Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 404: A Star-Studded Murder Mystery

Even though he'd been working constantly in the decades since we met him last, it's odd to think that we haven't seen director Robert Altman on the blog since the 1970s. Although he continued to make ensemble pieces that were critically lauded, the Academy never honoured one of his films after Nashville. That was until the 2002 ceremony when one of Altman's final movies was nominated for several Oscars and even picked up a Best Screenplay award. However, if you didn't know who was calling the shots, you may be mistaken for not knowing that Gosford Park was an Altman film at all. 

That's because, unlike the Altman films I've seen up to this point, Gosford Park was a very British movie set in the titular estate. The film began life as an idea that actor Bob Balaban, one of the only Americans in the cast, had and pitched it to Altman. After introducing Altman to screenwriter Julian Fellowes; the three decided to create an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. Like previous Christie adaptations; Fellowes' film featured plenty of characters who had motivations to finish off the arrogant Sir William McCordle. Those on the guest list include his aunt Duchess Trentham, his sisters and brother-in-laws as well as his daughter's suitor. What makes Fellowes' country house script stand out from the crowd is that it follows the downstairs servants as much as it does their masters. As Sir William had a penchant for affairs with his maids there were one or two grudges leaking below stairs so it's no surprise when he's found poisoned and stabbed at the end of the film's second act. Whilst the oafish Inspector Thompson attempts to solve the murder; Duchess Trentham's lady's maid Mary does a better job herself. From the start of the film, Mary becomes our surrogate as she is new to the service industry and doesn't know her way around Gosford Park. However, mainly based on listening in to various pieces of gossip, Mary works out who it was that both poisoned and stabbed the victim. Whilst we don't ultimately know whether the culprits will get arrested, I found the ending to be an interesting twist where the murderer was presented in a more sympathetic light than the victim. 

Although the two share no similarities when it comes to their setting, both Nashville and Gosford Park had similar story structures. Both feature numerous subplots that tie together by the end of the film which, in the case of Gosford Park, happens when the murderer is revealed. Like Nashville, not all of Gosford Park's side stories work and as a result some of the characters were surplus to requirements. I got the feeling that Fellowes and Altman had a lot more time for the servants than they did for their masters. That's why I felt that Helen Mirren's housekeeper, Eileen Atkin's cook and the two maids played by Emily Watson and Kelly MacDonald were possibly the most sympathetic characters of the bunch. Mirren gave a particularly memorable turn as the housekeeper who had given up everything in order to be the perfect servant. Mirren was nominated in the Supporting Actress category alongside co-star Maggie Smith who looked like she was having a hoot at portraying Duchess Trentham. However some of the other members of the cast were less lucky with the parts they were handed with Derek Jacobi, Charles Dance and Richard E. Grant three examples of actors with thankless roles. Fellowes' script was nicely paced with the suspects being build up gradually until the murder itself finally occurred. One element of the film I didn't like was the introduction of Stephen Fry's incompetent detective who threatened to turn a likeable drama into a farce. I'm not sure why Altman and Fellowes thought that they needed to change the tone of the film but Thompson's arrival did nothing for me. What makes Gosford Park so likeable is its witty script coupled with some lovely shots of the British countryside by cinematographer Andrew Dunn. Whilst it never has any particular Earth-shattering revelations to make, Gosford Park is still an entertaining watch that includes a fine ensemble cast. It's just a shame that Altman isn't still around making films like this as he sadly passed away in 2006.

Next an odd double bill of films that both earned wins for Best Director and Best Original Score. 

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 235-236: Altman's All-Stars

As regular readers of the Oscar Challenge blog will now, I often put together films from the same director that have been nominated in the same decade. This time it's the turn of Robert Altman whose movies M*A*S*H and Nashville were give nods in the 1970s. Both very different in tone, they are similar in the way that Altman employs his ensemble casts and the sprawling nature of the plot.

