Altman's Contribution to Cinema

Rating: 8/10 (21 November 2006)

Robert Altman was given the budget to do MASH by the studios under the understanding that the studio wanted a drive-inn film. Because the studio originally considered it such an insignificant film and so cheap to make, this left Altman and his cast a kind of freedom you don't see in movies today. MASH is very much like a drive-inn movie with an Animal House-type feel, but a social conscience and artist integrity that sorely lacks these days. It's satirical, silly, subversive, and probably one of the best American films made. Altman inspired a generation of young directors like P.T. Anderson and Wes Anderson in both his style and his dedication, and will be remembered as one of the American film-making veterans. Nominated five times and having never received an Oscar, he goes down like so many other directors who were unrecognized by the Academy for their genius. Rest in peace, Mr. Altman.