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Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

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i wrote this paper about robert altman's "mccabe and mrs miller" as a senior in college in 1995. the paper discusses the way that altman subverts genre convention and ideas of heroism. it focuses on a single scene. my professor's very helpful notes can be seen in the margins. looking back at my writing, i can see i was a big fan of the casual, unsubstantiated assertion -- something i'm much more careful about these days. the body of the paper is followed by a very detailed shot-by-shot outline of the scene in question.
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Knight Scene Study 14 February 1995 Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in McCabe and Mrs Miller In his 1971 film McCabe and Mrs Miller, Robert Altman uses a seemingly inconsequential se- quence involving two minor characters to tie together a variety of narrative and stylistic tech- niques which, taken together, both define the film as a Western, and subvert generic conven- tions. In the scene depicting the conflict between Cowboy and the Kid, Altman embraces the no- tion of the showdown between almost one-dimensional representations of good and evil, yet re- jects the traditional victory of the honorable hero, a move which foreshadows the film's ulti- mate treatment of its protagonist. Altman also stresses in the sequence certain stylistic compo- nents which appear throughout the film, but perhaps are most pronounced in this particular scene, namely the strong use of vertical and lateral planes in the mise en scene, graphic ,rei ~ _ ~' matches, and unconventional camera work that employs simultaneous tracks and zooms. 1. d. l.t. '~I·"",J In an attQmpt to ~xamU;&is film as a product of the Hollywood studio system, an au- Ito _.I ... 1o~, tL - t~ ~ dience might at first be perplexed by Altman's decision to include the Cowboy/Kid scene in the '1.J;r.. II"" film, since it does ostensibly little to further the plot or to develop any of the major characters. ~ ~~ Yet were the scene entirely excised, the same audience might be left with a feeling that the ,.~" film lacked an integrity necessary in anticipating, or accepting, the film's pessimistic end, which features the death of the protagonist. This is to say that while this ending is unconven- tional, the story line as a whole subscribes at least to the convention of preparing the audience for its outcome. fl. The brief battle between Cowboy and the Kid, on(Some)narrative level, is a collapsing of the longer struggle between McCabe and Butler, one which flattens the complexities of each character and does away with the hide-and-seek, play-dead antics. The Cowboy fits the type ~~ of the clean, moral, disingenuous lead of earlier comic Westerns, who has not been tarnished by 1\ life on the frontier. Even his frolicking in the whorehouse seems more benign and innocent than
Transcript
Page 1: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

KnightScene Study 14 February 1995

Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in McCabe and Mrs Miller

In his 1971 film McCabe and Mrs Miller, Robert Altman uses a seemingly inconsequential se-

quence involving two minor characters to tie together a variety of narrative and stylistic tech-

niques which, taken together, both define the film as a Western, and subvert generic conven-

tions. In the scene depicting the conflict between Cowboy and the Kid, Altman embraces the no-

tion of the showdown between almost one-dimensional representations of good and evil, yet re-

jects the traditional victory of the honorable hero, a move which foreshadows the film's ulti-

mate treatment of its protagonist. Altman also stresses in the sequence certain stylistic compo-

nents which appear throughout the film, but perhaps are most pronounced in this particular

scene, namely the strong use of vertical and lateral planes in the mise en scene, graphic ,rei ~ _ ~'

matches, and unconventional camera work that employs simultaneous tracks and zooms. 1. d. l.t. '~I·"",J

In an attQmpt to ~xamU;&is film as a product of the Hollywood studio system, an au- Ito _.I ... 1o~, tL- t~ ~

dience might at first be perplexed by Altman's decision to include the Cowboy/Kid scene in the '1.J;r.. II""

film, since it does ostensibly little to further the plot or to develop any of the major characters. ~ ~~

Yet were the scene entirely excised, the same audience might be left with a feeling that the ,.~"

film lacked an integrity necessary in anticipating, or accepting, the film's pessimistic end,

which features the death of the protagonist. This is to say that while this ending is unconven-

tional, the story line as a whole subscribes at least to the convention of preparing the audience

for its outcome.fl.

