"The Player:" A Film by Robert Altman

Unfortunately I have only seen two of Robert Altman's films, "Popeye" and "The Player." There is no real reason for my not watching the others. I can't watch everything.

"The Player"is not an easy film to classify. To me it is mostly a dark satire. The main story is about a film producer, played by Tim Robbins, who starts receiving threatening post cards from a disgruntled writer. He meets with a writer whom he thinks is the sender of the postcards. He does not intend on killing him, but things get out of hand. He ends up having a relationship with the dead writer's girlfriend. One of the themes in this movie is the question of whether it is more important to make films that reflect real life or to make movies that make a lot of money. Which is more important to have "big stars" and happy endings or a realistic movie with a tragic ending? Sometimes characters in the film are discussing film techniques that are being used in the scene in which they are appearing. The film opens with what some people call a tracking shot or long take, and there are characters talking about films in which this technique was used. Throughout the  movie there are pitches made for movies. These pitches are made in ways in which pitches are made in film studios, at least that is what I read. For instance a couple of writers describe their film idea as "Pretty Woman" meets "Out of Africa." At the end of "The Player" a pitch is made for the movie that we just finished watching. This is one of my favorite movies from Hollywood.