Brewster McCloud (1970)

Considering its place in the timeline of Robert Altman’s career, Brewster McCloud is a comparatively overlooked film. It was his next movie after MASH and similarly underperformed initially though its curiously vague publicity (“a different kind of film”) and odd poster probably didn’t help. Its not an easily pigeonholed movie and so little talked about that I only discovered it when I was writing about Harold and Maude, checking on Bud Cort’s other credits. The film has never really enjoyed a re-assessed critical appreciation while Altman’s subsequent illustrious career left Brewster McCloud as grounded as its protagonist ends up. While it never quite rises to the heights of the director’s best -known work it is interesting to view it from the considerable distance of fifty -six years as a bold endeavour that never quite fits any category. In some ways its hard to see how it got made as it refuses to be confined. Is it a murder mystery? Is it a comedy? Is it a fantastical allegory?…