MovieChat Forums > MASH (1970) Discussion > THIS IS WHY I HATE ROBERT ALTMAN

THIS IS WHY I HATE ROBERT ALTMAN

posted 12 years ago by natalie_hardy-997-307193
47 replies | jump to latest

Why oh why do I keep falling for the same trick?

I'm going along - living my life - and I see something like ‘AFI 100’ or ‘Best Movies on topic XYZ’ - and one of Robert Altman's movies is in the pile.

And I think – “But I hate Robert Altman!” He's a terrible director with ONE shot in his bag of tricks (PUSH IN - PUSH IN - NOW PULL BACK!) No talent for changing an actor's range or help tell the story. Just Push in with the freakin' camera and then pull back.

Then I think - But how bad could it be? I've never watched MASH - perhaps I should.

So I did.

And this - is why I hate Robert Altman.

His movies are not narrative stories – and this one is no different. It's a loosely weaved bunch of slapstick skits where misogynistic guys sexually harass every female in sight, tell dick jokes and treat a young Korean boy as a slave. If they had only dropped the N word – the rainbow of racism and sexism would be complete.

I can think of 1000 ways to show the degradation of war and what it does to the human spirit – how humor is a tool for survival. By the end I wished a these a-holes would take a hint from the theme song!!!

And the movie’s all time most WTF moment - why did Hot Lips suddenly become a cheerleader at the end?

[–] miamiscifi 11 years ago

Its ok you can hate him...he told me he thinks youre a *beep*

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 11 years ago

And Painless was going to kill himself because he was afraid that he was a "Fairy", and thus was going to perform some "mortal sin".

Virtually every stereotype was displayed....and then skewered in this movie.

Lighten up, Francis!

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] zensixties 11 years ago

I think the real point of this film is that people gripe about the "N" word (actually they DID use "coon" if you recall) and Hotlips' cheerleading while millions die in Korea and (contemporaneous with this film) Vietnam. Kind of like Borat outing the idiots who take the bait in his films.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of Hollywood... (;-p)

[–] freebird1987 11 years ago

I think Robert Altman's a brilliant director.

[–] jellyree 10 years ago

IGNORE

[–] Disardor 10 years ago

Did you miss the part where Hot Lips had started sleeping with Duke, OP? I think so. And I think along with missing that you also missed a lot more about the movie. For example how the doctors of MASH are under extreme amounts of pressure and have to treat mangled soldiers under circumstances that could be considered fairly primitive, so their reaction to the incredible stress of their jobs is to act ridiculously everywhere but in the operating room.

And as for Altman being "a terrible director with one shot in his bag of tricks," I don't even know where to begin. Have you ever seen The Player? It starts off with one of the most intricately designed shots this side of Touch of Evil. Have you ever seen McCabe & Mrs. Miller? No less an authority on shot composition than Stanley Kubrick telephoned Altman after watching the film and asked him how he got the shot of Keith Carradine's theater crossing a bridge. Have you ever seen The Long Goodbye? Roger Ebert in the years before his death did a series of lectures where he provided shot by shot analysis of the entire film to highlight how brilliantly composed it is. In summation, you're completely ignorant about the subject at hand and should try paying better attention to the things you watch so that you might be able to discuss them intelligently instead of completely and totally misunderstanding and misrepresenting them.

[–] maxi13 10 years ago

i don't like "MASH"
but i love "Short Cuts".
"Short Cuts" is so much better than "Magnolia",
and the last one is somewhat a copy of the first.

Altman is very good in ensemble-films.

don't judge about a director just because of some movies,
he has made very much films.

though i also dislike MASH a lot
(and i am not a blockbuster-kid, just if someone likes to insult on others who don't agree with their opinion)