I still can’t watch The Player and not be totally blown away by that opening 8 minute tracking shot.

When I think about the complications involved in staging a simple, 20- or 30-second stationary indie-video shot, and then try to compare it to that scene, my mind completely seizes up at the complexity of it.

I think I’ll go watch it again, in tribute to Altman’s amazing vision.

You have seen Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil”, right? Check out the opening scene (especially in Walter Murch’s recent reconstruction of the film per Welles’ notes). That’s what Altman was playing with — ingeniously I might add.

http://www.thehighhat.com/

Twelve good articles, a great overview.

I just wrote a more in-depth post in French on another forum and am thus feeling a bit “out of juice” in pimping this movie, but I still felt I had to recommend it to the Firedogs reading this thread (I’m a frequent lurker, rare poster).

I’ll just say that it is an incredibly rich movie with absolutely stupendous performances by Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall. I mean, seriously — acting doesn’t get much better than this. If you enjoy David Lynch or, say, the Bergman of Persona, you’ll love 3 Women.

I fell in love with Hawkeye when I was a teen and vowed that I would marry a man just like him, I ended up with one of the Hanson brothers from Slapshot.

You’re married to Steve Carlson? He was team captain of my local AHL team back in the day.

growing up my best friend and i spent every weekend in one of two local movie houses seeing anything we could. at age ten this meant “m*a*s*h”, three times. we loved it, got most of it, and roared with laughter during the football game.

i can remember the energy in the theatre, how in subsequent screenings i watched the faces of the audience in anticipation of their reaction, hardly able to contain myself until they joined ‘the club’.

thank you Mr. Altman, for the best movie-going experience of my elementary school years.

(ok, “Harold & Maude a very close second…)