A signature stylist in American filmmaking, Robert Altman is known as an innovator and iconoclast. With the upcoming release of A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION in June, he's also, once again, riding high. Altman's work helped to define the 1970s. He may have slowed down in the 1980s, but he reemerged in the 1990s (more than once) with some of his best work. The hallmarks of Altman's celebrated style - overlapping dialogue, improvisational acting, mobile camera and zooms, subversive humor - have been displayed since the career-making M*A*S*H in 1970. (Ironically, it might have never been: his unorthodox methods so puzzled co-stars Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould that they tried to have him removed from the picture!) Looking back nearly 40 years later, his films have lost none of their vitality. They've also greatly influenced younger filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson and Wes Anderson. Altman has received five Academy Award nominations for Best Director and never won, but the Academy awarded him an honorary Oscar this year. With A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, he may find himself again in the running.

AFI Member Passes will be accepted at all screenings in the Robert Altman Series.

THE PLAYER

Don't bite the hand that feeds you? Robert Altman's 1992 sendup of Hollywood and its strivers did exactly that. Studio exec Tim Robbins fights boardroom threats from hotshot rival Peter Gallagher, but his fight in the parking lot with embittered screenwriter Vincent D'Onofrio results in the latter's accidental death. It turns out that getting away with murder is a useful skill for the rising Hollywood exec.

DIR Robert Altman; SCR/PROD Michael Tolkin, after his novel; PROD Nick Wechsler, William S. Gilmore and David Brown. US, 1992, color, 124 min. RATED R

GOSFORD PARK

Just as MATCH POINT refreshed Woody Allen's fortunes, Robert Altman's late-career trip to the UK did wonders for his creativity. A classic English murder mystery, complete with country house and upstairs-downstairs intrigue, proves a great fit for Altman's sprawling-castwith- overlapping-dialogue dynamic. Some of Britain's best actors light up the screen, including Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Emily Watson, Alan Bates and Clive Owen. Seven Oscar nominations, including Altman's fifth as director, with Julian Fellowes winning for Best Original Screenplay.

DIR/PROD Robert Altman; SCR Julian Fellowes, based on an idea from Robert Altman and Bob Balaban; PROD Bob Balaban and David Levy. UK/US/Germany/Italy, 2001, color, scope, 137 min. RATED R

BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, OR SITTING BULL'S HISTORY LESSON

Paul Newman chews the scenery as Buffalo Bill Cody, a drunk and skirt-chaser who, thanks to Burt Lancaster's mythmaking reportage, has become a national hero and hugely successful entertainer. Plied with liquor and flattery by press agent/handler Joel Grey, he just about keeps it together long enough to perform in his Wild West Show. But the introduction of Chief Sitting Bull gets under Bill's skin . . . right before President Cleveland is due to attend.

DIR/SCR/PROD Robert Altman; SCR Alan Rudolph, based on the play by Arthur L. Kopit. US, 1976, color, scope, 123 min. RATED PG

#7 on AFI's 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs
M*A*S*H

Army surgeons "Hawkeye" Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and "Trapper John" McIntyre (Elliott Gould) use hi-jinks to keep their sanity amid the madness of the Korean War. The comedy is black, at times brutal, and the depictions of field surgery frank in their bloodiness. But this unorthodox blend struck the right chord with Vietnam-era audiences, giving Altman a smash hit and launching his career. Palme d'Or, 1970 Cannes Film Festival, and five Oscar nominations including a win for Ring Lardner, Jr.'s, screenplay.

DIR Robert Altman; SCR Ring Lardner, Jr., based on the novel by Richard Hooker; PROD Ingo Preminger. US, 1970, color, scope, 116 min. RATED R

MCCABE & MRS. MILLER

As a braggart gambler and an opium-addicted whore, Warren Beatty and Julie Christie display terrific chemistry as they set up a bordello in a frontier town named Presbyterian Church. Their successful operation draws the interest of the mining company, who wants to buy them out. Vilmos Zsigmond's gorgeous wide-screen photography, Leonard Cohen's moody balladry and a complex sound design make this classic a must-see on the big screen.

DIR/SCR/PROD Robert Altman; SCR Brian McKay, based on the novel by Edmund Naughton; PROD Mitchell Brower and David Foster. US, 1971, color, scope, 120 min. RATED R

THE LONG GOODBYE

Resetting Raymond Chandler's 1940s detective classic in the 1970s should not have worked, but Altman and company created a one-of-a-kind film that gleefully breaks all the rules. Elliott Gould plays Philip Marlowe as a shambles-a mumbling oddball who's nonetheless a lone voice for moral order in a corrupt world. Memorable turns include a Hemingwayesque Sterling Hayden, violent thug Mark Rydell, and baseball pitcher/BALL FOUR author Jim Bouton as Marlowe's missing friend. Groundbreaking camerawork - constantly gliding, never still - from Vilmos Zsigmond.

