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Nashville
(1975)
In maverick director/producer Robert Altman's country-western
character study - a classic, multi-level, original, two and a half-hour
epic study of American culture, show-business, leadership and politics
- one of the great American films of the 1970s; the director miraculously
interwove and criss-crossed the lives and
destinies of 24 different characters in a free-flowing tapestry or
kaleidoscope - especially in the opening sequences, during a five
day (long weekend) period in Nashville, Tennessee (the "Athens
of the South") in 1976, culminating in an outdoor gala fund-raising
concert and political rally for unseen US Presidential candidate
Hal Phillip Walker (Thomas Hal Phillips) running for the populist
Replacement Party:
- in the opening sequences, most of the major characters
were introduced as they converged on Nashville, including:
- Grand Ole Opry country superstar Haven Hamilton
(Henry Gibson), first appearing in a recording
studio singing the ultra-patriotic song "200 Years" about the
Bicentennial
- British reporter Opal (Geraldine Chaplin) representing
the BBC and working on interviews for a radio documentary;
she became one of popular singer Tom's many sexual conquests
- white gospel singer Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin),
married mother of two deaf children
- mentally and physically-frail country singer
Barbara Jean (Oscar-nominated Ronee Blakley), arriving at the
local airport with her concerned husband-manager Barnett (Allen
Garfield); after fainting, she required hospitalization
- Connie White (Karen Black), Barbara Jean's rival
country singer, causing Barbara Jean and her manager-husband
to worry that Connie would replace her
- Pfc. Glenn Kelly (Scott Glenn), a Vietnam War
veteran and obsessed Barbara Jean fan
- a popular folk singing trio known as "Bill,
Mary, and Tom" - with the hit song "It Don't Worry
Me"; singers
Bill (Allan F. Nicholls) and Mary (Cristina Raines) were married,
while the womanizing Tom Frank (Keith Carradine) played
guitar, but aspired to be a solo artist; Mary was having sex
on the side with the promiscuous Tom, causing disruptions
in her relationship with her husband Bill
- skinny, teenaged groupie Martha (Shelley Duvall),
renamed "L.A.
Joan," purportedly in town to visit her uncle Mr. Green
(Keenan Wynn) and hospitalized Aunt Esther, who died within a few
days
- the so-called Tricycle Man (Jeff Goldblum),
a mute and quirky individual who eventually hooked up with Martha
- John Triplette (Michael Murphy), Walker's presidential
campaign consultant, and one of the organizers of the concluding
Parthenon concert
Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson)
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Opal (Geraldine Chaplin)
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Connie White (Karen Black)
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Married Folk Singers Bill (Allan F. Nicholls) and Mary (Cristina Raines)
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Martha (Shelley Duvall) - L.A. Joan
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The Tricycle Man (Jeff Goldblum)
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Pfc. Glenn Kelly (Scott Glenn)
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Mr. Green (Keenan Wynn)
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John Triplette (Michael Murphy)
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- after her hospital discharge, during an Opry Belle
matinee public concert sequence, the vulnerable star singer Barbara
Jean appeared in a white, bridal-type gown with her brown flowing
hair arranged with pink ribbons; she first performed "Tapedeck in His Tractor" (The
Cowboy Song) with great energy, followed by her second impassioned
song "Dues" that told of hurt in an embattled marriage;
between songs and a few false starts, she began to unravel as she
reminisced about a phone-in radio show, and then remembered her grandmother
and her childhood - the band behind her impatiently waited for her
to finish her lunatic, nostalgic ramblings about the burdens of her
life and how her mother pushed her into a singing career when she
was very young, before she was hustled off the stage
- throughout the film, black limousines haphazardly
appeared, carrying unseen presidential political party candidate
Hal Phillip Walker (Thomas Hal Phillips) (for the Replacement Party)
and his entourage, including organizer John Triplette (Michael
Murphy) and Delbert "Del" Reese (Ned Beatty)
- folk singer Tom seductively sang his new solo number "I'm
