Rating of
4/4
One of the Best Westerns Ever
mitchellyoung - wrote on 07/21/11
Altman is a genius at creating realistic "worlds" for his characters to inhabit and taking an observational perspective, letting his characters interact naturally. McCabe & Mrs. Miller is no different and is one of the most real-feeling Westerns. It isn't sensationalist and often shows a seedy and dirty side of a little Western town. Beatty and Christie have a cat-and-mouse dynamic that is often very funny and has moments of touching sentimentalism. The fact that the conclusion doesn't feature a spectacular gun shootout is to the film's credit. Altman doesn't try to change his characters. Beatty's McCabe remains somewhat of a scumbag and coward and the film works realistically to anticipate what he might do if confronted with an inevitable showdown. One of the best Westerns ever.
