This retrospective series runs May 4 through June 10 at the Music Box. Following are programs through May 10; for a full schedule visit www.musicboxtheatre.com.
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RCalifornia Split Altman’s masterful 1974 study of the psychology of the compulsive gambler. Elliott Gould, loose, jocular, and playful, and George Segal, neurotic, driven, and desperate, are really two halves of the same personality as they move from bet to bet, game to game, until they arrive for the big showdown in Reno. As in all Altman films, winning is losing; and the more Altman reveals, in his oblique, seemingly casual yet brilliantly controlled way, the more we realize that to love characters the way Altman loves his, you have to see them turned completely inside out. R, 108 min. (DD) a Wed 5/9, 5:10 and 9:45 PM.
RMAS*H The movie that made Altman famous (1970)–a somewhat adolescent if stylish antiauthoritarian romp about an irreverent U.S. medical unit during the Korean war (the TV sitcom it spawned practically reversed the spirit of the original). The film also helped launch the careers of Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, and subsequent Altman regulars Rene Auberjonois and John Schuck, and won screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. an Oscar. But the misogyny and cruelty behind many of the gags are as striking as the black comedy and the original use of overlapping dialogue. This is still watchable for the verve of the ensemble acting and dovetailing direction, but some of the crassness leaves a sour aftertaste. With Tom Skerritt, Fred Williamson, and Bud Cort. PG, 116 min. (JR) Archival print. a Mon 5/7, 7:20 PM.
Thieves Like Us Altman’s good-natured reluctance to be moved by the most common forms of sentiment yields, in this 1974 remake of Nicholas Ray’s They Live by Night, a cool, at times unbearably objective look at the fragile relationship between two rather ordinary young people in Depression America (Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall), who happen to rob banks and get shot at a lot. With John Schuck, Bert Remsen, and Louise Fletcher. R, 123 min. (DD) a Tue 5/8, 5 PM.
