it ended, not because it was a feel-good movie but because it was so exhilarating to see a work so flawlessly assembled, so marvellously written and acted, and finally one so overflowing with the collective creative energy of the cast and crew. There are more memorable characters and vignettes in this one two hour and 40 minute movie than in all the movies from the movies I have seen from the year 2000. M*A*S*H and The Player are the only other two Altman films I have ever seen, and I hesitate to see anymore as how can any of them be as good as NASHVILLE?

Outstanding, one of the best films of the 70's

[Idocamstuf · 8/10 · 25 April 2003]

What a great film this was, with a huge cast and director like that you just cant miss. I was very surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did, knowing that I usually dont enjoy musicals or country music, but somehow this film was excellent!! Maybe it was the way we got to know all of those characters, especially Tomlin, who was phonomonal, and her relationship with that singer. So many familiar faces in this film also made it extremely exciting, Jeff Goldblum on that tricycle was hilarious. To sum it up, this film is a must see. 9 1/2 out of 10.

Significant or Operation Boredom?

[dallasryan · 7/10 · 5 February 2012]

Nashville is one of those movies where it is about real people going through day to day life in some unusual circumstances during some pretty crazy and hectic times such as the post death of JFK to the Vietnam War. It takes place during a very confusing time in United States History and it shows that life goes on as it is demonstrated at the end of this film. Life doesn't stop for anyone or anything, 'the show must go on' is one of the many themes that Nashville talks about and in a way Nashville is a brilliant movie in that it is one of the first films that uses the 'documentary style' filmmaking that Robert Altman has gotten very known for, with the overlapping of people talking, getting as authentic as possible with everyday life and conversations.

When there are laughs, they are big laughs because they are so true to life such as the scene where the young son of Henry Gibson's character is pouring out his heart and soul, by singing the one and only song he's ever written, to a female reporter who kept persuading him to sing it to her, and so he finally does, it's a very touching moment, but being the ding-dong that she is, in the middle of him singing this song that means everything to him, the flaky reporter sees Elliot Gould and interrupts him and says "That's Elliot Gould" as she then leaves to go talk to Elliot Gould. Very funny situations like this(and they're funny because most of us can relate to them) and there are some of these situations throughout the whole movie, and in a way, I'm glad those kinds of situations aren't overdone in Nashville because as in life, they don't come around too incredibly often.

And without this movie, we probably wouldn't have any of the Christopher Guest films that we have today, which I'm a huge Christopher Guest fan, so I'm thankful for Nashville in that sense as well.

However, Nashville is a good film, but it's not a great film, there's no solid connection at any given point, and I always believe there has to be some kind of real connection and if there's not that solid connection, then the movie better be very significant in a historical or cinematic way, which one could argue that Nashville is very significant with what's going on, and how it deals with what's going on.

And even though Nashville is a pioneering film in the 'documentary style' way, in my opinion, I don't think that pioneering aspect is of extremely great importance, not extreme significant importance like the films like The Best Years of Our Lives, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, just to name a few(Also The Best Years of Our Lives really deals with what's going on in the most significant way and in more ways than one, which Nashville doesn't do). Also, Nashville is a very long and a very boring film. It's almost 3 hours long and it drags a lot of the time throughout the film.

The Razor's Edge with Bill Murray is a good movie in the same way of Nashville in that it has some great moments, some great comedic moments as well as some very great dramatic moments, just like Nashville. But, overall Nashville and Bill Murray's The Razor's Edge(even with those great moments) don't come together and connect in the way that you hoped they might have, to make them great films.

Now I will say, and I can say this subjectively, I like country music, but I'm not a huge die-hard Country Music fan. Now for any die-hard country music fans, those types of viewers will probably love this film as there are a lot(a lot) of songs sung in this film(from there very beginning to there very end).

There are a few of the songs that I really enjoyed, especially 'I'm Easy' that was written and sung in the film by Keith Carradine, a fantastic song, and one of the best scenes in the film for that matter, but other than that song and a few others, I would find myself getting to the point of 'how long is this song and when is it going to end for crying out loud?' Not a film for everyone, but perhaps worth a glance. Better Altman films in my opinion are M*A*S*H and The Player.

When Baby-Boomers were Millennials...

