Nashville (film) Totally Explained

Everything about Nashville Film totally explained

Nashville is a 1975 American drama film directed by Robert Altman. It depicts the country music and gospel music businesses in Nashville, Tennessee and combines them with material on U.S. presidential politics. The film weaves together multiple storylines that eventually coalesce in the final half-hour in a climactic sequence at the Parthenon in Nashville. Among its many musical sequences, the song "It Don't Worry Me" is the film's theme, heard sporadically throughout and then performed at the climax.
The film features a large ensemble cast including David Arkin, Barbara Baxley, Ned Beatty, Karen Black, Ronee Blakley, Keith Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert DoQui, Shelley Duvall, Allen Garfield, Henry Gibson, Scott Glenn, Jeff Goldblum, Barbara Harris, David Hayward, Michael Murphy, Cristina Raines, Bert Remsen, Lily Tomlin, Gwen Welles and Keenan Wynn.

Production

The film was written by Joan Tewkesbury but as in many of Altman's films, improvisation was important in the filming process, and Nashville features Altman's trademark overlapping dialogue.
   Many of the characters in the film are based on real country music figures: Henry Gibson's Haven Hamilton is a composite of Roy Acuff, Hank Snow and Porter Wagoner; Ronee Blakely's Barbara Jean is based on Loretta Lynn; the black country singer Tommy Brown (played by Timothy Brown) is based on Charley Pride; and the feuding folk trio is based on Peter, Paul and Mary; within the trio, the married couple of Bill and Mary were inspired by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, who later became Starland Vocal Band . Keith Carradine's character is believed to be inspired by Kris Kristofferson and Karen Black's Connie strongly resembles Lynn Anderson.
   Filmed in Nashville in the summer (late July, August, and early September) of 1974, Altman had enough footage to produce a four-hour film, and assistant director Alan Rudolph suggested he create an expanded version of "Nashville" to be shown in two parts, "Nashville Red" and "Nashville Blue," but the film ultimately remained intact. After a rush of critical acclaim, ABC expressed interest in a proposal for a ten-hour miniseries of "Nashville," based on the footage not used in the final cut, but plans for the project were scrapped. The additional footage hasn't been made available on DVD releases.
   The Hal Phillip Walker political campaign was designed by actor-screenwriter Thomas Hal Phillips.

Cast and characters

David Arkin plays a friendly chauffeur who wants to be liked by the celebrities.
Richard Baskin as Frog, a struggling young session musician who is fired from a recording session and is urged to get a haircut by Haven Hamilton.
Barbara Baxley as Lady Pearl, Haven Hamilton's wife, who manages a bluegrass night at a downtown club.
Ned Beatty as Delbert Reese, Haven Hamilton's lawyer and local organizer for the Hal Philip Walker campaign.
Karen Black as Connie White, a country singer who replaces Barbara Jean on the Grand Ole Opry.
Ronee Blakley as Barbara Jean, a mentally unstable superstar country singer who is recovering from injuries she received in a fire, she's hospitalized again after collapsing on arrival at the airport.
Timothy Brown as Tommy Brown, a singing star of the Grand Ole Opry.
Keith Carradine as Tom Frank, a member of the folk rock trio Bill, Mary and Tom, who is seeking to strike out on his own as a solo artist. He is also a self-absorbed womanizer and seeks to have a tryst with Linnea Reese even while sleeping with Mary and Opal.
Geraldine Chaplin as Opal, an intrusive, ever-present BBC reporter.
Robert DoQui as Wade Cooley, a cook at the airport restaurant and co-worker with Sueleen Gay, who also works odd jobs around Nashville.
Shelley Duvall as Marthe, the niece of Mr. Green who is in town ostensibly to visit her sick aunt. She prefers to be called L. A. Joan, and carries on flirtatiously with most men she meets.
Allen Garfield as Barnett, a husband and manager of Barbara Jean.
Henry Gibson as Haven Hamilton, the superstar singer on the Grand Ole Opry and a powerful figure in the local business community.
Scott Glenn as Pfc. Glenn Kelly, a Vietnam War veteran who is in town to visit Barbara Jean at the behest of his mother.
Jeff Goldblum as Tricycle Man, a silent, ubiquitous figure around Nashville, he rides his long, low-slung three-wheel motorcycle everywhere, and performs magic tricks.
Barbara Harris as Winifred/Albuquerque, an aspiring singer-songwriter who has run away from her husband.
David Hayward as Kenny Frasier, a loner drifter with an overbearing mother who rents out a room in Mr. Green's B&B.
Merle Kilgore as Trout, the owner of a club that has an open-mic talent night who gives Sueleen Gay what she believes to be her big break as a singer.
Michael Murphy as John Triplette, the national organizer for the Hal Philip Walker presidential campaign.
Allan F. Nicholls as Bill, part of the folk trio, Bill, Mary and Tom, he's married to Mary.
Dave Peel as Bud Hamilton, the son of Haven Hamilton, who handles his father's business affairs.
Cristina Raines as Mary, part of the folk trio, Bill, Mary and Tom, she's married to Bill, but is having an affair with Tom Franks, with whom she's fallen in love.
Bert Remsen as Star, Albuquerque's husband.
Lily Tomlin as Linnea Reese, a gospel singer, wife of Delbert Reese and loving mother of two deaf children, she's a tryst with Tom Frank.
Gwen Welles as Sueleen Gay, a waitress at the airport lunch counter and an aspiring country singer who can't sing. She is hired to entertain at a political fund-raising "smoker" and is forced to perform a striptease act.
Keenan Wynn as Mr. Green, the uncle of Marthe, his wife is dying at Vanderbilt Hospital. He rents a spare room in his house to Kenny. There are also cameo appearances by Elliott Gould, Julie Christie and Howard K. Smith.

