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.

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

Wild. Wonderful. Sinful. Laughing. Explosive.

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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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

All songs were recorded live rather than being prerecorded in a studio.

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Goofs

Howard K. Smith does a report on Hal Phillip Walker, including that he had won three primaries and was close to winning the primary in Tennessee. In the movie, Walker was not running as a Democrat or Republican, but is a third-party candidate running as the "Replacement Party". He therefore would not have participated in any other party's primary and could not have been reported as having won any primaries.

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Quotes

Howard K. Smith: [on a television news broadcast] Little more than a year ago, a man named Hal Phillip Walker excited a group of college students with some questions. "Have you stood on a high and windy hill and heard the acorns drop and roll? Have you walked in the valley beside the brook, walked alone and remembered? Does Christmas smell like oranges to you?" Within a commencement speech, such questions were fitting, perhaps, but hardly the material with which to launch a presidential campaign. Even those who ...

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are modeled after a 1970s era TV commercial for a "greatest hits" record album compilation, with the actors in the film announced by a DJ as if they were artists whose songs were featured on the album.

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Connections

Referenced in The Way We Were: Looking Back (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Bluebird"
Written by Ronee Blakley
Performed by Timothy Brown
Lions Gate Music Co. / Sawtooth Music (ASCAP)

User Reviews

altman's americana

Nashville couldn't understand "Nashville," and no wonder. Anyone who watches "Nashville" for insights to country music probably views "The Godfather" for tips about olive oil. Altman's 1975 film uses country music and the people who perform, listen to and produce it as a metaphor about America in the '70s, when, as Warren Beatty said in "A Parallax View," released a year earlier, "everytime you turned around, one of the best people in the country was getting shot." Anyone who has seen the film and visits the Parthenon, where the final scenes are filmed, may feel a sense of unease. Listen closely and you can hear Haven Hamilton pleading to the stunned crowd, "Show them what we're made of! They can't do this to us here! This isn't Dallas; this is Nashville!"

The ending is astonishing, tidying up some plot lines and leaving others open ended. A star is born when the Albuquerque character and a gospel group minus its leader belt out a Nashville standard, "It Don't Worry Me." The Sueleen Gay character, meanwhile, suffers one final indignity; Albuquerque, on the same stage and with the same ambitions, achieves the fame that might have gone to Sueleen, a waitress/stripper/wanna-be recording artist, had Sueleen gotten the microphone first.

We never know what caused the Kenny Frazier character to crack; perhaps like Mark David Chapman (John Lennon) he was obsessed with the Holden Caulfield character in "Catcher in the Rye," although we can feel fairly certain that he did not share John David Hinckley's (President Reagan) obsession with Jodie Foster since "Taxi Driver" would not be released for another year.

Watching "Nashville" for the first time, you may feel protective of Barbara Jean's character for reasons you can't immediately explain but will learn all too well. I feel the same urge to shout at the screen, warning her character of possible danger, that I experienced in "From Here to Eternity," knowing that Pearl Harbor was imminent and would change everything.

Characters transform before our eyes. Del Reese (Ned Beatty), bored with his marriage to a Nashville superstar and as a father to hearing-impaired children, cares enough at the end to lead a wounded Haven Hamilton to safety. Hamilton (masterfully played by Henry Gibson) would stomp anyone in his path to create a hit record but is the first to care for Barbara Jean in her moment of need.

Sure, some of the songs are terrible -- some country music is terrible -- but could anything be more poignant than Barbara Jean's rendition of "My Idaho Home" or Keith Carradine singing "I'm Easy" in a nightclub where four of his conquests look on equally with lust and bewilderment. Country singers, like stock-car drivers, inspire tremendous loyalty and jealousy among their fans, which Altman depicts beautifully when Scott Glenn, a devoted fan of Barbara Jean, leaves the Opry as Connie White appears to sing a tribute to her ailing rival. Hamilton's character is never better than when between songs he asks listeners to send Barbara Jean a card and "tell her that Haven told you to write."

Altman would rate among the greatest directors -- as the American Fellini -- if this were his only effort. Despite its convoluted plot structure, "Nashville" achieves greatness and searches for truth. If the 1970s shaped your life in any respect, this is a movie experience not to be missed.