[ElMaruecan82 · 10/10 · 21 March 2017]

My rendezvous with "Nashville" goes back to seven years ago, I could get any movie I wanted but "Nashville" resisted. I needed to see the fifth Best Picture nominee of 1975, this very movie Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael raved about, that topped both Ebert and Siskel's annual top ten, this American Film Institute's Top 100 entry that was a total mystery to me.

It took seven years but better late than never... At first, I didn't get what was so brilliant about it but so many story lines and only one viewing? I saw it again. And then, I went like "oh, what the heck", a third time won't hurt. Three times in less than four days, could have been four or five times, as many as the stars in the American flag, that's how good it is. This is one flew over a cuckoo's nest you don't recover from, and the more ordinary people and situations are, the more extraordinary the journey is. Altman should be damned... if he wasn't such a genius.

The film spans a period of five days during a country-music festival, coinciding with some populist politician's party rally, this is enough to have a panoramic view across the lives of dozens of characters who, through their considerable... differences, reach ever possible dimension of the American spirit of 1975, and in such a way that I guess even a non-American can enjoy it. Well, there's me at least.

So, what is "Nashville"? Simply, the Mecca of country music, the reason why everybody came in the first place and were reunited by the end.There are dozens of them but there's no small part in the sense that they're all equally small in the scale of the significance of music, the common thread, the real star. Some sing, some wish they could, some manage or look for singers, some screw or get screwed by them... or just pop up and aimlessly wander, like in real life, no one crosses your path who should necessarily has a significance.

I wonder to which extent these fascinating hazards were part of Joan Tewkesbury's script or improvised by the actors the same way they wrote their own songs.

And not any songs, country songs... this is crucial because country music isn't just deeply rooted in American tradition, it is also the most cinematic of all forms of music: it tells stories.

I can perhaps tell you the name of four or five country singers but I know a great deal about the way country music affects me, because any song I hear finds a powerful echo in my own memories. It is like this scene from "The Simpsons" where Homer leaves the house after an argument and hears Lurleen Lumpkin singing "Your wife doesn't understand you but I do". You listen to country music because you feel like 'it' has listened to you in the first place.

Just compare the upbeat patriotic starting song from Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) "we must have done something right to last 200 years" with the neutral political slogans the loudspeaker keep on hammering all day, which one will reach the hearts first? Compare the obnoxiousness of the character played by Keith Carradine who seemed to have gotten half the female cast on his bed with the melancholic tune of his "I'm Easy" you can't even tell whether he has pride or contempt toward himself, but the gaze of Lilly Tomlin while listening to him says everything.

Music is like the only way to arouse genuine emotions, in another powerful scene, a wannabe singer (Glew Welels) of mediocre talent gets booed, she can only indulge to a striptease to provoke the cheers. In another scene, a father doesn't even have the patience to listen to his deaf son's story as if silence was the antithesis of communication, and music its apotheosis.

Many people communicate, others don't... some meet, others don't... I remember a girl in high school, we never talked together, never went in the same class, but for some reason, we always met in some place or another. When it became obviously repetitive, we smiled at each other; like a private joke. Just like in "Nashville", the more we meet these people, the more we care for them, as we care for ourselves.

Only the New Hollywood period could have made this gem possible, a time where America was still mourning an innocence and where the baby-boomers like today's millennials (count me among them) were cherishing their childhood, a time without the Vietnam War, incarnated by a Wizard-of-Oz-like childhood, Kennedy's dashing smile, the very American Pie Don McLean said bye-bye to.

And this end-of-an-era is magnificently captured by the performance of Roney Blakely (Oscar-nominated along with Tolmin) as a fragile and emotionally vulnerable country singer named Barbara Jean. She's a sweet and delicate flower with a ticking bomb of a heart, she faints at her arrival, in her first representation, she interrupts her songs to mumble about her childhood until her husband (Allen Garfield) takes her away, simply overwhelmed, and easily upset like a part of America is.

But there's room for every possible identification: capitalists, disillusioned soldiers, drifters, lunatic, has-beens, romantics and losers, this is a microcosm of America, all in characters and emotions, for the sake of laughs, anger, tears, frustration, the spirit of a country in a nutshell and its heart is Barbara Jean, whose "Idaho Home" song awakened again that symptomatic feeling of millennials: being nostalgic over eras we didn't live.