The brief battle between Cowboy and the Kid, on(Some)narrative level, is a collapsing

of the longer struggle between McCabe and Butler, one which flattens the complexities of each

character and does away with the hide-and-seek, play-dead antics. The Cowboy fits the type~~

of the clean, moral, disingenuous lead of earlier comic Westerns, who has not been tarnished by1\

life on the frontier. Even his frolicking in the whorehouse seems more benign and innocent than

Page 2: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

-

anyone else's. The Kid, by contrast, is an archetype of the villain who crosses the thin line be-

tween using one's wits and being outright dishonorable. It is telling that Altman declines to

give a legitimate name to either character, as though they were mere generic characters play-

ing a token role in, or almost outside of, a larger plot. The fierce defeat of Cowboy, a force of

good, readies the audience to accept the death of the less pure and innocent but infinitely more

complex McCabe who, although the film's apparent hero, gambles and runs a brothel. Butler,

for his own part, seems as different from the Kid as McCabe is from Cowboy. Butler shares lit-

tle or none of the Kid's naive but malicious desire for killing, nor does he behave dishonorably

(at least no more dishonorably than the film's hero, which is as useful a measure as any)) In

other words, the playing out of pure good versus pure evil, with the latter victorious, works to

debilitate the audience's hope for a comic ending in a struggle between the less good and the

less evil.

Relatedly, the sequence (framed by two scenes featuring only McCabe and Mrs Miller)

does much damage to the construction of the pair's relationship. Although the issue of selling

the property or "making a deal" was a contentious one, the scene immediately prior to the

Cowboy /Kid sequence establishes a tone of tenderness and respect between the two which

seemed to be struggling to emerge until then. That tenderness, however, operates within, and

perhaps stems from, the ominous atmosphere that had taken over the brothel since Butler's ar-

rival and cautions against a romantic conception of their relationship. The intangible ill-bod-

ing surrounding the community is only reified with the Cowboy's death, and any budding hopes

of union between McCabe and Mrs Miller are shattered, indicating that the literal death of the

good and innocent is commensurate with the metaphoric death of romantic idealism. The sym-

bolism of allowing the demise of a character like Cowboy to represent the similar fate of

McCabe and Mrs Miller seems at once to conform to and twist the "Western" canon. Altman

gives us on the one hand the good prostitute of Stagecoach and baits the audience with sugges-

IThere could be drawn a parallel between Butler's contract killing and McCabe's indirectcontract sex, and it is because of this parallel (and others) that I'm reluctant to paint Butler asless honorable than McCabe. McCabe does, after all, attempt to connive his way out of a fight,shoot at least one man in the back, and play dead to trick and kill his enemy.

-2-

Page 3: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

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tions of a Stagecoach-like comic ending, but then takes this away when he presents the likable

but flawed McCabe as a moral match to Cowboy, and kills both men, leaving the heroine to

spend her days drugged and alone.

On less complicated narrative levels, the sequence establishes the direct bodily threat

to McCabe, irrespective of its symbolic effects on his relationship with Mrs Miller and the

achievement of the American frontier dream. Before Cowboy's killing, the only ill will Butler

directed at him was to "get on the bridge" before he got angry, which turned out to be only a

half-serious threat. If Butler had been alone, perhaps the nature of the apprehension would

have been different, as well. The random, dishonorable, sheer malicious nature of the Kid's at-

tack on cowboy instills the fear that a hero's death can occur without a justifiable reason, and

the Kid could have easily shot McCabe as a minor figure like Cowboy. This attitude grows

stronger when considering the behavior of Sheehan who, too scared to act, stares numbly at the

precipitous events leading to Cowboy's death. McCabe's community seems hopelessly devoid of

heroes, or even men of bravery who can stand up to men like Butler, or even gun-toting children

like the Kid. Only McCabe, "a leading member of the community," has any fortitude, and even

he tries to back down. Cowboy's demise, then, suggests not only the fate of McCabe in particu-d?~JL. 1\

lar, but of an entire community of men too innocent, stunned, or nice to object to injustice. This

suggestion extends to the identity of the men as men, as well. When the two prostitutes joke

about the diminutive size of Cowboy's genitals, they humble the man who considered himself

virile enough to take all the women in the house. This matches the other men of the town who,

"amongst themselves, are strong and manly, but cower in front of ~ outsider like Butler, whose

masculinity is apparent to all. When one of McCabe's friends reports on the arrival of Butler,

nearly the first thing he mentions is the exceptional size of the killer. "He must be near seven

feet tall." McCabe's reaction is to ask to speak with him, but Butler says "There's nothing to

talk about" and that no deals can be made with him. The other prominent men in the film~

(Sheehan, Sears, the Lawyer, Hollander) continually try to make deal, to talk their way intoII

or out of something with McCabe, but Butler refuses McCabe's offer to deal, preferring instead to

-3-

Page 4: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

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bargain with the arguably more masculine method of gunfighting. Appropriately, Cowboy

first arrives in town during a funeral, signaling perhaps the obsolescence of himself and men

like h;m. / Hf( fMw, 7/(..7'/"': ~;j, ~~~.-

On perhaps the lowest narrative level, the killing of Cowboy serves as an action se-""-"--

quence, a tension-building series of events to hold the audience's attention. The previous mo-

ment of real tension in the film came during the confused bludgeoning of an insulted man, but the

lighting was so dim and the justification so scant, the scene served only to show the effects of an

isolated society coiled in upon itself. The introduction of foreign elements, particularly nefari-

ous ones, helped to pick up one part of the plot, and though seemingly detached during the

Cowboy /Kid sequence, build a greater sense of apprehension as the film neared its final conflict

and conclusion.

