May Altman Sleep Hushedly
Robert Altman died, yesterday. U=I haven't read anything about the circumstance surrounding his death. I know he was old. I was never a huge fan of his films, although I don't dislike any of the ones I've seen. I was either born too early or too late to truly appreciate his genius. That's because his work was so influential that by the time I had developed the faculty to evaluate a movie on its own merits, much of what distinguished his work had made its impact, exerted its influence, and then progressed on to something else. Maybe some of the new movies we watch today are as fast as their are because his were so slow.
I liked Nashville, Kansas City, M.A.S.H., Short Cuts, and Cookie's Fortune. Maybe those are the only films of his I've seen.
M.A.S.H., the television series, wasn't even Altman's idea (although the film wasn't either, for that matter), and yet when I read the news, it was the theme song to M.A.S.H. that I immediately heard. It's called Suicide is Painless.
As a kid, I heard that music often enough. My grandfather loved that show. When I spent the night at his place, I'd go to bed listening to it. Funny that I should associate that song with warmth and security. As I grew older, I began appreciate the show more and more. Seeing it not only as an allegory for the Vietnam conflict, but for life in general. The show turned into a sort of existential sitcom for me. I admit that's still how I watch it. Something about it resonates with how I look at the world around me. If I had my choice, I'd rather watch a good, Alan Alda-directed episode of M.A.S.H. than any Altman film.
Oddly, I watched Saw the night before learning of Altman's death. Saw was distributed by Lion's Gate Films, which was founded by Altman. Saw, unfortunately, was one of the crappier recent horror films I've had to sit through. (I'll spoil a surprise, here, no one is sawed to death.)
Without Altman's work on the film, M.A.S.H., the show never would have made the airwaves. So much American television is just shit. I hope M.A.S.H. never goes out of syndication. I hope kids are falling asleep to that song long after I'm dead.