History Creator / RobertAltman

* SlidingScaleOfPlotVersusCharacters: His films were more about atmosphere and character than following a traditional plot.

* HumansAreBastards: Although Altman loved people in real life, though it would be likely come across a character in each film who committed adultery, showed selfishness, or had jerkass tendencies.

* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Very much on the Enlightenment side, critical and satirical of a lot of American mores, genres, and myths. His movies spend a great deal of time showing how politics work, what drives group and society behavior, the tensions behind marriages, businesses, and friendships. A good example is to compare ''Gosford Park'' with ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' (created by the former film's screenwriter Julian Fellowes). Altman's film is far more critical and subversive of the upper classes than the TV Show.
* SignatureStyle: Plenty of characters, frequent use of panning and zooming, overlapping dialogue, ambient sound as a prominent part of the audio mix, GreyAndGrayMorality, and episodic plots with plenty of NarrativeFiligree, to name the most obvious things. There are also many individual motifs he was fond of that show up in most of his films, like shooting scenes through a window or having a character speak with a cigarette or pipe in their mouth.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Many films of his can lean more towards the cynical end of the scale, but some of them such as ''Film/{{Popeye}}'' and ''Film/ThePerfectCouple'' are more on the idealistic end. Even his last film, ''Film/APrairieHomeCompanion'' leans more on the idealistic and sentimental side.

* BenevolentBoss: Despite being a well-known rebel against Hollywood filmmaking, Robert Altman appeared to be a NiceGuy in real life. He was an artist who wanted to make something his own way but was usually quite supportive of the people he worked with, particularly with those on set.

* BenevolentBoss: Despite being a well-known rebel against Hollywood filmmaking, Robert Altman appeared to be a NiceGuy in real life. He was an artist who wanted to make something his own way but was usually quite supportive of the people he worked with, particularly with people on set.

* BenevolentBoss: Robert Altman appeared to be a NiceGuy in real life. He was an artist to wanted to make something his own way but was usually quite supportive of the people he worked with.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Many films of his can go more towards the cynical end of the scale, but some of them such as ''Popeye'' and ''Film/ThePerfectCouple'' are more on the idealistic end.

** His movies deconstruct politics as a whole. With ''Tanner '88'' (an {{Creator/HBO}} {{mockumentary}} miniseries directed by Altman and written by [[ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}} Garry Trudeau]]) this is taken UpToEleven, giving us an accurate look at the demands of a Presidential campaign.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Frequently, it's pretty much what he's best known for. Massively ensemble dramas like ''Film/{{Magnolia}}'' and ''Film/{{Crash}}'' tend to get compared to his work.

* NewSoundAlbum: He directed both the Broadway production and TheFilmOfThePlay of Ed Graczyk's ''Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean'', which started a new phase of his career in TheEighties. Since directing plays precluded him from his signature use of improv and last-second script changes, and plays generally don't have LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, it marked a huge stylistic shift for him.

* SignatureStyle: LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, frequent use of panning and zooming, overlapping dialogue, ambient sound as a prominent part of the audio mix, GreyAndGrayMorality, and episodic plots with plenty of NarrativeFiligree, to name the most obvious things. There are also many individual motifs he was fond of that show up in most of his films, like shooting scenes through a window or having a character speak with a cigarette or pipe in their mouth.

* RaisedCatholic: He became lapsed over the years, and his films generally have an indifferent or irreverent attitude toward religion (exemplified by the LastSupperSteal in ''Film/{{MASH}}'').

!!Works by Robert Altman with their own trope pages include:

[[index]]

* ''Film/AWedding1978''

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Altman was born to a prominent German-American family (his grandfather built a high-rise in downtown Kansas City called the Altman Building that stood for the better part of a century) and studied at Jesuit schools and at Wentworth Military Academy. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Altman joined the United States Army Air Forces at the age of 18. He flew more than 50 bombing missions as a crewman on a B-24 Liberator with the 307th Bomb Group in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. After the war, Altman drifted around, working as an extra, a publicist, industrial film-maker before directing his debut, the independently made ''The Delinquents'' made to cash-in on youth films after ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''. The film didn't attract notices but it provided Altman an entry into television where he worked for nearly ten years until his BreakthroughHit of ''Film/{{MASH}}''. The shifts in the industry and the society paved the way for greater experimentation in American films, and the late-blooming Altman grabbed his opportunity and went into one of the greatest productive periods by any directors in movie history, turning films like ''Film/TheLongGoodbye'', ''Film/{{Nashville}}'', ''Film/ThreeWomen'' which were seen as highly innovative for its camera-work, its use of sound and its narrative invention, borrowing from European films but infusing it with a distinctive American spirit and earthiness.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Altman was born to a family of German Immigrants and studied at Jesuit schools and at Wentworth Military Academy. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Altman joined the United States Army Air Forces at the age of 18. He flew more than 50 bombing missions as a crewman on a B-24 Liberator with the 307th Bomb Group in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. After the war, Altman drifted around, working as an extra, a publicist, industrial film-maker before directing his debut, the independently made ''The Delinquents'' made to cash-in on youth films after ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''. The film didn't attract notices but it provided Altman an entry into television where he worked for nearly ten years until his BreakthroughHit of ''Film/{{MASH}}''. The shifts in the industry and the society paved the way for greater experimentation in American films, and the late-blooming Altman grabbed his opportunity and went into one of the greatest productive periods by any directors in movie history, turning films like ''Film/TheLongGoodbye'', ''Film/{{Nashville}}'', ''Film/ThreeWomen'' which were seen as highly innovative for its camera-work, its use of sound and its narrative invention, borrowing from European films but infusing it with a distinctive American spirit and earthiness.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His first few theatrical films [[note]]''The Delinquents'' (1956), ''The Creator/JamesDean Story'' (1957), ''Countdown'' (1968) and ''Film/ThatColdDayInThePark'' (1969)[[/note]] are fairly conventional with few of his signature touches. ''Film/{{MASH}}'' was his first attempt at comedy and introduced his familiar style. And of course, he didn't have much freedom to experiment in his industrial films or TV work.

