Born one hundred years ago, Robert Altman made movies that play like the cinematic equivalent of jazz—elastic, improvisational, and thrillingly alive to chance and happenstance. A master of the ensemble epic whose maverick sensibility stood out even in the auteur-driven New Hollywood era, Altman put his subversive, stylistically freewheeling spin on everything from the war movie (MASH) to the western (MCCABE & MRS. MILLER) to the buddy comedy (CALIFORNIA SPLIT) to the art-house psychodrama (3 WOMEN), crafting incisive studies of the American mythos that prioritize spiky moments of character interaction over narrative convention. Imitated by many, matched by none, Altman’s films are worlds unto themselves, teeming with more humanity than a single story can contain.

Programmed by Sean Fennessey

Featuring:
COUNTDOWN (1967)
THAT DAY IN THE PARK (1969)
MASH (1970)
BREWSTER MCCLOUD (1970)
MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971)
THE LONG GOODBYE (1973)
CALIFORNIA SPLIT (1974)
NASHVILLE (1975)
BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, OR SITTING BULL’S HISTORY LESSON (1976)
3 WOMEN (1977)
QUINTET (1979)
A PERFECT COUPLE (1979)
POPEYE (1980)
COME BACK TO THE 5 & DIME JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN (1982)
SECRET HONOR (1984)
FOOL FOR LOVE (1985)
TANNER ’88 (1988)
VINCENT & THEO (1990)
THE PLAYER (1992)
PRÊT-À-PORTER (1994)
DR. T & THE WOMEN (2000)
GOSFORD PARK (2001)
THE COMPANY (2003)
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (2006)