At least things were clear. "If I had to choose between you and my job, I'd let you down in a second," Robert Altman told his wife and children. Celluloid ran through his veins, along with quite a few gallons of whisky. Success came late, thanks to Mash (1970), one of the few comedies to have won the Palme d'Or. The director didn't get a dollar on it, which didn't help his mood against Hollywood.
He was a rebel, as much as you can be behind a camera. He dabbled in a little bit of everything, tackled westerns (John McCabe, 1971), adapted Chandler (The Private, 1972, with a disillusioned Elliott Gould) and Raymond Carver (Short Cuts, 1993). His speciality may have been choral films. Nashville (1975) has twenty-four characters gravitating to the mecca of country music; A Wedding (1978) has twice as many, jostling each other during a wedding that turns into a disaster.
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