There Is More Grit and Less Glitz in Robert Altman's Iconic Western

Seal Beach and Los Alamitos only have one movie theater, but it’s one of a kind. Each week the historic Bay Theatre offers a new release paired with a cinematic classic. Each week, Patch will tell you what classic is playing at the classic theatre.

The American West never really existed ― at least not the version with 10 gallon hats, shootouts, and singing cowboys depicted in the vast majority of films labeled “westerns” over the last century. Sure, there were guns, tumbleweed, and whisky, but the west was a raw place hardly recognizable in the typical western film.

 The West that did exist was dirty. And sometimes it was cold, snowy, and beautiful. That’s the West Robert Altman captured in arguably his best film, McCabe & Mrs. Miller from 1971. The buildings are cramped, the town of Presbyterian Church is dirty, and the protagonist McCabe (Warren Beatty) is as useless with a gun as the real average person would be, tense (anti-) shootout or no.

Most of the music is Leonard Cohen, a bit strange for a “Western” and even incongruous all these years later. But it’s Leonard Cohen, so let’s put that in the “plus” column.

As usual, Vilmos Zsigmond’s photography is breathtaking. It looks like what one imagines the Pacific Northwest of the late nineteenth century ought to look if shot by a film camera from the 1970s. Of course, that makes no sense unless you’ve actually seen McCabe & Mrs. Miller. And you should. It’s nothing like an actual Western, and therefore, maybe, more like the actual West.

Showtimes:

• Sunday 6 p.m.
• Monday 8 p.m.
• Wednesday 8 p.m.