* FanDisservice: He liked doing a variation on this where an attractive person appears nude but the context of their nudity is so uncomfortable it makes the situation non-erotic. Examples include Sally Kellerman in ''{{Film/MASH}}'', Gwen Welles in ''{{Film/Nashville}}'', Mia Farrow in ''A Wedding'', Creator/JulianneMoore in ''Film/ShortCuts'', and Farrah Fawcett in ''Film/DrTAndTheWomen''.

* BittersweetEnding: One of his trademarks, usually as the result of a CharacterDeath.

One of his famous techniques was to film group scenes continuously with multiple cameras, forcing the actors to stay in character and sometimes to improvise action or dialogue because any moment of their performance could [[ThrowItIn end up in the film]]. He was notorious for his overlapping dialogue, multiple planes of action and refusing to clarify and make his film accessible to see and hear for the public. Altman often insisted that his movies were [[RewatchBonus made to be seen more than once]] and indeed, his particular ensemble movie, called Altmanesque became the reference points for films like ''Film/{{Magnolia}}'' and ''Film/{{Crash}}''.

* AuteurLicense: Earned it after ''{{Film/MASH}}'' and surprisingly hung onto it for the remainder of his career, even after numerous box office failures. A major factor was that he knew how to stay on-budget and film efficiently. He also had a strong reputation as an actor-friendly director, which led to big names willingly taking pay cuts so they could work with him.

* BigApplesauce: Unusually for an American director, he only made one film set in New York, ''Beyond Therapy'', and it was actually filmed in Paris. His 2004 miniseries ''Tanner on Tanner'' is also set in New-York and is the only one shot there.

* GenreRoulette: Altman never did a straight genre movie [[note]]''The Delinquents'' (Teen Drama) can be counted as EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, and ''Film/ThatColdDayInThePark'' (PsychologicalThriller) and ''O.C. & Stiggs'' (Teen Comedy) were probably the closest he came in his main career, but they still have enough of his SignatureStyle to be recognizable[[/note]] and never stuck to one genre. In his career, he's done everything from noir to westerns to gangster movies, political satire, thrillers, science-fiction, Victorian period fiction and musicals. He even did a ballet movie with ''The Company''.

** ''The Player'' set in Hollywood is a who's who's of early 90s cinema and ''Tanner on Tanner'' his 2004 sequel (set during the John Kerry campaign) has cameos by Creator/MartinScorsese, Creator/SteveBuscemi in addition to other political figures.

* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Very much on the Enlightenment side, critical and satirical of a lot of American mores, genres, and myths. His movies spend a great deal of time showing how politics work, what drives group and society behavior, the tensions behind marriages, businesses and friendships. A good example is to compare ''Gosford Park'' with ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' (created by the former film's screenwriter Julian Fellowes). Altman's film is far more critical and subversive of the upper classes than the TV Show.
* SignatureStyle: LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, frequent use of panning and zooming, overlapping dialogue, ambient sound as a prominent part of the audio mix, GreyAndGrayMorality and episodic plots with plenty of NarrativeFiligree, to name the most obvious things. There are also many individual motifs he was fond of that show up in most of his films, like shooting scenes through a window or having a character speak with a cigarette or pipe in their mouth.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Many films of his can go more towards the cynical end of the scale, but some of them such as ''Popeye'' and ''ThePerfectCouple'' are more on the idealistic end.
* TitleByNumber: ''Film/ThreeWomen''. Also his production company Sandcastle 5.

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robert_altman_6864.jpg]]

* FanDisservice: He liked doing a variation on this where an attractive person appears nude but the context of their nudity is so uncomfortable it makes the situation non-erotic. Examples include Sally Kellerman in ''{{Film/MASH}}'', Gwen Welles in ''{{Film/Nashville}}'', Mia Farrow in ''A Wedding'', Creator/JulianneMoore in ''Film/ShortCuts'', and Farrah Fawcett in ''Dr. T & The Women''.

