Nashville      

By Marshall Fine

This 1975 film sits near the top of any list of the best films of the Super70s, perhaps in the top five and, in some people's minds, at the pinnacle itself. Robert Altman, at his most Altmanesque, spins together plot strands involving two dozen people over the course of one particularly busy weekend in Music City, USA. Though several of the story lines deal with country-western stars--played by Henry Gibson, Ronee Blakley and Karen Black--the plot also deals with the country scene's wannabes, the business people who pull the strings and the operative for a mysterious presidential candidate who is trying to get the de facto endorsement of some of the country stars by having them appear at a rally for him. (The unknown but rocketing presidential aspirant was eerily echoed the next year, when Jimmy Carter came out of nowhere to win the presidency.) Blakley is heartbreakingly fragile as a Loretta Lynn-like singer on the verge of total mental meltdown, while Lily Tomlin is outstanding as a housewife-gospel singer who has a dalliance with a randy folk-rock cad, perfectly played by Keith Carradine (who won an Oscar for his song "I'm Easy"). The cast also includes Jeff Goldblum, Scott Glenn, Keenan Wynn, Shelley Duvall, Geraldine Chaplin (hilarious as a fatuous British TV journalist), Barbara Harris, Michael Murphy, and Ned Beatty, with cameos by Elliott Gould and Julie Christie as themselves. Next to Mean Streets, perhaps the most influential film of the decade.

Academy Awards

Nashville received an Academy Award for Best Song (Keith Carradine - Music & Lyrics). Nashville also received Academy Awards nominations for Best Picture (Robert Altman - Producer), Supporting Actress (Lily Tomlin), Supporting Actress (Ronee Blakley), and Directing (Robert Altman).

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		Your Memories Shared!

"I was 10-years old when Nashville came to movie theaters. I remember looking at the movie poster from the outside of the fox theater. I couldn't get in to see it because it was r-rated. But that beautiful blue movie poster with the fireworks going off behind the microphone with the red, white & blue top hat stayed in my mind into my adulthood. Then came videotape and you better believe "Nashville" was one of the first movies I rented. I didn't know what to expect. I watched it and I didn't like it. Then I entered my 30's and did some research on the film. Learning that the actors, some of whom I really liked (lily Tomlin, Henry Gibson and Karen Black) did their own singing. And other actor wrote some of his or her own dialogue. Without that information and other research I really wouldn't appreciate "Nashville" it the way I do now. Note: I was recently treated to a special showing of "Nashville" at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. So yes, I finally saw it on the big screen." --Cyberjosh