Easy" to a crowd in the Exit Inn - with the camera slowly showing
the faces of aroused female audience members (including L.A. Joan,
Mary, and Opal) and married gospel singer Linnea Reese seated in
the back; Tom dedicated the song to someone special in the audience;
Linnea met up afterwards for sex in his hotel room
- desperate wannabe Sueleen
Gay (Gwen Welles) - a dim-witted, red-haired, tone-deaf, lower-class
airport cafe waitress, aspired to be a singer. She had been invited
to appear at an all-male political, Walker fund-raising smoker
(that she thought was a singing engagement, but instead was a stag
party). She descended from the ceiling on a stage - wearing a provocative
green dress and promised to sing "I Never Get Enough" - "about
a girl who never gets enough." Shamelessly, the amateur, tone-deaf
singer began her flat-tuned song off-key. She also sang a second
song titled "When I Love You" before the misogynistic
crowd
- with the promise of appearing the next day at
Walker's political concert by "Del" Reese, Sueleen agreed
to embarrassingly perform a
bump-and-grind striptease. It was a clumsy, inept, asexual un-dressing
in front of the crowd, including removing the socks-padding from
her bra and tossing them into the hooting group of spectators before
going topless to satiate the crowd. Thoroughly humiliated by the
show's end, she had stripped off her dress, bra, and her yellow panties
(also tossed to a cheering male) before running off
- in the concluding tragic and shocking sequence at
a country music festival/political rally for Walker at the Parthenon
(with a billowing American flag serving as the mammoth backdrop for
the concert), Barbara Jean sang a duet on stage with country-star
host Haven Hamilton, titled "One, I Love You"
Duet: "One, I
Love You"
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Barbara Jean: "My Idaho Home"
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At Parthenon Concert, Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson)
with Country Singer Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley)
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- Barbara Jean also performed her personal solo song "My
Idaho Home" (a wistful song about her mother and father); when she was finished,
Haven circled around her with his arms in a Victory position (with
one hand grasping a bouquet of white carnations for her) and nodded
toward the appreciative applause for her song, and then presented
the beloved, pure-spirited singer with the flowers
- two gunshots rang out - Barbara Jean fell backwards
mortally wounded (seen only at a distance), and Haven, who had selflessly
tried to shield her, sprawled on top of her with a bloody gunshot
wound in his upper right arm; after the arbitrary killing and panic
broke out, Kenny Frasier (David Hayward) - the demented assassin
in the crowd (with a violin case carrying the weapon) - was subdued
by shocked onlookers including Pfc Kelly, wrestled to the ground,
and soon hauled off by state police
The Assassination of Barbara Jean On-Stage
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- Haven grabbed the microphone after the unexpected
disaster and rallied the crowd to be calm by singing: "You
all take it easy now. This isn't Dallas. It's Nashville. This is
Nashville. You show 'em what we're made of. They can't do this
here to us in Nashville. OK everybody, sing. Come on somebody,
sing. You sing"
- the dying Barbara Jean was quickly replaced with unknown
aspiring singer-songwriter and performer Winifred, aka 'Albuquerque'
(Barbara Harris); earlier in the film, she had separated from her
unsupportive husband Star (Bert Remsen), 'Albuquerque' calmed
the crowd with "It Don't Worry Me" and rose to the occasion as a new star,
to rally the crowd with her stirring, healing anthem of passivity
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Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley) - Her Arrival at Nashville Airport
Folk Singing Trio: Bill and Mary and Tom
Mary's Promiscuous Affair with Tom
Kenny Frasier (David Hayward) With Violin Case in Front of Walker Campaign
Posters
Concert Performance of "Dues" by Barbara Jean
Before Suffering A Breakdown
Barbara Jean's Worried Manager-Husband Barnett (Allen
Garfield)
Folk Singer Tom (Keith Carradine): "I'm Easy"
Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin) - Aroused Listening to Tom Sing
After the Show, Linnea Had Sex with Tom
Sueleen Singing Before Strip-Tease
The Parthenon Music Festival and Political Rally
Following the Shooting, 'Albuquerque' (Barbara
Harris) Sang: "It
Don't Worry Me"
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