kuato_lives2001’s review published on Letterboxd:
From the moment that Leonard Cohen's deep, brooding ballad opens McCabe & Mrs Miller, we know we're in for something special. Stylistically, its western roots are evident throughout, but in its substance is a freshness unique to Robert Altman. The screenplay (co-written by Altman) showcases a knack for dialogue (often blunt, sometimes repetitive in a realistic way and very funny) and though I'm not sure if Altman had completely perfected his overlapping dialogue technique at this point in his career (doesn't feel as polished and occasionally sounds like a muffled mess), critics at the time definately over-exaggerated this and it's used effectively in the opening bar scene for example, where we learn little tidbits about the clientele from how they talk.
The revisionist western had been pretty well established by 1971, with the entire western genre having undergone a new lease of life throughout the previous decade, culminating in the bloodbath of 1969's The Wild Bunch. That being said, a lot of this revisionism was limited to depicting the West in harsher, more violent tones than was generally done in the previous decades. The film certainly isn't afraid to show cruelty (the senseless gunning down of the cowboy on the bridge for example), but the main thing that sets it apart is that fundamentally, it's a film about the starting and running of a business.
Similarly to Altman's later Nashville though, the film is completely cynical about this most American of all activities. Following the success of McCabe's brothel, and his turning down of a big mining company's offer to buy him out, a hit is put out on him. In a futile attempt to resolve the conflict, McCabe goes a lawyer who essentially brushes him off, stating "This free enterprise system of ours works. Working within it, we can protect the small businessman and the big businessman." The non-American (Mrs Miller) is the only one who really seems to understand the gravity of the situation, and when McCabe is placed next to her, we realise that he's far from the archetypal stoic western protagonist he presented himself as at the begining of the film, and just kind of an average joe in over his head, who got lucky once too often.
Overall, a solid inversion of western tropes that pushed the term "revisionist" in the revisionist western to new territory. Recommended.
PS: I really want Warren Beatty's big, furry coat - I'm way too short to pull it off (would probably just look like a big puffball) but it looks so damn cool on him!
