Title: Excellent Movie, Atrocious on VHS
Product review: Theatrical release of "The Long Goodbye" = 4.5 stars Video release of "The Long Goodbye" = 1 starRobert Altman's noir pastiche, "The Long Goodbye," is one of his funniest, most engaging, and aesthetically magical films (with gorgeous night photography of Los Angeles). Unfortunately, it is unwatchable on VHS. I rented it a few years back, found the film incomprehensible, and initially assumed that Altman's directorial work was poor. Then, I caught it in a repertory theatre and recognized the problem.This is a masterpiece, but it's impossible to make any sense of the pan-n-scan video; as in his other films ("McCabe & Mrs. Miller," "The Player") Altman takes full advantage of widescreen, a technique that is impossible to capture on a small television set. So do yourself a favor: avoid this video entirely, and either see the picture in a repertory house or wait until the distributors have enough sense to release it in letterbox.
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