LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Robert Altman: Short Cuts
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The book provides a useful and updated chronology of events and filmography; it lists Altman's industrial and commercial films, miscellaneous shorts, television specials and films directed by others (Altman mainly as producer). One may not need to refer to Patrick McGilligan's tome, Jumping off the cliff (1989), as frequently as before. There are seventeen interviews in all which span from 1971 to 1996. Sterritt gives reasons for his selection. One commendable reason is their diversity: "they do not always have a sympathetic attitude toward particular aspects of that work." (xi) Another reason for the selection is "to cover all the phases of Altman's feature-film activity from the period of his first major contributions."
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Altman returned to favor with The Player (1992) which won praise from the industry it satirized. Based on the short stories of Raymond Carver, Short Cuts (1983) was structured like a fugue.
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Altman's filmmaking is natural, unpredictable and versatile. His skill at braiding together large stories, emotional performances and political satire has characterized a number of his other films, including the scathing, paranoid film-industry odyssey The Player (1992); the gigantic, biting vision of love and death in L.A. Short Cuts (1993); and the irreverent class commentary-disguised-as-period mystery Gosford Park (2001).
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This is an Altman film and there are inevitably moments of insight and beauty. Belafonte's Seldom Seen--bitter, greedy, remorseless--is an excellent piece of work, obviously the product of much thought and effort. When one of his prize pigeons is robbed on the way to his gambling club, and by a white man in black face, Seldom Seen is propelled into motion. He tells the gambler, "You've been robbed by Amos `n' Andy." Nothing will satisfy him short of the ultimate (and orgasmic) act of vengeance.
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"The Player" and "Short Cuts" re-established Altman's reputation and commercial viability. But other 1990s films — including his fashion-industry farce "Ready to Wear" and "Kansas City," his reverie on the 1930s jazz and gangster scene of his hometown — fell flat.
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