In this way, ~s in several others,)...1cCabe and Mrs Miller can be read as a generic prod-

uct, albeit an exceptional one, of the Hollywood studio system, in that it conforms to a variety

of conventions, including the appropriate episodes of tension and resolution placed strategi-

cally throughout the film. As such, the narrative of the film intertwines with its style.

Altman takes this convergence a step beyond most other genre films by engaging in a kind of

stylistic foreshadowing that cues the audience to certain implicit and explicit aspects of subse-

quent narrative. For example, when Altman opens a scene with a ceramic jug sliding across ice,

we have yet to have any idea what awaits cowboy, but the image creates, or hints at, a tension,

an impending crisis. As the next graphically matches the Kid's face with the now-still bottle,

we might infer that he is to a figure in the tension, and this is confirmed when the Kid fires

again at the jug but the sound reverberates as we see Cowboy riding his horse towards the

bridge. There is ~e in-':he narr~~wboy approa~ that might lead us to believe

conflict lies ahead, but Altman's use of graphic matching and unconventional shots such as one

of the slipping jug, which eventually is shot into the water, pushes the reader to uneasiness 1\

This, combined with subtle elements of the narrative, such as the Kid's arguing that "The trick

-4-

Page 5: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

-

is to make it float," cleverly prepare the audience for the Kid making the Cowboy float, an ef-

fect which stylistically matches the floating jug.

Altman extends this foreshadowing further by assigning Cowboy, the Kid, and McCabe

similar deaths. Cowboy is shot, falls into freezing water, and floats; the Kid is shot and fall s

into water; McCabe is shot and freezes, covered in snow. Even Butler, who also is buried in

snow, is graphically matched with a patch of black ice while Cowboy begins to sink underwa-

ter. Again, Altman presents these events in a style which overlaps with the narrative to give

the film a remarkable cohesion. Similarly, Altman uses a similar track/zoom technique to

frame McCabe, Miller, and Butler at different moments, an effort that suggests shared qualities

among the three, one of which might be a feeling of emptiness or despair. The track/zoom on

Butler during the gunfight and the track to the extreme close-up of Mrs Miller's eye in the

film's closing shot suggest differing kinds of hollow pain.

If Altman employs tracks and zooms to convey an aspect of a certain character, he also

uses lateral and vertical planes to frame his characters in their environments. The Kid, inter-

sected by bright horizontal beams conflicts with the Cowboy's setting of vertical ropes. For the

first moments of their interaction, we see only laterally-bound Kid and vertically-bordered

Cowboy, each centered in frame, and are clued that the two will fall into conflict. When the

Kid enters Cowboy's space, he competes for primacy over the center of the frame and the verti-

cal plane. The tension increases, until Cowboy is shot, and we see him for an instant framed

with a diagonal rope cutting across his face. Three shots later, Cowboy floats in a muddled

mass of water, ice, and leather, free of lines and planes. The Kid, meanwhile, remains as he

has been, framed in the right angles of the bridge.

The manipulation of planes and graphic matches occurs throughout the film, but it is in

the Cowboy/Kid sequence that Altman unites narrative and stylistic strains to produce a work~

that defies and accepts generic convention. McCabe and Mrs Miller portrays a relatively hope-A

less picture of a community that has lost touch with bravery and surrendered honor as an ap-

propriate means of dealing with a misanthropic world. While many other Western/Frontier

-5-

Page 6: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

~--- -- -~--------------------------------------------------------

films end more optimistically, Altman does operate in the generic framework which his prede-

cessors created. Narrative issues of honor, violence, and isolated life permeate the film, as do

images of the frontier, violence, and death, each of which can be seen, in varying forms, inj.)~

other Westerns. But by allowing a scene ~ such as the Cowboy/Kid sequence-which involves

only minor characters, and does not advance plot or character development-Altman works

against generic convention and towards a naturalistic worl9:.view.

-----------

-6-

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Page 7: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

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L_/ _/

/

This is excellent work on every count. Great job.

