Robert Altman called ‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller‘ (1971) an ‘anti-western’ while some critics classify it as a ‘revisionist’ western. The story and the setting are those of the classic films of the genre. We are in a frontier town in the west of United States (northwest, to be more precise) during the period of economic expansion generated by mining. The law is still fluid, there is no sheriff or judge in the film, and the heroes rely on their spirit of initiative doubled by the handling of firearms to make a living and, above all, to survive. The main heroes are perhaps atypical compared to the heroes of classic westerns, but not an absolute novelty in American or world cinema, including Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns made a few years before this film. However, we could say that the story is almost the background in this film, which is an adaptation of a novel written by Edmund Naughton. What interested Robert Altman were the characters, the heroes of the film and the people around them, with their lives and deaths. Critics and film historians, as well as Altman‘s fans, consider ‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller‘ to be one of his best films, if not the best.
The film begins in classic western movies style. A man with an eccentric hat and a gun in his belt enters a small Western mining town and searches for the local saloon. He quickly gains authority because he is a good card player and there are rumors that he once killed someone in a pistol duel. He has some money and invests it in building a new saloon and opening an improvised brothel in tents. Not long after, Mrs. Miller shows up, proposing to McCabe to become his business partner. She will manage his finances and use her own experience to properly organize the prostitution enterprise. Business is booming, the bond between the two slowly strengthens, and after a while, representatives of a trust that wants to take over the city appear. When McCabe, too sure of himself, refuses a proposal that seems to him too low financially, things get complicated.
Robert Altman creates an entire human landscape around McCabe and Mrs. Miller. The two heroes are linked by a business relationship. He does not allow himself to desire her more intimately, except possibly when drunk and in front of the mirror. She takes refuge in opium-induced dreams. Reality is crueler and bigger than them, no matter how much confidence and audacity they try to surround themselves with. Warren Beatty and Julie Christie create two of the most impressive roles of their acting careers. Around them, Altman builds a full universe of characters. He chose his team of extras and let them each build their own character, their personality, their skills. Shelley Duvall, who was a regular in Altman‘s movies, and Keith Carradine at his screen debut but already predicting the formidable actor he would become, appear in supporting roles. The atmosphere is created by the sets created with the tools of the era and the cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond, who pre-processed the film to give it a touch of authenticity. Filming took place sequentially, in the chronological order of the events in the film, so that the nature and colors also change in their natural sequence. These are minor details, but they all build an immersive atmosphere, which absorbs the viewers and brings them feel close to the characters, despite the time gap. The music by Leonard Cohen, by then far from his later celebrity, is also overwhelming, and fits perfectly in the first part, although it was not composed for this film but chosen by Altman after listening to the Canadian singer’s album. ‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller‘ ends with a memorable gunfight, in the tradition of the genre. Altman called it an anti-Western? I say it’s a beautiful Western made very differently.