Popular reviews

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★★ 3

  NASHVILLE is one of those films that, while you're watching it, seems like the only kind of movie there is or ever should be.

  much more to come on this one as we near the release of the Criterion blu-ray in early december.

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★★ 1

  "All of us are equally involved with politics whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not," or "we must be doing something right to last 200 years."

  Probably the quintessential film about the overwhelming forces at the intersection of American art, industry and politics, and the people who try their best to live inside them.

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  Review by Karst ★★★★★

  watched this yesterday and put off logging it because i haven’t been able to come up with a single thing to say. not in a bad way, oooobviously, but because there’s arguably too much to say. i knew it was a big movie and i knew there were a lot of characters and i knew there was a lot of country and i knew it was very american and i knew it was very 70s and i knew about the jeff goldblum character and i knew i was probably gonna love it. what i didn’t know was how tragic the whole thing would feel by the end. there’s so much love and hate going on at the same time throughout.…

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  Review by Karst ★★★★★

  my fellow americans

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  Review by demi adejuyigbe 11

  I don’t think I like Altman that much, and I really felt this movie’s length through it all, but something about the ending made me come around to thinkin “hey this movie’s alright.” several very funny chunks of this though; a lot of characters i would’ve loved to just follow for the entire film! and i loved many of barbara jean’s songs. not sure i fully understand the ‘point’ of a lot of this movie but hey, i’m a dum dum! can’y understand any movie unless it’s got at least one or two shang-chis in it

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 8

  I can't sing. I've tried. I can sometimes get in the vicinity of singing, but it never quite works out. I know this, but it doesn't stop me from trying anyway. I'm not tone deaf, but I'm awful close. I like to sing, though, and so, naturally, Sueleen (what a ridiculous name) is who I fixated on in this film. I had over 20 characters to choose from (I feel like there's a Robert Altman twitter joke that can be made somehow), but Sueleen stood out more than any other. I checked, immediately, to see if her songs made the soundtrack album, and I was a little offended that they didn't. No one in their right mind would listen to…

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  Review by Todd Gaines ★★★★½ 27

  Almost impossible to completely digest in one viewing, Robert Altman's Nashville is one of the most creative movies I've ever seen. And, one that's still very relevant in today's world.

  My favorite aspect of Nashville is the hooky county music written and performed by the actors. You don't see many movies where actors actually write and sing their own tunes. Some of the songs were composed before the movie, but they all go along with the narrative. One of the most powerful moments in the film is during Keith Carradine's I'm Easy. Not one, not two, but three different women from very different backgrounds, all think the song is dedicated to them. Its filmmaking perfection from Mr Altman.

  Hal Phillip…

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  Review by Will Menaker ★★★★★ 4

  We must be doing something right to last 200 years!

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  Review by Hari Nef 3

  the morning after watching 'nashville' i'm stuck with altman's wide shot of a rapt audience at a glitzy country music venue. the audience is almost entirely white and the performers are either the same, or black. the country stars croon diaristic missives of moral reckoning, emotional resilience—the lyrics evoke the gut-punch, metaphor-free confessionals of today's gen-z pop scions: olivia rodrigo, billie eilish—heiresses to taylor swfit, born in nashville. the audience sits quietly, completely still; altman lingers on its motionlessness before it erupts, over and over, into frenzied applause. the stillness is what sticks; a room full of (white) americans open wide: eager and grateful for the transference made possible only through pop tied up with a regional bow. this audience…

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  Review by Will Sloan ★★★★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  One of the best movies ever made. Among the film's many achievements, the Elliot Gould scene captures the atmosphere of "there's a celebrity in the room" better than anything else I've seen.

  Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) is one of the best characters ever - maybe cinema's greatest embodiment of the local celebrity. He's never made it out of Nashville, so to cope, he has become a self-appointed mascot/father for the city. When he sings at the Grand Ole Opry, he's "effortless" in the worst sense - mediocre performances of mediocre songs, so smugly secure in his legendary status that he doesn't feel the need to work. The crowd is polite, but there's no electricity in the room. When a national…

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  Review by Will Sloan ★★★★★

  No modern movie would have the courage to make its audience sit still while actors sing this much purposely-mediocre* country music until the audience actually starts to like it!!!!

  *(Keith Carradine’s songs are good)

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  Review by Richard Chandler ★★★★★ 66

  "This isn't Dallas!"

  What ended up becoming my favorite film began life in its amoeba form as Greatest Showman-style pap intended as a vehicle for Welsh crooner Tom Jones. This is what United Artists had in mind when they approached Robert Altman to direct the project (then titled The Great Southern Amusement Company) in 1972. Altman had no interest in the script or in country music and had never visited Nashville, but he agreed to make a different film about the Nashville music scene if UA would finance an upcoming project (Thieves Like Us, 1974).

  Far from the pablum they had hoped for, UA eventually passed on the script by Joan Tewksbury and Altman. Fortunately Paramount eventually came on board…