Nashville (1975)

Over the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated individuals prepare for a political convention as secrets and lies are surfaced and revealed.

Director:

Robert Altman

Writer:

Joan Tewkesbury

Stars:

Karen Black, Ronee Blakley, Keith Carradine

Won 1 Oscar. Another 22 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Arkin	...	Norman
Barbara Baxley	...	Lady Pearl
Ned Beatty	...	Delbert Reese
Karen Black	...	Connie White
Ronee Blakley	...	Barbara Jean
Timothy Brown	...	Tommy Brown
Keith Carradine	...	Tom Frank
Geraldine Chaplin	...	Opal
Robert DoQui	...	Wade (as Robert Doqui)
Shelley Duvall	...	L. A. Joan
Allen Garfield	...	Barnett
Henry Gibson	...	Haven Hamilton
Scott Glenn	...	Pfc. Glenn Kelly
Jeff Goldblum	...	Tricycle Man
Barbara Harris	...	Albuquerque

Storyline

This movie tells the intersecting stories of various people connected to the music business in Nashville. Barbara Jean is the reigning queen of Nashville but is near collapse. Linnea and Delbert Reese have a shaky marriage and 2 deaf children. Opal is a British journalist touring the area. These and other stories come together in a dramatic climax.

---

Plot Keywords:

reporter | candidate | assassination | title appears in text | deafness | 

---

Taglines:

The Home of Country Music

---

Genres:

Drama | Music

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 1975 (UK)

Also Known As:

Nashville, i polis ton ekplixeon

Filming Locations:

Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ABC Entertainment, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

159 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Altman originally wanted Susan Anspach to play Barbara Jean, but she refused because she wanted more money. Ready to film in Nashville with no one cast in the role, Altman at the last minute offered it to Ronee Blakley, who was working as a back-up singer in Nashville at the time and had contributed some songs to the film. Blakley ended up receiving an Academy Award nomination for her performance.

---

Goofs

When attempting to interview Tommy Brown, Opal says that she is from the BBC. When questioned, she explains that this stands for the British Broadcasting Company. It actually stands for the British Broadcasting Corporation. This was intentionally done to insinuate that Opal doesn't actually work for the BBC and was an impostor. Geraldine Chaplin confirmed this in a 2000 interview in Premiere magazine.

---

Quotes

Lady Pearl: And then comes Bobby. Oh, I worked for him. I worked here, I worked all over the country, I worked out in California, out in Stockton. Well, Bobby came here and spoke and he went down to Memphis and then he even went out to Stockton California and spoke off the Santa Fe train at the old Santa Fe depot. Oh, he was a beautiful man. He was not much like John, you know. He was more puny-like. But all the time I was workin' for him, I was just so scared - inside, you know, just scared.

---

Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, the featured actors and actresses are announced by a radio deejay as though they were country music stars.

---

Connections

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: 10th Anniversary Edition (2007)

---

Soundtracks

"The Day I Looked Jesus in the Eye"
Music and Lyrics by Richard Baskin and Robert Altman

User Reviews

Altman's Masterpiece: "The Damnedest Thing You Ever Saw"

Robert Altman is an extremely divisive director in the sense that you either "get it" or you don't--and those who don't despise his work and take considerable pleasure in sneering at NASHVILLE in particular. But there is no way around the fact that it is an important film, a highly influential film, to most Altman fans his finest films, and to most series critics quite possibly the single finest film made during the whole of the 1970s.

According to the movie trailer available on the DVD release, NASHVILLE is "the damnedest thing you ever saw"--and a truer thing was never said, for it is one of those rare film that completely defies description. On one level, the film follows the lives of some twenty characters over the course of several days leading up to a political rally, lives that collide or don't collide, that have moments of success and failure, and which in the process explore the hypocrisy that we try to sweep away under the rug of American culture. If it were merely that, the film would be so much soap-opera, but it goes quite a bit further: it juxtaposes its observations with images of American patriotism and politics at their most vulgar, and in the process it makes an incredibly funny, incredibly sad, and remarkably savage statement on the superficial values that plague our society.

What most viewers find difficult about NASHVILLE--and about many Altman films--is his refusal to direct our attention within any single scene. Conversations and plot directions overlap with each other, and so much goes on in every scene that you are constantly forced to decide what you will pay attention to and what you will ignore. The result is a film that goes in a hundred different directions with a thousand different meanings, and it would be safe to say that every person who sees it will see a different film.

In the end, however, all these roads lead to Rome, or in this case to the Roman coliseum of American politics, where fame is gained or lost in the wake of violence, where the strong consume the weak without any real personal malice, and where the current political star is only as good as press agent's presentation. For those willing and able to dive into the complex web of life it presents, Altman's masterpiece will be an endlessly fascinating mirror in which we see the energy of life itself scattered, gathered, and reflected back to us. A masterpiece that bears repeated viewings much in the same way that a great novel bears repeated readings. A personal favorite and highly, highly recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer