Title: Altman's take on noir; funny and tragic
Product review: Like a lot of Altman's films, I liked this much better on a second viewing. It's a fascinating mix of both heartfelt homage, and style twisting parody and re-imagining of film noir, with a great performance by Sterling Hayden, a very good one by Mark Rydell, and a solid one by Elliott Gould. A lot of it is quite funny and entertaining, but there's a sad, almost tragic side under all the hip irony. The ending is powerful, if a bit rushed. I'd put this among Altman's best films, but as I said, it took a second look to get there. Hard to believe this modern classic, like so many others, is out of print.
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