Nashville (1975)

Made to celebrate the bicentennial of American Independence, Robert Altman’s footloose epic blends the lives of 24 characters in the capital of country music.

Robert Altman forged a distinctively naturalistic aesthetic in the 1970s, typified by dialogue that overlaps with lifelike messiness and a camera that restlessly pans and zooms within a scene, picking out detail with apparent spontaneity.

With his ambitious country-music panorama Nashville, he hit upon a form of multi-character storytelling that would prove highly influential. Instead of focusing on a single protagonist, Altman juggles 24 different lives – singing stars, wannabes, politicians, journalists – as they brush up against each other during the weekend of a concert and political rally in the Tennessee state capital.

A radical reimagining of the movie musical, this satire on the Nashville scene features a host of original songs, many of which were written by members of the ensemble cast.

In 2006, Altman turned his attentions to another great musical city, recalling the 1930s jazz culture of his youth in Kansas City.

1975 USA
Directed by
Robert Altman
Produced by
Robert Altman
Written by
Joan Tewkesbury
Featuring
David Arkin, Barbara Baxley, Ned Beatty

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Nashville

Critics

Alasdair Bayman
UK
Philip Concannon
UK
Tom Dawson
UK
Shmulik Duvdevani
Israel
Nicole Flattery
Ireland
Rōgan Graham
UK
Steve Gravestock
Canada
Saffron Maeve
Canada
Emanuela Martini
Italy
Brian McFarlane
Australia
Patrick McGilligan
USA
Benjamin Mercer
USA
Alex Ramon
Poland/UK
David Rooney
USA
Catherine Russell
Canada
Arjun Sajip
UK
Mayukh Sen
USA
Oron Shamir
Israel
Caitlin Smith
UK
Elena Smolina
Russia/USA
Marcel Stefančič
Slovenia
Susan Vahabzadeh
Germany
Elizabeth Weitzman
USA
Armond White
USA
Madeline Whittle
USA
Florian Widegger
Austria
Rowan Woods
UK

Directors

Andrew Bujalski
USA
Sean Durkin
USA
Tom Hardiman
UK
Armando Iannucci
Uk
Richard Linklater
USA
Jennie Livingston
USA
Brett Morgen
USA
Babak Payami
Iran/Canada