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The Big Picture · Discussion · Hall of Fame
The Robert Altman Hall of Fame
September 9, 2025/ 126 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Altman would have turned 100 this year, so Sean and Amanda open on the Venice awards and a One Battle After Another screening, then walk his entire filmography film by film to seat a 10-movie Hall of Fame.
46 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Venice, Oasis, and ‘One Battle After Another’the news before the shrine
The Voice of Hind Rajab 2025
Kaouther Ben Hania's Gaza film premiered late in the festival and was the presumed Golden Lion favorite; it took the Grand Jury Prize instead.
Father Mother Sister Brother 2025
Jim Jarmusch won the Golden Lion for a film reportedly passed over at Cannes. Sean reads it as a possible legacy prize; U.S. release isn't until December, so Amanda skipped it in Venice.
A House of Dynamite 2025
Kathryn Bigelow's film, one of Amanda's Venice favorites, went home with nothing.
No Other Choice 2025
Park Chan-wook's film, the other Amanda favorite that the jury ignored.
La Grazia 2025
Toni Servillo's quiet performance was honored; Amanda found it fine, nothing she hadn't seen him do.
Below the Clouds 2025
Gianfranco Rosi's documentary picked up an award.
The Room Next Door 2024
Cited as last year's Almodóvar legacy Golden Lion, not widely thought his best work.
One Battle After Another 2025
Sean and Amanda both caught an early DGA screening with Spielberg running the Q&A. Sean calls it very special and is going back to the premiere the same night. The PTA/Altman lineage is the reason for this episode.
It Was Just an Accident 2025
Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner, cited as making him the fourth director to sweep Cannes, Venice, and Berlin's top prizes, a club Altman is also in.
The rest of the filmographywalked chronologically, left out of the Hall
The Delinquents 1957
His first feature, a serviceable 80-minute teen-panic movie shot in suburban Missouri. Notable mainly for getting Hollywood's attention.
The James Dean Story 1957
A straight-ahead news-bulletin documentary made right after Dean's crash; Altman himself wasn't fond of it.
Countdown 1967
A pre-moon-landing space-race drama with James Caan. Warner fired Altman in post for sneaking in overlapping dialogue and a restless camera. Red.
That Cold Day in the Park 1969
A very European Canadian-financed character study of a lonely woman; Shelley Duvall's debut is in the mix soon after. Red.
Brewster McCloud 1970
A cult oddity: Tarantino calls it one of the most incompetent movies ever made, Griffin Newman one of his favorites. Marching bands, birds, an Astrodome finale. Yellow.
Images 1972
A Bergman-esque psychological horror with Susannah York losing her mind in an Irish country house. Amanda loved it; Sean's blue recommendation. Yellow.
Thieves Like Us 1974
A period bank-robber picture with Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall. Never a Sean favorite; Vinegar Syndrome has a nice edition. Red.
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson 1976
Paul Newman plays an aging, hollow Buffalo Bill in a movie about the lie of the American myth. It clicked for Sean during the Newman project. Amanda's blue recommendation, but out.
A Wedding 1978
An observational ensemble comedy about two families colliding; hard to find, never issued on U.S. Blu-ray. Red.
Quintet 1979
A post-apocalyptic Paul Newman film built around a deadly game, an audacious idea that plays out slow. A bomb. Red.
A Perfect Couple 1979
A rom-com pairing a square (Paul Dooley) with a new-wave musician (Marta Heflin). Pleasant and underseen, nothing special. Red.
HealtH 1980
A health-spa political satire with Lauren Bacall, Glenda Jackson, and Carol Burnett. Basically unavailable now; part of Altman's 1979-80 fall. Red.
Popeye 1980
Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall as Popeye and Olive Oyl. A coked-out, over-budget Malta shoot, but great Harry Nilsson songs (‘He Needs Me’ later scores Punch-Drunk Love). Yellow.
Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean 1982
The start of Altman's play-adaptation era. One-set drama with Cher, Sandy Dennis, and Karen Black worshipping James Dean. Good Cher performance, just okay. Red.
Streamers 1983
A David Rabe barracks play with Matthew Modine; minor work, but you can feel Altman learning to shoot enclosed spaces. Red.
Fool for Love 1985
Sam Shepard's own play, with Shepard and Kim Basinger as two lost people in the desert. Gets Altman out into the open air; on Criterion. Yellow.
Beyond Therapy 1987
An antic comedy Sean found dated and unsuccessful. Red.
