The film's carefully planned, striking color and design continuity result in a stunning optical footprint. Altman thoughtfully composed each shot, and every frame looks like an artistic photograph. Phillip's contribution is breathtakingly beautiful and represents some of his finest work. Producer Lou Adler brought John Phillips (The Mamas and the Papas) into the project to write supplemental music for the score. Made up as Shylock from The Merchant of Venice he takes to the busy metro freeways in a suped up wheelchair with disastrous results. In one memorable sequence, Stacy Keach plays an eccentric pistol-packing millionaire. The dialogue is telling and the segments are funny. Hamilton, for instance, appears in trademark red slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Sight gags reference their trademark films. Altman casts character actors like Stacy Keach, Shelly Duvall and Margaret Hamilton. Appallingly, the legs and waist of the hapless subject continue to stand in place for a second before flopping over into the water.Īltman's reverence for the circus, the oldest form of showmanship and theater features prominently in the production design. Such moments are reminiscent of the morbid humor of the segment in Catch-22 in which an airman standing on a dock is cut in half by the prop of a fighter plane.
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His legs crushed, the driver shoots himself in the head, but the subjects posing for the photo never break their stiffly arranged stance for the camera to turn around and look. In one scene, a detective crashes his muscle car into a pond behind a family posing for a photograph in a public park. In this delightfully oddball production, Altman makes strategic, thoughtful use of magic realism to deliver a sardonically dark satire. Throughout, Brewster encounters a broad range of corrupt, maniacal locals and shake down artists whom he evades in foot pursuits and car chases.īrewster McCloud is one of Robert Altman's most imaginatively entertaining and colorful films. The other is a daffy wannabe race car driver who speeds about in a hotrod that she purloined from a pervert. One is a sexually repressed, self pleasuring health food nut. He must stay focused in spite of two seductive girlfriends.
While the police attempt to determine why the strangulation victims are found plastered with bird droppings, Brewster tries to beat the clock and perfect his flying machine before the authorities close in. There are three subplots: a coming of age story centered around McCloud, a social commentary stemming from the exposition of similarities and differences between humans and birds, and a murder investigation. Avian themes glue the plot points together and furnish continuity between a sequence of strange events as Brewster struggles to achieve his goal. The instructor's recitation of facts about the social and mating habits of birds provides a funny comparative commentary on human nature. An eccentric angel adeptly played by the quirky Sally Kellerman strangles anyone who opposes Brewster.īrewster McCloud has a humorously heavy ornithological thesis with a narrative lecture provided by an off kilter science professor. He endeavors to build a mechanical flying suit which will enable his escape from an incomprehensible world to some unknown imaginative utopia. In this strange black comedy, Brewster McCloud (Cort -"Harold" from Harold and Maude) is a likable misfit who lives in the fallout shelter of the old Houston Astrodome. He is assisted by a sexy but murderous guardian angel.ĬOMMENTS: Five stars all the way for this gorgeous, pensive work of art. PLOT: An emotionally moving, thoughtful satire in which an oddball genius constructs a one man flying device in the basement of the Houston Astrodome. WRITTEN BY: Doran Canon and Robert Altman (uncredited)įEATURING: Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, Michael Murhpy, Shelley Duvall, Rene Auberjonois, Stachy Keach, Margaret Hamilton, Jennifer Salt, and William Baldwin The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 1.The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 1 The BMF Documentary: Blowing Money Fast: Season 1 The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself: Season 1 The Mysterious Benedict Society: Season 2 Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities: Season 1
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