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I love this movie so much

You won't be disappointed!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Director Robert Altman impressed me with this two earlier directorial efforts M.A.S.H and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, but I believe he really comes into his own with 1975's Nashville. The way he directed his movie and the way he made it a very intelligent movie with many important themes but can be understood by the general public is just outstanding. However, if you don't keep up with the movie, you can be sure to get lost in the overload of information Altman throws at you. On paper, the film may seem like a mess but it's really not. The film really does not have an overall plot, but it has interwoven segments that are related with each other and I'll discuss a little bit later on. This film is full of unique performances from an unusually large cast. It's not unusual that there are many characters, but how many major characters there are. There are approximately 25 major speaking roles, and that has to be some sort of record. But all the performances are wonderful and unique and you feel for each character in the country music setting of Nashville.So what exactly is this film about? Well, that's really hard to pinpoint as there is no one big linear plot line. It is essentially about a group of people living life in Nashville during a political-happy time (kind of reminds me of the current 2016 political race). But let's break down the plot into the little segments. We have Barbara Jean (Ronee Blackley) who is the current reigning country queen of Nashville, but health problems is causing her to fall apart and she also later becomes a symbol for political assassination. Then we have Delbert (Ned Beatty) and Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin) who live a rather sad life because of a failing marriage and trying to take care of two deaf children. Delbert is involved in a politics as he is trying to bring politics and country music together. Then we have a British journalist named Opal (Geraldine Chaplin) who decides to get into the thick of events within the Nashville scene. As the famed movie critic Roger Ebert paraphrases what this movie is about, it's many things. A musical, a docudrama about life in Nashville, a political story that was influenced by events like the Watergate scandal, and it is also a satire about country music.With such a large ensemble, I was surprised how much Altman was able to get from all of his characters. They were superbly written and the performances were genuine. Many of the characters do their own singing, and you can tell they are not professional singers. While the voices may not be the best ones ever, I loved the raw, edgy sound with added to the realism of the performances. The film is not composed of big stars (at the time or even by today's standards), but they often hit the spot. I loved Ronee Blackley's performance as the country queen, Barbara Jean. Her singing is decent, but she brings a sensitive side to her character and she is involved in a big political showdown at the end of the movie. She reminds me of a similar real-life country singer, Loretta Lynn. Lily Tomlin delivered one heck of a impressive performance as the mother of two deaf children. I relate to her character because I suffer from partial deafness myself and I understand her pains. She brings such vulnerability to her character. Ned Beatty does a good job in playing the asshole husband who doesn't care about his family but only about his job. We have very early performances from future stars from the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Scott Glenn, and Keith Carradine (who was impressive as a rock singer). Henry Gibson does a solid job as another famous country star named Haven Hamilton (and did have a good voice).So there were many aspects to the plot I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed the rather brutal satire on country music which gathered criticism from people within this industry. But my favorite was the political aspect of the movie. Maybe its because history and politics go hand in hand or maybe we are living in a political-happy environment at current time, but I feel like the politics aspect hold up strongly. I like the random scenes where we have this political party in support of a candidate named Hal Philip Walker whom we never meet, but his presence is always known. His politics and the country stars end up clashing in the end for a very powerful ending.Overall, I really enjoyed Nashville. I don't think it's good of a masterpiece of Altman's earlier McCabe and Mrs. Miller but this is his more mainstream effort. But use that word "mainstream" lightly because Altman brings his complicated style of directing to this movie. His use of the actors and his political and social commentary is widely shown throughout the film. As I say for most of Altman's films, they are not for everyone. This film has excellent performances from everyone with my favorite performance coming from Lily Tomlin. There is an hour of music recorded for the film and despite the inexperience of the singers, the music mostly works with the film. Nominated for 5 Oscars and a 9 Golden Globes (a record that still holds today), Nashville is a solid work of filmmaking.My Grade: A-

This is one of those films which viewers will probably either love or hate due in large part to the rather haphazard assortment of scenes which seem quite dull and tend to go nowhere. The trick to understanding this film, however, is to realize that all of these scenes either directly or indirectly lead to a climatic finale which is both dramatic and yet puzzling as the same time. At least, that is how it seemed to me. That being said, this movie chronicles several different characters whose lives intertwine in such a manner that some of them don't even realize how their behavior influences others around them--or the future course of events which subsequently play out right before their eyes. It's all rather remarkable in that respect with the scene involving the pop singer named "Tom Frank" (Keith Carradine) serenading "Linnea Reese" (Lily Tomlin) being one of the best. Conversely, there are several others which are downright unremarkable as well with the scene featuring the BBC newscaster "Opal" (Geraldine Chaplin) giving a monologue in the junkyard as possibly the most boring and inane. Likewise, I thought the special guest appearances of both Elliott Gould and Julie Christie (as themselves) were rather awkward as well. In any case, this film was definitely a unique product of its time and all things considered I rate it as slightly above average.