DIR Robert Altman; SCR Leigh Brackett, based on the novel by Raymond Chandler; PROD Jerry Bick. US, 1973, color, scope, 112 min. RATED R

CALIFORNIA SPLIT

For many, this is the movie about gambling. Elliott Gould and George Segal become fast friends after meeting at a California poker parlor. Their spree takes them to Vegas and a shot at a big-money game. By turns funny and poignant, CALIFORNIA SPLIT captures the highs of gambling and its mania, while Gould and Segal are at the top of their games as the gambling buddies.

DIR/PROD Robert Altman; SCR Joseph Walsh; PROD Aaron Spelling, Joseph Walsh and Leonard J. Goldberg. US, 1974, color, scope, 108 min. RATED R

COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN

Twenty years after James Dean came to their small Texas town to shoot GIANT, the Disciples of James Dean fan club reunites at Woolworths. They share stories and secrets, while elegantly constructed flashbacks unfold in the background. Great performances from Sandy Dennis, who believes James Dean is the father of her son; Cher as a small-town sexpot; and Karen Black as a mystery woman whom no one recognizes.

DIR Robert Altman; SCR Ed Graczyk, based on his play; PROD Scott Bushnell. US, 1982, color, 109 min. RATED PG

SHORT CUTS

Altman's kaleidoscopic adaptation of Raymond Carver short stories merges the visions of two great American artists. Twenty-two characters struggle to find solace and meaning in contemporary Los Angeles. The extraordinary cast includes Tim Robbins, Julianne Moore, Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Lemmon and Jennifer Jason Leigh, all giving fearless performances in one of Altman's most compassionate creations (note courtesy of the Criterion Collection).

DIR/SCR/PROD Robert Altman; SCR Frank Barhydt, based on short stories by Raymond Carver; PROD Cary Brokaw. US, 1993, color, scope, 187 min. RATED R

VINCENT & THEO

Robert Altman emerged from his long slump of the 1980s with this fascinating examination of the relationship between painter Vincent van Gogh and his artdealer brother, Theo. The ups and downs of Altman's career made him uniquely qualified for a movie that examines the compromises that art and commerce must make for each other. Tim Roth shines as the troubled painter.

DIR Robert Altman; SCR Julian Mitchell; PROD Ludi Boeken. Netherlands/UK/France, 1990, color, 138 min. RATED PG-13

NASHVILLE

Altman's masterpiece: 24 characters and storylines surround a Nashville political rally and music festival, with the actors developing much of their own dialogue in rehearsal and co-authoring songs with music director Richard Baskin. Standout performances include Lily Tomlin, luminous in her screen debut; Ronee Blakley as Barbara Jean, the first lady of country music and a crackup waiting to happen; and Henry Gibson as sanctimonious crooner Haven Hamilton. Five Oscar nominations and a win for Best Song, I'm Easy - #81 on AFI's 100 Years . . . 100 Songs.

DIR/PROD Robert Altman; SCR Joan Tewkesbury; PROD Martin Starger, Jerry Weintraub and Scott Bushnell. US, 1975, color, scope, 159 min. RATED R

NEW PRINT
3 WOMEN

Reputedly, Altman's most enigmatic movie came to him in a dream. When shy teenager Sissy Spacek takes a job in a California desert town nursing home, she falls under the influence of Shelley Duvall's self-styled, would-be sophisticate. Seemingly a blank slate, Spacek adopts Duvall as role model, then appropriates her personality - and possessions. Artist Janice Rule is the third woman, pregnant with the child of her womanizing bartender husband. Her childbirth induces another round of personality swapping.

DIR/SCR/PROD Robert Altman. US, 1977, color, scope, 124 min. RATED PG

NEW PRINT
A WEDDING

The bride's nouveaux riches Southerners are united with the groom's old money Midwest gentry at this big wedding in suburban Chicago. Robert Altman chose the stunt of doubling his record Nashville cast, stuffing 48 roles into a sprawling farce. Standouts include Carol Burnett as the mother of the bride and Mia Farrow as the sister; plus Lillian Gish, Vittorio Gassman and Altman regulars Geraldine Chaplin, Bert Remsen and Nina Van Pallandt.

DIR/SCR Robert Altman; SCR John Considine and Allan Nicholls; PROD Tommy Thompson. US, 1978, color, scope, 125 min. RATED PG