DVD Review: Lost Robert Altman Comedy ‘Brewster McCloud’

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CHICAGO – Robert Altman made very few films that didn’t have at least a few redeeming qualities and often much more than that faint praise. Even Altman’s relative failures were often fascinating in their own way. Such a film is 1970’s “Brewster McCloud,” a work nowhere near as beloved as some of his ’70s comedies but that definitely warrants a look on its newly remastered DVD, available exclusively through the WB Shop online.

HollywoodChicago.com DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0
DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0

Released the same year as his wildly successful “M*A*S*H” and just six months before the great “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” history has somewhat discarded and forgotten “Brewster McCloud.” It’s certainly nowhere near as cited nor influential as “The Long Goodbye,” “Nashville,” or “3 Women” and the more successful period that Altman would go through in the later ’70s allowed poor Brewster to slip under the radar.

How far under the radar? It’s 2010 — forty years after the film’s release and many years into the digital disc revolution — and “Brewster McCloud” is only now being released on DVD for the first time. Remastered and sold exclusively by Warner Brothers, the film comes accompanied by zero special features and should have been released on Blu-ray as well but perhaps that will happen in another four decades.

Brewster McCloud was released on DVD on July 13th, 2010
Brewster McCloud was released on DVD on July 13th, 2010
Photo credit: WB

Bud Cort (“Harold and Maude”) stars as the title character of this very unusual satire. The film is framed through a lecture (from the great Rene Auberjonois) about birds and human evolution by a man who slowly turns into a bird himself. Don’t say we didn’t warn you that “Brewster McCloud” is not your typical comedy.

Brewster loves birds and wants to join them on their quest for flight. The reclusive McCloud lives in the Houston Astrodome where he’s building his own flight outfit so that he can fly. He speaks to a fairy godmother (Sally Kellerman) and falls for an usher (Shelley Duvall) but “Brewster McCloud” is far from your average story of a recluse who learns to fly.

While Brewster is trying to come out of his shell, a murderer is on the loose, sending super-cop Frank Shaft (Michael Murphy) to Houston to investigate the murders, all of which seem to have a connection to poor Brewster. Jumping back and forth between the investigation and Brewster’s arc, Robert Altman and writer Doran William Cannon paint a satire of American culture in which the birds have arguably evolved more than us lowly humans. At times very funny, well-performed throughout, and consistently entertaining, “Brewster McCloud” may not be one of Altman’s best films — it’s often a little haphazard and quirky for its own good — but it is the product of one of cinema’s most important voices and thus should be heard by anyone who cares enough to call himself a student of the form of moviemaking.

Very few auteurs are as essential to the history of film as Robert Altman and ALL of his works should be available on DVD. Considering it took this long for “Brewster McCloud” to make it to DVD, perhaps Brewster was right to want to hang out with the birds more than us silly humans.

“Brewster McCloud” stars Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy, William Windom, Shelley Duvall, Rene Auberjonois, Margaret Hamilton, and Stacy Keach. It was written by Doran William Cannon and directed by Robert Altman. It was released on DVD on July 13th, 2010 and is not rated.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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