* GenreRoulette: Altman never did a straight genre movie[[note]]''The Delinquents'' (Teen Drama) can be counted as EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, and ''Film/ThatColdDayInThePark'' (PsychologicalThriller) and ''O.C. & Stiggs'' (Teen Comedy) were probably the closest he came in his main career, but they still have enough of his SignatureStyle to be recognizable[[/note]] and never stuck to one genre. In his career, he's done everything from noir to westerns to gangster movies, political satire, thrillers, science-fiction, Victorian period fiction and musicals. He even did a ballet movie with ''The Company''.

* GenreRoulette: Altman never did a straight genre movie[[note]]''The Delinquents'' (Teen Drama) can be counted as EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, and ''Film/ThatColdDayInThePark'' (PsychologicalThriller) and ''O.C. & Stiggs'' (Teen Comedy) were probably the closest he came in main career, but they still have enough of his SignatureStyle to be recognizable[[/note]] and never stuck to one genre. In his career, he's done everything from noir to westerns to gangster movies, political satire, thrillers, science-fiction, Victorian period fiction and musicals. He even did a ballet movie with ''The Company''.

* GenreRoulette: Altman never did a straight genre movie and never stuck to one genre. In his career, he's done everything from noir to westerns to gangster movies, political satire, thrillers, science-fiction, Victorian period fiction and musicals. He even did a ballet movie with ''The Company''.

* AuteurLicense: Earned it after ''{{Film/MASH}}'' and surprisingly hung onto it for the remainder of his career, even after numerous box office failures. A major factor was that he knew how to stay on-budget and film efficiently. Also he had a strong reputation as an actor-friendly director, which led to big names willingly taking pay cuts so they could work with him.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of all kinds of American ideas, myths and imagery in general.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His first few theatrical films [[note]]''The Delinquents'' (1956), ''The Creator/JamesDean Story'' (1957), ''Countdown'' (1968) and ''Film/ThatColdDayInThePark'' (1969)[[/note]] are fairly conventional with few of his signature touches. ''Film/{{MASH}}'' was his first attempt at comedy and introduced his familiar style. And of course he didn't have much freedom to experiment in his industrial films or TV work.

* EruditeStoner: His own persona was the more laid-back variety of this. His fondness for marijuana was well-known but but he was adamant to point out that he [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs never indulged while he was working on set]].
* FanDisservice: He liked doing a variation on this where an attractive person appears nude, but the context of their nudity is so uncomfortable it makes the situation non-erotic. Examples include Sally Kellerman in ''{{Film/MASH}}'', Gwen Welles in ''{{Film/Nashville}}'', Mia Farrow in ''A Wedding'', Creator/JulianneMoore in ''Film/ShortCuts'' and Farrah Fawcett in ''Dr. T & The Women''.
* TheFilmOfThePlay: After the disappointing box office returns for ''Film/{{Popeye}}'', Altman started directing theatre, where he had more freedom and didn't need to answer to Hollywood money people. Realizing that filmed versions of plays were a good way to get back on the screen without spending much money and targeting a more selective audience, he spend the majority of TheEighties doing these, both theatrical and for television.

* GenreRoulette: Altman never did a straight genre movie and never stuck to one genre. In his career he's done everything from noir to westerns to gangster movies, political satire, thrillers, science-fiction, Victorian period fiction and musicals. He even did a ballet movie with ''The Company''.

* {{Mockumentary}}: ''Tanner '88'' is a mock presidential campaign documentary starring Jack Tanner (Michael Murphy) who goes on a campaign trail complete with logos, entourage, hangers on. What makes this unique is that Altman inserts Tanner into the actual presidential campaign of the 1988-89, showing Tanner participating alongside actual democrat and republican candidates.

* RealPersonCameo: Altman made this trope into an artform. One of the themes of his movies is the blurring between real life and fiction, as a result of the rise of mass media and celebrity culture which has affected everything.

* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Very much on the Enlightenment side, critical and satirical of a lot of American mores, genres and myths. His movies spend a great deal of time showing how politics work, what drives group and society behaviour, the tensions behind marriages, businesses and friendships. A good example is to compare ''Gosford Park'' with ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' (created by the former film's screenwriter Julian Fellowes). Altman's film is far more critical and subversive of the upper classes than the TV Show.
* SignatureStyle: LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, frequent use of panning and zooming, overlapping dialogue, ambient sound as a prominent part of the audio mix, GreyAndGrayMorality and episodic plots with plenty of NarrativeFiligree, to name the most obvious things. There are also many individual motifs he was fond of that show up in most of his films, like shooting scenes through a window, or having a character speak with a cigarette or pipe in their mouth.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Many films of his can go more towards the cynical end of the scale, but some of them such as ''Popeye''and ''ThePerfectCouple'' are more on the idealistic end.

Altman occasionally dabbled in songwriting as well, most notably in CountryMusic singer John Anderson's 1983 hit "Black Sheep".

* FanDisservice: He liked doing a variation on this where an attractive person appears nude, but the context of their nudity is so uncomfortable it makes the situation non-erotic. Examples include Sally Kellerman in ''{{Film/MASH}}'', Gwen Welles in ''{{Film/Nashville}}'', Creator/JulianneMoore in ''Film/ShortCuts'' and Farrah Fawcett in ''Dr. T & The Women''.