Nashville

Recently, I showed my 37-year-old son Dominic the 1975 film Nashville. He’s seen other movies directed by Robert Altman, but this was his first time seeing Nashville, where Altman’s mastery of weaving a menagerie of storylines into a crisscrossing maze of narratives is on full display. When it was over, Dominic exclaimed that it was one of the best films he’d ever seen. he couldn’t believe that a major studio had produced it. He said: “Now I understand why you’re so discouraged by the kinds of films that Hollywood makes today.”

The film’s sprawling story follows a cast of two dozen main characters.

He's right, of course. Nashville is a stunning reminder of Altman’s genius as an adventurous filmmaker. With a screenplay by Joan Tewksbury, the film’s sprawling story follows a cast of two dozen main characters over a five-day period as the music city gears up for a concert to honor an outsider, third-party candidate who’s running for president. Everyone in the cast is connected to the music industry in some way, and Altman sprinkles the film with over a dozen, terrific country music performances. Most of the songs were either written or co-written by the actors who perform them, with lyrics that allow us to peek inside the skin of their characters. 

And when the movie isn’t showcasing its music soundtrack, it’s filled with a kaleidoscope of revealing stories about life in and around the country music industry—from comedy and tragedy to heartbreak and love. Incredibly, Altman encouraged his actors to improvise most of their scenes.

Beyond mere entertainment, Nashville—both the city and the movie—is being used here a metaphor for America as the country inched toward celebrating its bicentennial. All the characters in the movie are struggling—in some way—to keep a balance in their lives, their careers, their relationships as the forces of ambition, greed, fame, and dying dreams pinwheel all around. Fortunately, Altman’s touch is never heavy-handed. He lets the stories of his characters show us the many faces of America at that time, still recovering from the traumas of Vietnam, Watergate, and the Kennedy assassinations. The faces of Altman’s Nashville are, at turns, smiling, sad, determined, funny—and flickering with uneasy hope.

With an ensemble the cast that includes Lily Tomlin, Ronee Blakley, Keith Carradine, Karen Black and many others, Nashville was both a critical darling and a box office success. And for good reason. It’s a brilliant four out of four-star film!