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Robert Altman's bicentennial epic Nashville -- a tragicomic meditation on entertainment, politics, and the American Dream -- is one of the best movies of the 1970s and a landmark of American cinema. Like a country-music La Ronde, Nashville is an ensemble work, its 24 principal characters interlocking in an elaborate web. Among the many memorable creations are Henry Gibson's comically self-serving Haven Hamilton, Lily Tomlin's heart-tugging gospel singer and, especially, Ronee Blakely's Barbara Jean, a Loretta Lynn-ish star whose pure-mountain voice and fragile psyche give the film a tragic authenticity. Many of the performances were improvised, with actors sometimes writing their own dialogue or songs, and scenes often feel exuberantly loose. Still, Altman exercises a masterful control of the story, which builds to a knowing, frightening finale. Perhaps the greatest of Altman's '70s films (which included McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, The Long Goodbye), Nashville remains an enduring masterpiece of Watergate-era disillusionment. Rachel Saltz

All Movie Guide

Following 24 characters through 5 days in the country music capital, Robert Altman's 1975 epic presents a complexly textured portrayal (and critique) of American obsessions with celebrity and power. Among the various stars, aspirants, hangers-on, observers, and media folk are politically ambitious country icon Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) and his fragile star protegée Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley); Tom (Keith Carradine), a self-absorbed rock star who woos lonely married gospel singer Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin); Sueleen Gay (Gwen Welles), a talentless waitress painfully humiliated at her first singing gig; Albuquerque (Barbara Harris), a runaway wife with dreams of stardom; nightclub owner Lady Pearl (Barbara Baxley), who reminisces about "those Kennedy boys"; single-minded groupie L.A. Joan (Shelley Duvall); vapid BBC commentator Opal (Geraldine Chaplin); and campaign guru John Triplette (Michael Murphy), who is trying to organize a concert rally for the unseen but always heard populist presidential candidate-cum-demagogue Hal Phillip Walker. Everything comes to a head during a climactic concert at Nashville's replica of the Parthenon temple, as the entertainment-hungry audience is momentarily woken out of its stupor by unexpected violence, only to be lulled into a restorative sing-along to "It Don't Worry Me." Lucia Bozzola

Product Details

• UPC: 097360882148
• Source: PARAMOUNT
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 2:40:00
• Sales Rank: 15,889

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