A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

A look at what goes on backstage during the last broadcast of America's most celebrated radio show, where singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty, a country music siren, and a host of others hold court.

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Garrison Keillor (screenplay), Garrison Keillor (story),

Stars:

Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Meryl Streep

3 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marylouise Burke	...	Lunch Lady
Woody Harrelson	...	Dusty
L.Q. Jones	...	Chuck Akers
Tommy Lee Jones	...	The Axeman
Garrison Keillor	...	GK
Kevin Kline	...	Guy Noir
Lindsay Lohan	...	Lola Johnson
Virginia Madsen	...	Dangerous Woman
John C. Reilly	...	Lefty
Maya Rudolph	...	Molly
Tim Russell	...	Stage Manager
Sue Scott	...	Makeup Lady
Meryl Streep	...	Yolanda Johnson
Lily Tomlin	...	Rhonda Johnson
Tom Keith	...	Himself - Sound Effects Man

Storyline

"A Prairie Home Companion", hosted by humorist Garrison Keillor, is a down home radio variety show recorded and performed live in front of an audience in a theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. A show from another era, "A Prairie Home Companion" has been canceled. The regulars are performing on the last show, including Dusty & Lefty, singing/guitar playing cowboys with a risqué sense of humor, and the Johnson Girls, a sister singing duo of Rhonda and Yolanda who have a penchant for talking over each other. As the show goes on, the regulars, backstage, talk about their lives in relation to the show. Other goings-on include Yolanda and others trying to convince her shy somber daughter, Lola, to sing on this last show. As all this goes on, a mysterious woman in a white trench coat who is on a mission wanders around the theater, while the show's dim security guard, Guy Noir, who usually has nothing to do security-wise, follows.

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Plot Keywords:

singing | cowboy | radio | backstage | st. paul minnesota | 

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Taglines:

Radio like you've never seen it before.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for risque humor

Details

Official Sites:

Bac Films [fr] Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Norwegian

Release Date:

9 June 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Praire Home Companion - Bastidores da Rádio

Filming Locations:

Fitzgerald Theater - 10 Exchange Street E., St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£75,355 (UK) (5 January 2007)

Gross:

£75,355 (UK) (5 January 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Picturehouse Entertainment, GreeneStreet Films, River Road Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Reportedly Robert Altman didn't care for the character played by Virginia Madsen and had reduced the role considerably. When Madsen came on board, she persuaded him to make it a more central character.

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Goofs

The cigarette behind Guy Noir's ear changes positions between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Radio Announcer: Market reports today, barrows and gilts uh two hundred twenty to two hundred sixty pounds, they're lower at forty dollars uh sows are steady three hundred five hundred pounds thirty four to thirty seven dollars going over to feeder cattle, beef steers - one hundred twenty to one hundred fifty dollars and two hundred to three hundred
[fade out]

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Crazy Credits

There is a credit for Sign Painter in the film, although it does not appear on the official site.

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Connections

Referenced in The Henry Rollins Show: Paul Thomas Anderson/Aimee Mann (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Beboparebop Rhubarb Pie"
Traditional: "Shortnin' Bread"
Additional Lyrics by Garrison Keillor
Performed by Garrison Keillor, Meryl Streep and The Guys All-Star Shoe Band

User Reviews

A song of love . . . .

"It's not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on." Marilyn Monroe about posing nude on her famous calendar.

If there is anyone more laid back or brighter than Garrison Keillor in show business, let me know, because Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, based on Keillor's long-running Minnesota Public Radio saga, shows Keillor as an audience sees him each week—like a god gently guiding an eccentric ensemble through excellent performances made to look as easy as his demeanor. This film stands near Altman's Nashville as a testimony to the director's gift for sustaining strong characters in layers of dialogue approximating overlapping conversations at an interesting party.

Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin as the singing country Johnson sisters bring back memories of Reese Witherspoon's amazing turn as June Carter and Streep's own previous country singer in Postcards. Ditto Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as the singing and joking Dusty and Lefty. But best of all is Kevin Kline as Keillor's real radio creation, Guy Noir, the '40's dapper, inquisitive, naughty narrator and security head for the production. Klein embodies the melancholic mood always at least hidden underneath any show's last show, despite Keillor's nonchalant assertion that every show is your "last show." Around this realistic, charming premise of talented performers at their last performance, writer Keillor interjects a ghostly beauty in a white leather trench coat, Virginia Madsen playing Dangerous Woman, the spirit of death, gently accompanying those about to die and the moribund show itself. The character is a lyrical embodiment of the theme that nothing lasts but the love shared in any experience. Keillor remains in character after someone dies by stating he doesn't "do eulogies." Nor does he do one for the show, which in real life still lasts in St. Paul from 1974.

So enjoyable are Altman, his ubiquitous HD camera, and his busy dialogue that you feel a part of the proceedings, catching the sweet smell of success for everyone attached to this thoroughly realized song of love to theater, music, and creativity.