# Robert Altman dead
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 21, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303 "2006-11-21T16:42:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/1 "2006-11-21T16:42:40Z")
Via BBC Radio. The Player is one of my favourite films. I suspected he might have been ill when he got that honorary Oscar.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/2 "2006-11-21T16:48:17Z")
CNN is reporting the same.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/3 "2006-11-21T16:49:16Z")
Awwwww, that makes me a lttle weepy. Shortcuts was a favorite of mine and my dear, late mom. I guess now she can discuss it with him. . .
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/4 "2006-11-21T16:56:06Z")
Damn. He was a real original; _Short Cuts_ was one of the movies that first got me really interested in film.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/5 "2006-11-21T17:00:15Z")
[BBC link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6170376.stm)
M_A_S\*H is one of my all time favorite movies
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/6 "2006-11-21T17:00:28Z")
Terrible to hear. Altman was one of the true Pantheon directors. He had a unique style (and I use the word “unique” in it’s most restrictive sense), and created so many great films I don’t know where to begin: **M_A_S\*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, California Split, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, Short Cuts,** and **Gosford Park.** And even his lesser works are interesting. It’s a damn shame the Academy never recognized his genius.
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### Author:  [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/7 "2006-11-21T17:14:18Z")
Damn. He was one of the few directors I was always willing to chance. I didn’t always like every movie in it’s entirety, but the scenework in his films was always top-notch.
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/8 "2006-11-21T17:14:51Z")
He was ill going into Prairie Home Companion. PT Anderson had to sign on in order for the insurance company to cover it.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/9 "2006-11-21T17:23:58Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck]
Terrible to hear. Altman was one of the true Pantheon directors. He had a unique style (and I use the word “unique” in it’s most restrictive sense), and created so many great films I don’t know where to begin: **M_A_S\*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, California Split, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, Short Cuts,** and **Gosford Park.** And even his lesser works are interesting. It’s a damn shame the Academy never recognized his genius.
[/QUOTE]
Well, they did give him a Lifetime Achievement award. But Altman was always an acquired taste and his style was never going to be the type to earn the quantity of votes to win a competitive Oscar (though he was nominated for director 5 times).
That said, your list would be incomplete without adding **3 Women, The Player** , and the TV production **Tanner '88**.
RIP ☹
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/10 "2006-11-21T17:28:10Z")
**The Long Goodbye** is one of my favorite of all movies, but just remember, in all the fawning over Altman you’re gong to hear for the next few days, and with the big Oscar tributes in February. . .that dude made some boring ass shit.
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### Author:  [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/11 "2006-11-21T17:31:41Z")
Ahh, that’s too bad. Some critics cited him as the Greatest Living American Director (I think Roger Ebert has said that). I might have to watch **Nashville** this weekend. ☹
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/12 "2006-11-21T17:37:09Z")
Just saw this on the NY Times site. Very upset.
I just made a movie, which co-starred **jackalope** , that was heavily influenced by Altman. We actually described it as a “silly _Short Cuts_” while we were making it. He was one of my idols.
I think I’ll watch _The Player_ tonight.
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/13 "2006-11-21T17:40:13Z")
Have some respect, **Trunk**.
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/14 "2006-11-21T17:49:51Z")
Why, are his relatives reading this?
::dances on his grave::
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/15 "2006-11-21T17:56:03Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk]
**The Long Goodbye** is one of my favorite of all movies, but just remember, in all the fawning over Altman you’re gong to hear for the next few days, and with the big Oscar tributes in February. . .that dude made some boring ass shit.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, I’m not sure what the point of \*\*The Company \*\* was.
But \*\*Short Cuts \*\* is right up there in my all-time favorites, particularly because it created the unforgettable pair of Tom Waits and Lily Tomlin.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/16 "2006-11-21T18:07:07Z")
Ouch. **3 Women** and **Nashville** just happen to be next up on my Netflix queue.
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/17 "2006-11-21T18:11:43Z")
You’re just thread-shitting, **Trunk**. That’s called “being a jerk.”
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/18 "2006-11-21T18:18:44Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk]
Why, are his relatives reading this?
::dances on his grave::
[/QUOTE]
No telling. They might be.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/19 "2006-11-21T18:31:05Z")
I like the FARK headline: “Director Robert Altman dead. Funeral expected to be star-studded, rambling, plotless”.
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-altman-dead/381303/20 "2006-11-21T18:39:42Z")
They should have three eulogies going at once!
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