-------.J _

Page 8: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

KnightScene Notes

McCabe and Mrs Miller

Altman, 1971

-14 February 1995

Scene notes on Cowboy /Kid sequence, with emphasis on vertical and horizontal bars (such as

bannisters, ropes, and railings) and graphic matches, especially in the center of the frame.

A=

M=

Action in shot. C J tk ~ ~~Mise en scene, shot properties, etc. J

• McCabe and Mrs Miller in study with soft yellow light. Drapes and bar form vertical lines.

Cut to Cowboy sequence.

Shot 1 Action: Cowboy's horse brought, from right to left. Person waving white cloth

near center of frame, in background.

Mise en scene: House and bridge make heavy vertical lines. A snow covered post

rises where Mrs Miller stood in the previous scene. Brown and white are the

dominant colors. Brown house, white snow.Vertical post in center of frame.

Shot 2 A: Whores exit doorframe, with cowboy. Say goodbye. "Bye honey."

M: Medium shot. Backof cowboy, front of women. Cowboy framed in door frame, as

he is in the ropes of the bridge, later.

Shot 3 A: Kisses.

-

Shot 4

Shot 5

Shot 6

Shot 7

Shot 8

Shot 9

M: Medium close, kisses.

A: Cowboy says, "Say byeto Mrs Miller." Dog bays in center frame.

M: Same. Vertical post in center.

A: Four whores. Ida: "Be carefuL"

M: Medium shot. Ida on edge of frame.

A: Cowboy getting onto on horse, rides away. Women shout things like, "Come

back." Shorty enters left foreground.

M: Long shot. House is tall, linear. Tall beams, horizontal lines of clapboards.

Come back.

A: Ida says bye. Shorty scurries into house.

M: Same as above.

A: Ida calling after cowboy. Dog baying.

M: Long shot. Door frame in center; Ida in line with its edge.

A: Bearded man looks at Ida and dog. Eats. Walks toward center of frame.

Page 9: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

M: Medium of bearded guy, eating walking off frame. Stands next to post on porch.

As he moves, we hear jug sliding across ice (before the visual cut). As he reaches

center of frame, cut to jug sliding across ice, positioned exactly where Bearded Man

stood. Audio of jug sliding.

Shot 10 A: Cut to jug sliding.

M: Dominant colors stil brown and white (of jug and ice). Jug matches Bearded

Man's position. Track in on spinning jug. Jug shot at, missed.

Shot 11

Shot 12

Shot 13

A: Kid with gun, looking (apparently) at jug.

M: Railings of porch, bold yellow, and horizontal.

A: JugA: Kid. Horizontal railing. Kid says, "Wasn't trying to hit it." Cut.

-Cowboy vs Kid 2 14 February 1995

Page 10: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

Shot 14

Shot 15

Shot 16

Shot 17

Shot 18

Shot 19

Shot 20

M: Kid in center, his face right where jug was.

A: Kid says, "Trick is to make it float."

M: Reverse shot. Back, medium long view of Kid and Breed.

A: Front shot. Kid and Breed. Kid shoots gun.

A: Cowboy riding in, left to right. Body in center of frame, where jug and Kid were.

Shot echoes. Dog barking.

M: Track right. Brown and white coat on cowboy.

Action: Kid reloads.

M: Medium long shot of Kid and Breed. A vertical post, which Breed leans on,

separates the two. A diagonal rope crosses the Kid.

A: Cowboy walks onto bridge.

M: Long shot. Ropes on bridge form vertical lines which frame Cowboy.

A: Kid shooting.

M: Medium shot.

A: Jug. Icebreaks.

M: Same as previous shots of jug.

Shot 21 A: Kid, as before.

Shot 22 A: Jug. Icebreaks.

Shot 23 A: Kid, as before.

Shot 24 A: Jug. Ice breaks.

Shot 25 A: Cowboy says, "Hold it sonny."

M: Medium shot.

Shot 26

Shot 27

Shot 28

Shot 29

Shot 30

Shot 31

A: Kid and Breed. Kid says, "What?" performs slick holstering of weapon.

M: Medium long shot.

A: Cowboy says, "Hold target practice. I don't wanna get shot."

M: Medium long shot. Bright sky over shoulders.

A: Kid says, "Get off bridge, saddletramp." Kid Starts walking forward.

M: Long shot. POV of Cowboy.

A: Breed's reaction; Butler pulls back curtain, peers out, and moves cigar with lips.

M: Wide close-up of Breed, then zoom and track to Butler, pulling curtain. Butler

is framed within window panes.

A: Cowboy says, I wanna buy some socks.

