Nashville (1975)

Nashville
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Joan Tewkesbury
1975/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Albuquerque: Now, if we don’t — we don’t live peaceful, there’s gonna be nothin’ left in our graves except Clorox bottles and plastic fly swatters with red dots on ’em.

Altman and Tewkesbury cram 24 characters and almost that many subplots in one movie. That we care about all these characters  is a testimony to their mastery of the craft.

As the movie begins, a plane lands in Nashville bearing Hal Phillip Walker, a populist candidate for President representing the Replacement Party, along with his campaign staff.  He drives around town in a van with a bullhorn spouting his folksy political philosphy.  His is a grassroots campaign popular with young people.  His supporters will be seen carrying signs and handing out flyers throughout the film.  The finale of the candidate’s day will be a rally with free country entertainment.

Others are arriving to perform at the Grand Ole Opry or to seek fame as country musicians. All these people become interrelated in some way in the many threads woven through the film.

One of the stories involves Linnea (Lily Tomlin), a white singer in an all-black gospel choir, who is raising two deaf children without much support from her husband Delbert, who is working as the lawyer for the Hal Phillip Walker campaign.  One of the groups in town, Bill, Mary and Tom, is a folk-rock trio.  Tom is a serial philanderer who sees Linnea as a challenge.  The other girls approach him and he does not resist.

A second thread is the return of star Barbara Jean to the stage after an accident.  She is still frail and it’s up in the air whether she can stand up to the pressure.  With Henry Gibson as an arrogant phony country legend; Barbara Baxley as his pixilated Kennedy-loving wife; Geraldine Chaplin as a perfectly hilarious BBC documentarian; Keenan Wynn as a man whose wife is dying and cannot get ditzy groupie niece Martha (Shelley Duvall) to show any interest; Karen Black as Barbara Ann’s rival; Gwen Welles as a wannabe; and Barbara Harris as another wannabe.  We also get cameos by Eliott Gould and Julie Christie.

This is one of my favorite movies.  I know it’s kind of messy and misanthropic but that doesn’t matter much to me in this case.  I can’t think of a movie in which a cast the scope and size of this one in which every minute is made to count.  Unfortunately, human nature has not changed for the better in the years since this came out.  I always break out in chills when Barbara Harris belts out  “It Don’t Worry Me.”  Recommended.

Keith Carradine won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song for “I’m Easy”.  The film was nominate in the categories of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Tomlin), Best Supporting Actress (Blakely), and Best Director.

Trailer (spoilers)