LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Robert Altman: New Hollywood
built 263 days ago
Scathing satire of contemporary Hollywood, scripted by Michael Tolkin from his novel and directed by Robert Altman, stars Tim Robbins as a hot shot studio executive attempting to find an angry screenwriter who has been sending him death threats. His search leads him into a world of romance, murder and "high-concept vehicles" for Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis. With Greta Scacchi, Whoopi Goldberg, Cynthia Stevenson, Lyle Lovett, Fred Ward, and dozens of cameos. 123 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital stereo; Subtitles: English, French, Spanish; audio commentary; featurette; deleted scenes; theatrical trailer.
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In 1992, Robert Altman returned to popular and critical favor with The Player, a dark, comic and subtle film about the Hollywood movie scene. Another critical and comic film followed with Short Cuts (1994), a farce about the haute-couture fashion scene which was less convincing. By the way, Altman lived partly in Paris from 1985 to 1992.
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In the mid-1950s, Altman was approached by the backer of Corn's-a-poppin', Elmer Rhoden, Jr., about making a feature film. The result was The Delinquent, a movie about juvenile delinquency which Altman wrote, produced, and directed. The Delinquent gave Altman his ticket to Hollywood. It was picked up by United Artists for $150,000, and released in 1955. The first piece that Altman wrote in Hollywood was a 1957 documentary about the recently deceased actor, James Dean. Altman co-produced and co-directed The James Dean Story with his old friend, George W. George.
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There is the temptation to write this article from the obvious angle, which is that Robert Altman, the perennial Hollywood maverick and outsider, has skewered the establishment with his savage new comedy named "The Player." There would be some truth there.
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In the 1960s, Altman lived for nine years with his second wife in Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California, according to author Peter Biskind in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (Touchstone Books, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1998). He then moved to Malibu but sold that home and the Lion's Gate production company in 1981. "I had no choice", he told the New York Times. "Nobody was answering the phone" after the flop of Popeye. He moved his family and business headquarters to New York, but eventually moved back to Malibu where he lived until his death.
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Altman's career as a film director declined in 1980, after the release of Popeye. Though the film was a box office success, his reputation in Hollywood was ruined . Altman's live-action Popeye was dark, although it was a big budget film ($20 million) for Disney. While he never regarded Popeye as an artistic failure, many critics did. In 1981, Altman sold his production company, Lion's Gate, for $2.3 million. In the same year, he made his debut as a stage director with a production at Los Angeles' Actors Theatre. At the time he told Leticia Kent of The New York Times, "I haven't quit films, I'm merely taking a sabbatical and I'm doing something that I've wanted to do for years and years.
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