Robert Altman, 1925-2006

“You don’t want them to remember you?”
“I don’t want them to be *told* to remember me.”
-Lola and GK, “A Prairie Home Companion,” directed by Robert Altman

No one who ever saw Robert Altman’s films will ever have to be told to remember him.

In that spirit, instead of me writing at length in memory of the man who I consider one of America’s finest directors, I will make a request: See one of his movies. Any of them. There are plenty to choose from. “M*A*S*H.” “McCabe and Mrs. Miller.” “The Long Goodbye.” “Nashville.” “3 Women.” “Popeye.” “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.” “The Player.” “Short Cuts.” “Gosford Park.” “A Prairie Home Companion.” And many, many more.

All of them are very different. All of them are much the same. And all of them the work of one of the most prolific and important filmmakers in the history of the cinema. In the collected films of few directors can the overarching pattern of a life be glimpsed there on the screen. A creative life, one that, even though it lasted 81 years, still ended far too soon.

Take your pick. Rent, watch and enjoy. That’s what I plan on doing.