Revisiting an American auteur

Over the past 50 years, Robert Altman has garnered a reputation as one of the most prolific and talented American directors. Over the next three weeks, the Northwest Film Center will play 12 of his best films as part of “It Don’t Worry Me: A Tribute to Robert Altman.”

Altman got his start in film in the 1950s while working for the Calvin Company, an industrial and educational film giant. The technical skills he learned were soon put to use with his first feature full-length, The Delinquents. The movie was a low-budget venture and was largely ignored by the general public. But it did catch the eye of Alfred Hitchcock, who chose Altman to direct some episodes of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

This jump-started his long career as a director who defied America’s conventional ideology and subverted film genres up until his last work, A Prairie Home Companion, released the same year as Altman’s death in 2006.

MASH

Altman’s commercial and critical breakthrough was the dark comedy MASH, set during the Korean War. The film is about three talented surgeons–Hawkeye Pierce, Duke Forest and Trapper John–who are drafted to serve in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital three miles from the frontlines of the American-Korean conflict. Led by Hawkeye, the three womanizing subversives wreak havoc and take control of the base. Lt. Col. Henry Blake is the unit’s commanding officer, and he does little to curb the group’s control of his staff.

But conflict comes with the arrival of Maj. Margaret O’Houlihan, the new busty blonde head nurse. She and the religious Maj. Frank Burns begin an unsuccessful mission to end Hawkeye’s hegemony. This leads the film through an episodic chain of events, including a faux last supper for a suicidal dentist, a football game between hospital units and an impromptu trip to Japan to perform a surgery on a congressman’s son.

Altman did an excellent job of casting this film with actors who at the time were unknown. Most notably, Donald Sutherland gives an excellent performance as Hawkeye. Altman allowed a lot of improvisation and made good use of crosstalk between multiple characters. Both techniques make for a highly naturalistic, and funny, portrayal of human relations.

Although set during the Korean conflict, the film indicted the Vietnam War as absurd and lawless. The film was turned into the iconic television show of the same name in 1972, and it continued for 11 seasons.

Kansas City

In 1934, the Depression was sweeping through the country, but Kansas City saw some prosperity because of the burgeoning underground markets of booze and gambling.

The chaos of political and social mischief happening in the city is captured in Altman’s 1996 effort, Kansas City. The eccentric Blondie O’Hara, played superbly by Jennifer Jason Leigh, is on a mission to save her husband from the proprietor of a local jazz club, “The Hay Hay,” after he is caught pulling a heist involving one of the club’s patrons. Blondie kidnaps the opium-addicted wife of a local politician so that she can use his power to persuade Seldom Seen, the club’s owner, to release her husband.

Set mostly with an ensemble of jazz musicians playing in the bar, Kansas City offers a stylish study of the similarities between the lives of criminals and the inner workings of the political machine.

Screening schedule

All screenings at the Whitsell AuditoriumTickets are $6 for students.

MASHFriday, March 7 at 7 p.m.

Brewster McCloudSaturday, March 8 at 7 p.m.

Kansas CitySunday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Gosford ParkFriday, March 14 at 7 p.m.

The PlayerSaturday, March 15 at 7 p.m.

Jazz ’84 Sunday, March 16 at 7 p.m.

Buffalo Bill and the IndiansFriday, March 21 at 7 p.m.

McCabe and Mrs. MillerSaturday, March 22 at 7 p.m.

A WeddingSunday, March 23 at 7 p.m.

Thieves Like UsFriday, March 28 at 7 p.m.

The Long GoodbyeSaturday, March 29 at 7 p.m.

Three WomenSunday, March 30 at 7 p.m.