McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

• Year: 1971
• Released: 23 Jun 1972
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 1 win & 4 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067411/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mccabe_mrs_miller
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/mccabe-mrs-miller
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Cantonese
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Drama, Western
• Runtime: 120 min
• Writer: Edmund Naughton, Robert Altman, Brian McKay
• Director: Robert Altman
• Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois
• Keywords: based on novel or book, snow, early 1900s, brothel, gambler,

	7.6/10
	93/100

McCabe & Mrs. Miller Storyline

It’s the turn of the nineteenth into twentieth century. John McCabe, who largely lives off what he is able to win in gambling, has just rode into the relatively new mining town of Presbyterian Church, nestled in the mountains of Washington. He is an intimidating figure to most of the men in town, in large part because of his quiet bravado and the belief they have that he is a gunslinger who recently killed a man. With his money, McCabe opens up some businesses catering to the men in town, including a whorehouse and bathhouse, the former which he sets up with a trio of cheap hookers he purchased from nearby Bear Paw. Shortly thereafter, cockney Brit Constance Miller also arrives into town, she, a whore herself, who makes a proposition to McCabe that she run the whorehouse and bathhouse to her exacting high standards on a fifty/fifty partnership basis with him, a proposition which McCabe eventually accepts. Mrs. Miller is able to make a successful go at the businesses despite her penchant for opium, of which McCabe is unaware. The businesses are so successful that the Harrison Shaughnessy mining company sends two of its representatives to Presbyterian Church to buy all McCabe’s holdings in town. McCabe turns them down before he learns from much more streetwise Mrs. Miller that there is a steeper price to pay for going against Harrison Shaughnessy. As such, McCabe may have to use those gunslinging skills he purportedly possesses not only to save his and Mrs. Miller’s businesses, but his life as well.

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McCabe & Mrs. Miller Movie Reviews

Revealing a forgotten part of our history that I’d rather forget!

The film begins with McCabe (Warren Beatty) coming into a dirty western mining town and setting up a brothel. Soon, a ‘classy’ working girl, Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie) approaches him with a plan to increase profits by improving the house’s image–with prettier girls, required baths by everyone and the like. It is successful but other folks want a piece of the action.

I am a retired history teacher, so I am very critical of many Hollywood films because they play fast and loose with the facts. So, in this sense, I am happy to see a film like “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” because it presents a stark contrast to the squeaky clean and silly image we used to get in westerns. Singing cowboys wearing clean designer outfits were the norm in the 1930s-50s and while Roy Rogers and Gene Autry films were enjoyable, they were pure fiction. Here in “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”, however, things are DIRTY—bleak, dismal and brown. And, folks are scraggly-haired, filthy and consort with whores…LOTS and LOTS of whores. This is much more realistic but it also presents two major problems. First, this ultra-realism of the 1970s paints an inaccurate picture in another way because EVERYONE is filthy and nasty in this film…EVERYONE. Second, even if it is more realistic in some ways, who wants to see such a depressing and nasty film?! While I know many reviewers love this one, I also wonder how many more wouldn’t see a film like this in the first place or would just turn it off after a few minutes? With language I cannot repeat on IMDb due to their standards for reviews (so many things they say in the film are simply not allowed to be repeated here), I am sure many folks wouldn’t sit still for the picture–and I am not talking about prudes but the average person who doesn’t want to hear burping, cursing and a story all about prostitutes, opium addicts and pimps.

Apart from the nastiness of the plot and characters, I have another issue with the film and it’s technical. While the film is by a very well respected director, it’s odd that the film looks and sounds so darn ugly. The sound is muddy and the cinematography is much the same. It just looks crudely made and watching it with captions is an almost must–as otherwise, some of the sound is a bit hard to understand.

Overall, I found this film to be quite innovative and unrelentingly unpleasant.

One of Robert Altman’s best

While Robert Altman can be hit and miss, McCabe and Mrs Miller is one of his hits. But it is more than just a hit, it is a masterpiece. I can understand why people mayn’t quite adjust to the sombre tone and the slow pacing, but I don’t consider either of these flaws in any way. McCabe and Mrs Miller, although it does have a fine story, great direction, a very good script and well realised characters, it is more a mood piece than anything else, and the mood is really quite haunting. And I think the pacing is deliberate and suits the tone of the film wonderfully. The film looks stunning, with great cinematography and production values and the Leonard Cohen soundtrack compliments the film perfectly. In terms of effective scenes, for me the famous bridge scene and the climax resonate with me most, and Warren Beatty and Julie Christie are superb. Overall, a fine film and one of Altman’s best. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The bluff is his specialty

McCabe&Mrs.Miller isn’t exactly the old west of John Wayne. But it has the look and feel of westerns shot in those early days of silent film. I suspect that the town in this film looked a whole lot like those in the rural northwest at the turn of the last century.

Warren Beatty in one of the title roles as a gambler whose specialty is the bluff arrives in town with the intention of setting up a bordello. But it’s not until Julie Christie arrives, a professional madam with a string of girls hat the operation really takes off.

As the business grows so grows the town. Note how director Robert Altman has the look of the town spruce up bit by bit as the film progresses. Makes the town look attractive to speculators and as it does the cracks in Beatty’s flawed character show.

A big mining concern wants to buy Beatty and Christie out they’re not squeamish about methods. Beatty’s persona is deflated and the citizens realize he’s all bluff.

Julie Christie got an Oscar nomination for her role as Best Actress as the take life as it comes madam. But it’s Beatty you will remember. His character is both outrageous and vulnerable.

The west was really like this.