Altman wasn’t the first to imagine the western in post modern terms, but he may have been the most convincing. When Hollywood was going out of it’s way to reheat the genre to suit the tastes of the hippie generation (Soldier Blue, Billy Jack, Little Big Man) this film subtlely whispers where the others shouted.
Altman uses two of the iconic actors of the time, Beatty and Christie to great effect. His preceeding films were not star driven, and despite appearances, neither is this one. Beatty is low key and engaging and Christie is riveting in a role that revealed her to be one of the finest of her generation.

The photography is beautiful, and the design influence can be seen through the work of Walter Hill right through to HBO’s ‘Deadwood’.
Altman uses the Renoir principle, to see the world as a big ‘knocking shop’ and thereby unearths human drama with nuance and empathy. The detail is magnificent, every tiny role as important as the leads in creating a convincing tapestry.
Altman wants us to feel the isolation, the remoteness. Only by knowing how vulnerable we are, can the act of reaching out to another human be seen in context. The soundtrack choice is also a clue that this is a different western, no Frankie Lane cornball theme here, just the downbeat and introspective (and poetic) Mr Cohen. Brilliant. Who knew? apparently Altman did.

The inhabitants of this speck on the map, overwhelmed by the wilderness, attempting to gouge out a future for themselves, are easy prey for being exploited by the knowing likes of Mrs Miller. She seemingly knows the hearts of men, and also what will sell and unlike McCabe’s idealist, she’s a realist in the game. She also has a couple of layers of cynicism to shield her from McCabe’s, and anyone else’s attentions.
Altman doesn’t strain where others would, his imagined world has politics, intrigue, sadness, violence, tenderness, hopes and dreams, it just happens to be set in a frontier mining town circa the 1890’s. Altman shows concerns that are timeless and humanity on the edge of civilisation, facing those concerns, the mundane and the challenging. Most of all in a stunning final shot, he reminds us that we are all truly alone.

Altman was still enjoying currency in Hollywood after the massive hit of M*A*S*H. His follow up the quirky Brewster McCloud flopped and the cycle of him producing money-losing idiosyncratic films until one of them struck gold and thereby gave him another ticket on the rollercoaster had begun.
Rejected upon it’s release by a public not yet ready for Altman’s vision, ‘McCabe and Mrs Miller’ is a rich and enduring classic.