M: Long (crane?) shot of two on bridge, from reverse angle behind Kid. Shelter in

background form vertical graphic complement to bridge planes.

A: Cowboy saysa, Wore them down at the whore house. It's quite a place.

M: Medium shot of Cowboy.

-Cowboy vs Kid 3 14 February 1995

Page 11: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

Shot 32

Shot 33

Shot 34

Shot 35

Shot 36

A: Kid says, Take off yer boots and show me. Kid walks down bridge.

M: Medium long of Kid. Takes lower place on bridge than Cowboy. Cut to cowboy

when Kid reaches center of frame. Subsequent shots look slightly down at Kid,

slightly up at Cowboy, to approximate POV (at least with the angle).

A: Cowboy says, You must be joshing me.

M: Medium shot.

A: Kid says something like, "Take off yer boots, you egg sucker!" Hear and see

Butler coming out in background (fairly shallow focus obscures much of the bg.)

M: Wide close-up of Kid.

A: Butler and Breed observe.

M: Diagonal line (wood beam) across Breed. Post rises vertically in left frame.

A: Crowd (Sheehan, et al.) gathers, medium long. Sheehan and other, with

M: Medium long shot. Post in background between Sheehan and other observer,

centered. Snow-topped post matched to previous shot.

Shot 37 A: Two on bridge.

M: Reverse angle, duplicate of previous long shot.

Shot 38 A: Kid, staring.

M: Medium long shot.

Shot 39 A: Cowboy says, I ain't gonna do that. Turn around.

M: Medium long shot.

Shot 40 A: Kid says, What you wearing that gun for?

M: Medium close-up of kid. Cut on dialogue.

Shot 41 A: Cowboy says, "Nothing." Holds onto rope.

M: Medium long.

Shot 42 A: Kid says, "Makes no sense."

Shot 43

Shot 44

Shot 45

Shot 46

Shot 47

M: Medium long. Lower half of Sheehan obscured but visible over left shoulder of

Kid.

A: Cowboy says, It's a Colt.

M: Medium long

A: Kid says, Them's good guns.

M:Medium long.

A: Cowboy says, I can't shoot real good.

M: Close-up. Bright sky over right shoulder, dark trees over left.

A: Kid says, Lemme see it.

M: Close-up.

A: Cowboy loses smile.

Cowboy vs Kid 4 14 February 1995

Page 12: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

M: Close-up.

Shot 48 A: Butler and Breed.

M: Medium long shot.

Shot 49 A: Sheehan and others look on.

M: Horizontal lines of railing.

Shot 50 A: Kid says, Maybe I can fix it.

M: Close-up.

Shot 51 A: Cowboy says, OK.

M: Close-up.

Shot 52 A: Two on bridge.

M: Kid in center of frame. Long shot. Crane.

Shot 53 A: Kid draws, fires.

M: Medium of Kid. Kid in center of frame.

Shot 54 A: First gun shot.

Shot 55

Shot 56

Shot 57

Shot 58

Shot 59

Shot 60

Shot 61

Shot 62

M: Medium of cowboy, getting shot and reeling. Curved rope across face as shot.

Different angle than previous shots (from left side of bridge).

A: Second gun shot. Cowboy falls over bridge.

M: Extreme long, crane shot of cowboy falling. Track, zoom in as falls, and

splashes. Black ice in center of frame, Cowboy slightly to left. Shot from different

angle than previous extreme long shot.

A: Sheehan reacts.

M: Medium long shot. Sheehan in center frame. Splash still sounding.

A: Cowboy floating. floater. long.

M: Long shot. No vertical and horizontal lines, just jumbled up mess.

A: Kid reacts.

M: Close-up of Kid.

A: Kid walks away.

M: Medium long.

A: Cowboy floating.

M: Long shot. Left of center.

A: Butler turns and walks away (left to right). Sheehan approaches, stares.

M: Dirty fur coat of Butler matches with black ice in previous shot. As he crosses

iced vertical post, camera reframes on Sheehan, walking right to left. Medium

close of Sheehan. Vertical lines of panes frame him. Cut when he's in center of

frame.

A: Cowboy floating.

-Cowboy vs Kid 5 14 February 1995

Page 13: Cowboy vs. Kid & Narrative vs. Style in "McCabe and Mrs Miller"

Shot 63

Shot 64

M: Long shot. Apparently Sheehan's POV.

A: Sheehan continues to stare. In center of two men behind him.

M: Medium close. Pan left.

A: Cowboy floating.

M: Sheehan's POV, long shot.

• Cut to Mrs Miller and McCabe. In room.

Cowboy vs Kid 6 14 February 1995


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