And if I could keep one image from these 240 minutes, I'd keep the sight of the American flag gently rippling under the wind while Barbara Jean sings "we were young then, we were together. We could bear floods and fire and bad weather", hell, how can I seriously write a thousand-word review when this image alone speaks for a thousand words.

Entertaining but Somewhat Overrated

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 19 July 2017]

This is one of those films which viewers will probably either love or hate due in large part to the rather haphazard assortment of scenes which seem quite dull and tend to go nowhere. The trick to understanding this film, however, is to realize that all of these scenes either directly or indirectly lead to a climatic finale which is both dramatic and yet puzzling as the same time. At least, that is how it seemed to me. That being said, this movie chronicles several different characters whose lives intertwine in such a manner that some of them don't even realize how their behavior influences others around them--or the future course of events which subsequently play out right before their eyes. It's all rather remarkable in that respect with the scene involving the pop singer named "Tom Frank" (Keith Carradine) serenading "Linnea Reese" (Lily Tomlin) being one of the best. Conversely, there are several others which are downright unremarkable as well with the scene featuring the BBC newscaster "Opal" (Geraldine Chaplin) giving a monologue in the junkyard as possibly the most boring and inane. Likewise, I thought the special guest appearances of both Elliott Gould and Julie Christie (as themselves) were rather awkward as well. In any case, this film was definitely a unique product of its time and all things considered I rate it as slightly above average.

Where to begin?....

[bsilvey · 10/10 · 6 July 2001]

Where do you start with a movie you love so much? I don't think I'm even going to try. Suffice it to say that "Nashville" captivates from beginning to end. It exposes everything I love and hate about America, wrapping it all into one big complicated deliriously funny firework of a movie.

Give it a chance--if you're unfamiliar with Altman's work, just know that he doesn't develop a movie in the traditional ways, and it can be frustrating at first. But try to watch this film not with the expectation of seeing a plot unfold from point A to point B, but rather with an eye for associations, similar themes, irony, and juxtapositions. And don't be afraid to laugh. This film is a hilarious human comedy, and we're meant to laugh at it, even if we're uncomfortable for doing so.

People will argue with me of course, but I think "Nashville" is perhaps the best movie of the last 25 years, and one of the best movies in the history of film making.

A first viewing, calling for another in due time.

[punishmentpark · 7/10 · 3 June 2017]

I've seen a few Altman films now, the first ones being those ones from the '90s and of which 'Short cuts' will remain a very impressive one. Later on, I noticed how not every film was as good, but mostly there was plenty to enjoy, still. Only more recently have I been looking up his older work, such as 'The long goodbye' (pretty darn good, getting better every time I watch it), 'Images' (disappointing as an effective horror drama, but still not bad), 'McCabe and Mrs. Miller' (a little disappointing in some way, but still pretty good, intriguing and one I will definitely will try again) and '3 Women' - an excellent, spellbinding piece of alternative American cinema and a personal Altman favorite at this point (more recently I have seen 'That cold day in the park' as well, which is a terrific film, and also 'California split', which was simply enjoyable).

'Nashville', I'm sorry to say, did disappoint me also, this first viewing. A day later, a lot of scenes and characters and the overall atmosphere of the country music does stick with me in a positive sense. I guess this is one I will try again sometime, too, but not for a while.

A character like Goldblum's really didn't seem all that necessary to me, while the story, consisting of many pieces of personal lives all over Nashville, combined with a 'real-life voice-over' (the politician speaking) lacked a certain amount of coherence for me, even if many parts were still cleverly connected. Perhaps I'll get a better sense of things another time around, but a first viewing is always important to me.

I'll leave it at a good 7 out of 10, because there was plenty to enjoy, in all departments.

Unwatchable

[Bored_Dragon · 1/10 · 16 October 2016]

I love country music and I know the movie piled up many awards and it is considered one of the greatest American movies in the '70s, I understand social criticism... but I cannot remember if I ever saw anything this pointless and boring. I hate to give up and I always watch movies till the end even if I don't like it, but this time I had to gather all of my energy and power of will to endure first of three hours and finally I gave up. I wouldn't recommend this even to the enemy. It's torture.

1/10