In the early 1970s, Altman had his first breakthrough with M*A*S*H, a film loosely based on Richard Hooker's original novel about medical personnel stationed at an army hospital during the Korean War. The main plot of the film sees three new surgeons arrive at camp and instantly stir things up. The first two of these troublemakers are 'Hawkeye' Pierce and 'Duke' Forest who regularly steal, drink and cause chaos. They instantly rub their new cam pmates up the wrong way especially Robert Duvall's religious Frank Burns who they're able to get rid of due to his inferior surgical abilities. Senior nurse Margaret Houlihan is similarly outraged by their sexist behaviour and their insistence on referring to her as 'Hotlips'. Joining their number soon after is 'Trapper' McIntyre another surgeon who is as insubordinate as Hawkeye and Duke. The film then becomes quite episodic in nature but does see Trapper and Hawkeye become medical heroes after saving the lives of a congressman's son. Despite seemingly uninterested in their work, our central duo are always concerned with doing the right thing, even if they have to resort to blackmail to do it. This theme about the working man sticking up for the people who can't defend themselves, spoke to the audiences of the 1970s who were experiencing political unrest at the time.

Altman quickly marked himself out as a maverick director by using very little of the original source novel for his book while in addition encouraging the actors to improvise in certain scenes. However, when the film was made in 1970, Altman hadn't earned the reputation yet to work in such a reckless way. This led to the film's leads Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland to try and get Altman sacked on numerous occasions. Obviously, the film today is hailed as a classic and went to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes as well as the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Altman's gambles all paid off here as I thoroughly enjoyed M*A*S*H and thought it was one of the best Oscar-nominated comedies of all time. As Hawkeye and Trapper; Sutherland and Gould were fantastic and they shared great on-screen chemistry throughout. Altman's script was packed full of great lines but there was plenty of social commentary hidden behind the laughs. Despite having quite a sporadic structure, M*A*S*H was held together thanks to the strength of its characters and the solid narrative that Altman provided throughout. This film fully put Altman on the map and, after watching it, it's not hard to see exactly why.

Five years later, Altman returned to the Best Picture list with another film that has a sprawling narrative - Nashville. Set in the musical city of Tennessee; Nashville follows twenty-four characters during five days which lead up to a political rally for vice-presidential candidate Hal Philip Walker. The film basically focuses on the country music scene and the measures some will go to to enhance their careers. There's the legendary Haven Hamilton, who has political aspirations of his home and whose fame is fading fast. Barbara Jean is one of the most popular country singers around but suffers from exhaustion and spends most of the film in hospital. As the country music business is a fickle one, Barbara Jean's manager eventually replaces her at several events with the inferior but beautiful Connie White. We also meet Tom Frank, a womanising member of a country music trio who attempts to break out on his own throughout the course of the film. Then there's Sueleen Gay, another aspiring country singer who has no talent what to speak of and gets exploited in one of the film's most memorable scenes. The film's climax brings the majority of the characters together at the aforementioned rally and sees one of the characters attempt to shoot two of Nashville's biggest stars. Despite this tragedy occurring Winifred, another aspiring country singer, takes to the stage and finally gets her big break.

Having enjoyed the sprawling, episodic narrative throughout M*A*S*H, I was dismayed that I didn't enjoy the same structure so much with Nashville. I believe part of the reason for that is due to the fact that it's a drama rather than a comedy so can't get away with being as fragmented as Altman's previous film. One of the other issues the film had is that there's far too many characters and interconnected plots for the film to work. At over two and a half hours, I felt the film dragged too much despite the fact that almost half of it was musical performances by various members of the cast. That being said some of these musical performances were incredibly entertaining and really gave Nashville a sense of place. In fact one of its more positive features is how it immerses the viewer in the culture and style of Nashville; including the religious nature of all of its inhabitants seen in the scenes set at various church services. There were some brilliant performances amongst the ensemble most notably from Lily Tomlin, Ronee Blakely and Henry Gibson. Throughout this voyage I have questioned why a few of these films are held up as classics and I'm afraid I'll have to add Nashville to this ever-growing list. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy parts of it, but as a whole it was overlong and incredibly dull in places.

Next time we have yet another comedy, the last of the genre to win the Best Picture Award.