RIP, Robert Altman

Robert Altman, one of the greats of world cinema, died yesterday. Like Woody Allen, Altman was incredibly prolific, maintaining a pace of about a film a year for decades, but unlike Allen, even his movies that weren't very good still had interesting things to say about the human condition, particularly the American strain of it. Furthermore, he was great with actors and really allowed situations to breathe and develop organically in his movies, all while keeping things tight and free of extraneous crap. Probably my favorite of his is the slacker-huckster Western McCabe and Mrs. Miller, but I'm also a big fan of the wonderfully loopy Brewster McCloud.

Update: Appreciations from Greencine, Victor Morton and the Onion AV Club. An Altman course syllabus from Michael Sicinski.