From Hildy to Mrs. Miller

Mrs. Miller is a tough businesswoman who takes McCabe fledgling businessand makes it prosper. Yet, at the same time she is whore and an opium addict who runs a brothel in which she sells other women's sexual pleasures. Is she the model for the "liberated" woman of the "70"s? How does she compare with previous images of femininity such as Hildy Johnson? How much has changed for woman (in the movies at least) from the '40's to the '70's?

End of the American Dream?

At the end of McCabe & Mrs. Miller, McCabe may have defeated the bounty hunters sent to kill him, but he can only stumble through the snow, slowly bleeding to death. What does this film say about the small-time entrepreneur and the Goliath corporation? What does this movie tell us about heroes and the ideal of the rugged individual? Is the American Dream dead? Or is this film more about the era of Vietnam and Watergate?

How the West Looked and Sounded

Robert Altman utilized distinctive techniques of cinematography and sound in McCabe & Mrs. Miller. He used natural light during the day and subdued lighting to capture the look of gaslight during the night. He used sound that often captured all the noise in the room without differentiated individual voices. Thus much of the film looks dark and dingy and sounds noisy and unfocused. Does the lighting and sound add to the experience of watching the film -- or does it detract? Does it provide a sense of life in the West at the turn of the twentieth century? Or does it distract from the story?

Please Do Eat the Daisies

The two main characters in Daisies are constantly eating or at least playing with food. They have lavish dinners at restaurants, bathe in milk and playfully slice bananas and sausage. This trend culminates in the scene in which they sneak into a feast, indulge their palettes, and engage in a food fight. What is the point of all this food, glorious food? Can you make sense of the use of food in at least some of these scenes?

Love in the Time of Beatles

One interpretation of Breathless is that it is a film about love in the modern world, where lovers know little about each others' past, follow their impulsive longings, only to end up betrayed at the end. Is there more to this take on modern romance? Is there something deeper in Michel and Patricia's relationship? Or is there something less? Is love even possible in the shadow of the atomic bomb and the Cold War? (Don't forget that Michel has other girlfriends and Patricia spent the evening -- and might have slept with -- her editor).