Indie 90s: The Player (1992)
Director: Robert Altman Run Time: 124 min. Rating: R Release Year: 1992
Starring: Fred Ward, Greta Scacchi, Peter Gallagher, Tim Robbins, Whoopi Goldberg
Country: United States
Language: English
Indie 90s: The Revolution That Changed Cinema
The ’90s didn’t just give us great movies, it changed what movies could be. Independent filmmakers that were breaking the rules, finding new voices, and reshaping American cinema.
Our Indie 90s series features twenty-two films in all — all independent, all revolutionary.
About the film:
A Hollywood studio executive with a shaky moral compass (Tim Robbins) finds himself caught up in a criminal situation that would be right at home in one of his movie projects, in this biting industry satire from Robert Altman.
Mixing elements of film noir with sly insider comedy, The Player, based on a novel by Michael Tolkin, functions as both a nifty stylish murder story and a commentary on its own making, and it is stocked with a heroic supporting cast (Peter Gallagher, Whoopi Goldberg, Greta Scacchi, Dean Stockwell, Fred Ward) and a lineup of star cameos that make for an astonishing Hollywood who’s who. This complexly woven grand entertainment (which kicks off with one of American cinema’s most audacious and acclaimed opening shots) was the film that marked Altman’s triumphant commercial comeback in the early 1990s.
About the filmmaker:
Robert Altman was an unconventional filmmaker who is widely acknowledged as a true auteur in American cinema. Generally, Altman films emphasize character and atmosphere over plot structure, and his work frequently revolves around themes of innocence, corruption, and survival. Altman first entered the filmmaking industry by directing dozens of industrial films for the Calvin Company in Kansas City before making his way to television and working on shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1965).
His filmmaking career took off with the release of the war comedy M*A*S*H (1970), which was nominated for five Academy Awards in 1971 —including Best Picture—and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Not long after, Altman’s musical film Nashville (1975) earned waves of accolades, including five Academy Award nominations —including Best Director and Best Picture—and a win for Best Original Song. His other acclaimed features include the Hollywood satire The Player (1992), the dark comedy Short Cuts (1993), and the murder mystery Gosford Park (2001).
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