O.C. and Stiggs 1987
A National Lampoon teen comedy shot around 1983 and shelved for years. Altman doesn't have the ear for the youngins, and a movie like this needs to be tight. Red.
Vincent & Theo 1990
A turgid Van Gogh portrait with Tim Roth; the last film before the comeback. Sean found the rewatch unsuccessful. Red.
Prêt-à-Porter 1994
The Paris Fashion Week ensemble that followed The Player. You never sense Altman actually cares about fashion. Red.
Kansas City 1996
A 1930s election-set crime picture in his hometown, with a knockout Jennifer Jason Leigh and music Sean remembers loving. Solid back-nine work. Red.
The Gingerbread Man 1998
A twisty John Grisham noir with Kenneth Branagh and Robert Duvall. Cost $25M, made $1M: a movie that barely exists. Red.
Cookie's Fortune 1999
A Mississippi black-comedy ensemble with Glenn Close and Charles S. Dutton. Fine, not memorable. Red.
Dr. T & the Women 2000
A rom-com about a wealthy gynecologist (Richard Gere) and the women in his life. Sean always wished it were better. Red.
The Company 2003
His ballet film, from a Neve Campbell story, with the Joffrey. Batty performances and a thin plot, but he shoots the dance beautifully. Yellow.
A Prairie Home Companion 2006
His last film, built on Garrison Keillor's radio show, with PTA at his side. A nice movie about found communities of strange people. Fine, not in.
The Robert Altman Hall of Famethe final class of 10
MASH 1970
The irreverent Korean War comedy that broke him big and launched Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland. Not a Sean favorite, but an automatic induction. Michael Altman wrote the ‘Suicide Is Painless’ lyrics.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971
The anti-Western: Warren Beatty as a fast-talking loser and Julie Christie as the madam, a four-song Leonard Cohen score, and hazy Vilmos Zsigmond cinematography. A personal favorite Sean owns three posters of.
The Long Goodbye 1973
Elliott Gould's laconic Marlowe drifting through a seedy, sunlit Los Angeles, funny and sad with real menace (Mark Rydell smashing the bottle). Sean's and Amanda's entry-point movie.
California Split 1974
Sean's favorite Altman and, in his book, the best gambling movie ever made. Gould and George Segal as regular guys chasing the comic chaos of the table. Jeff Goldblum pops up early.
Nashville 1975
His calling card and big statement about America: 24-ish characters converging during a bicentennial-era campaign, with actors writing their own songs (Keith Carradine's ‘I'm Easy’ won the Oscar). Best seen on a big screen.
3 Women 1977
A Persona-like dream-state study of Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall swapping psyches. Sean's best film of this kind that Altman made; the one where he lets the women find the dynamic on screen.
Secret Honor 1984
A 90-minute one-man Nixon rant with a bravura Philip Baker Hall, dynamically blocked and screened. His best ’80s movie and the compromise pick to represent the decade. A PTA favorite.
The Player 1992
The comeback: an acid Hollywood satire with Tim Robbins's duplicitous executive and one of the great opening tracking shots. Sean's recommended starting point for newcomers.
Short Cuts 1993
The Raymond Carver ensemble across one day in Los Angeles, a clear ancestor of Magnolia. Sean's pick for maybe his most beautifully written film, and his masterpiece.
Gosford Park 2001
An upstairs-downstairs murder mystery from a Julian Fellowes script (the seed of Downton Abbey). A near-$100M hit, Best Picture nominee, and sharper than the genre it plays inside.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Paul Thomas Anderson, the throughline Boogie NightsMagnoliaPunch-Drunk LoveLicorice PizzaHard Eight
In passing SinnersPattonSaving Private RyanReservoir DogsDuelEraserheadPersonaHigh NoonHorizon: An American SagaMean StreetsGoodfellasThe Sixth SenseMegalopolisHeaven's GateMoonstruckMaskCarrieThe Newton BoysCluelessCenter StageMamma Mia!Bringing Up BabyThe Philadelphia StoryThe African QueenPat and MikeThe Lion in WinterBarbieInglourious BasterdsTo Live and Die in L.A.LurkerBodyguard
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV (never allowed in the Hall) MASH (series)BonanzaAlfred Hitchcock PresentsWhirlybirdsPeter GunnRoute 66Night GalleryTanner '88Tanner on TannerGunKiller AppBig Little LiesThe Perfect CoupleThe Gilded AgeDownton AbbeyThe Larry Sanders ShowThe StudioDoonesbury
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