Reception

Critical response

The actors and actresses composed some of the songs they performed in the film. Ronee Blakley contributed several songs, including those performed by Timothy Brown. Karen Black wrote the songs she performed in character as Connie White. Keith Carradine wrote "I'm Easy", which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song - Motion Picture. Carradine also wrote "It Don't Worry Me", which is featured throughout the film, and is the climactic closing number.
   Film score composer Richard Baskin, who portrays the struggling session musician Frog, composed songs for Henry Gibson to sing in character as Haven Hamilton. In the film, Hamilton scolds Frog for having long hair, tells him he doesn't "belong in Nashville" and fires him from a recording session for playing bad notes on the piano. Baskin served as music supervisor on Nashville.
   Several respected Nashville session musicians took part in the music recording and in the film itself, including violinist Vassar Clements and guitarist Harold Bradley.
   While the music was viewed in the Nashville music industry as mean-spirited satire,
   The 1992 presidential campaign of H. Ross Perot is reminiscent of the campaign of the "Replacement Party" and its candidate in this film, Hal Phillip Walker, the fictional candidate with a twang in his voice and a penchant for folksy maxims.
   The shooting of Barbara Jean by a deranged loner at Nashville's Parthenon foreshadowed the murder of John Lennon in 1980; in interviews on the DVD, Altman remarks that after Lennon's death, reporters questioned the director about "Nashville" and its harbinger of the assassination of a music star. � Robert Altman: "When John Lennon got assassinated, I get a call immediately from the Washington Post and they said 'do you feel responsible for this?' and I said 'what do you mean responsible?' 'Well I mean you're the one that predicted there would be a political assassination of a star'. 'And I said 'well I don't feel responsible', but I said, 'but don't you feel responsible for not heeding my warning?' The statement here is, these people are not assassinated because of their ideas or what they do. They're assassinated to draw attention to the assassin. And in political assassinations, in their sort of warped minds, they know that they're going to have a certain amount of people who said 'That son of a bitch [thepolitician] should have been shot,' because there's such heat about it. But actually what they're doing is killing somebody who's in the public eye and is some sort of an icon. Because this feeling that by, doing that, committing that assassination they draw the attention to themself, and they make themselves consequently important. Ah, and it's no surprise to me, the Lennon assassination, because this is what all that is, and I don't think we've seen the end of it either."

� (From the "Commentary by Robert Altman" on the DVD extra: )

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