I had seen this film before or maybe even a few times over the years but decided to watch it on DVD again this past weekend. I have been checking out Altman flicks, particularly for the director commentaries that some dvds come with.I was 20 years old in 1975 when the country was on the verge of disco and all that went with that experiment in debauchery, fantasy and excess; the whole Warhol, Bianca, Studio 54 mess, if you will, of which I was right in the middle. A young sailor, I appreciated Cinderella Liberty AND The Last Detail; a Baby Boomer, I appreciated American Graffiti AND the Exorcist. And then there is Nashville. The first thing I noticed is that I had the exact same shirt Haven's son wore, all of his shirts in fact. That right there was enough to depress me. Next, the Nashville airport - been there too and THAT depressed me. I guess you can tell by now that that period does not have really fond memories for me: the wood paneling, the Formica in avocado green, harvest gold, and I can never remember what they called the red one just all seem so cheesy. Maybe it was because in those days Times Square and most big cities were one big X-rated peep-show extravaganza. Like I said I was a sailor then and that's what we did. Anyway, I found most of the characters dull; particularly Jeff Goldblum who even then had that kind of irritating shtick about him; Carradine too (I must have been stoned back then (probably was) but I actually used to like "I'm Easy". Now, I don't think it was so hot at all. Tomlin was okay, although with all the hoopla, you'd think her part would have been more developed. Maybe it was because she had theretofore been on Laugh-In that it was a sensation. Ditto for Henry Gibson who I really thought WAS good. I don't know, maybe it was the film stock but it just all seemed old to me, like Altman's M*A*S*H. By the way, Elliot Gould showing up in a cameo just reminded me why I never cared for his smart ass either. And I honestly felt the same way about Julie Christie i.e. who the hell is SHE? Even though I knew who she was.I guess in closing, I just don't think this movie is a classic for me nor would I place it on any must see list. I'd much rather watch any number of other movies from that year. Cuckoo's nest or something.

Robert Altman's insightful dissection about Nashville, the cradle of American country music, astutely captures the zeitgeist of 1970s and deploys a kaleidoscope of motley characters. A red hot country superstar (Blakley) who is plagued by her feeble health condition and the straining relationship with her agent-husband (Garfield), who has to cater to another country diva (Black) who comes to supplant his ailing wife for a public concert; a pompous and loudmouth BBC journalist (Chaplin) who comes to shoot a documentary about Nashville; an uprising folk trio TOM, MARY & BILL (Carradine, Raines, Nicholls) with their chauffeur (Arkin) while Tom is the sleaze-bag philanderer and the married Mary and Bill undergo some connubial crisis; A housewife and gospel singer (Tomlin) whose husband (Beatty) is an agent who tenaciously introduces a politician lobbyist (Murphy) to the music moguls in order to get some big names to sing publicly for the presidential candidate and his main target is a honorific but over-the-hill country star (Gibson) with an astringent wife (Baxley) and an unworldly son (Peel), and fellow musicians (Brown, for example) as wellThere is also a glut of ordinary people, two young singers-wanna-be, one is a runaway wife (Harris) seeking for an opportunity to sing in front of a large audience, another is a southern beauty (Welles) who optionally chooses to ignore her unmusical voice and insists on carrying her pipe dream at all hazards (a striptease in a local bar is just the beginning for the poor dim gal) albeit the eloquent persuasion from her friend (DoQui); two young lad, one is a reticent pfd. soldier (Scott) who is obsessed with Blakley, the other one is a self-claimed musician (Hayward) totes his guitar box where conceals a dangerous weapon will later trigger the awesome finale; the last pair is a local old man (Wynn) and his vampy niece (Duvall), who flirts with every young man she meets including a weirdo-looking tricycle rider (Goldblum), never care too much about her dying auntie in the hospital.To engineer and channel a huge cast like this is Altman's strongest suit, the assemblage of hustle and bustle inducts audiences into a multivalent prism which bravely refracts an ideological society status, with whimsical banters abound and of course the music renditions. Despite that I have no honky-tonk root and my upbringing is immune to the genre, and from a standpoint of now, its traditional sense of worth oozing from the songs is grating and behind the times, the live-performances never cease to purvey vim and vigor to be appreciated. Notably from Blakley and Black, not to mention Carradine's Oscar enthroned folksy I'M EASY, magnificently stipulates the high bar of music's sex appeal. Performance wise, Oscar-nominated Blakley is also in the top-tier, whose sensitivity is so authentic and whose aftermath could not be more shocking (god bless Loretta Lynn); Tomlin (owns her Oscar nomination simply by her gaze towards Carradine during his solo show), Chaplin (so obnoxious is the character but she is superb in presenting her into a wacky laughing-stock) and Wynn (savings the gratuitous nude scene, she manages to squeeze a veritable sense of mettle out of her levity and shallowness) are all great in their respective terrains; Gibson and Garfield are my picks for male counterpart, but it is indeed a female's spectacle. I cannot say it is my favorite Altman's work (GOSFORD PARK 2001, 9/10 still holds the slot), but no doubt it is a monumental achievement at its time and in Altman's career path, the cogent political messages are being propagated from stem to stern, obviously it has a broader insinuation which even today one can hardly pass over.