Robert Altman Series

One of the great films of the 1990s, this lacerating look at Hollywood also served as director Robert Altman’s comeback after spending the previous decade in self-imposed exile making micro-budgeted indies and TV movies. Employing the same level of acidity displayed in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard and Blake Edwards’ S.O.B., Altman and screenwriter Michael Tolkin (adapting his own novel) focus on Griffin Mills (Tim Robbins), an assertive Tinseltown executive who finds his job security threatened by the studio heads and his life threatened by the person sending him ominous, anonymous postcards. A murder is committed, and this sets the stage for further shots at the film capital, from its unscrupulous denizens to its obsession with happy endings. The opening eight-minute tracking shot is justifiably celebrated, as is the obscene number of cameos by actors and directors appearing as themselves. Buck Henry pitches The Graduate: Part II, Alan Rudolph is mistaken for Martin Scorsese, and Burt Reynolds gets hilariously profane; you also get Peter Falk, Jack Lemmon, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, Cher, and approximately 50 others. As for the featured players, Lyle Lovett nearly steals the show as a detective with an affinity for Tod Browning’s Freaks. The Player did earn Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing (Geraldine Peroni).–The Film Frenzy