‘Iconoclast’ and ‘maverick’ are the epithets perhaps most commonly attached to Robert Altman, a director who consistently pushed against the boundaries of genre. Throughout his career Altman tested the limits of what can and should be done in film, refashioning film noir in The Long Goodbye, the western in McCabe & Mrs Miller, psychological drama in Images, science fiction in Quintet and romantic comedy in A Perfect Couple. In this book, Frank Caso examines the development of Altman’s artistic method from his earliest days in industrial filmmaking to his work in television and feature films.

Altman’s work is easily recognizable to audiences, but what exactly are the distinctive components of a signature Altman film? Caso identifies and analyses more than twenty stylistic features in Altman’s body of work, tracing some – such as his use of overlapping dialogue and engagement with Christian imagery – to the very beginning of his career. He also examines Altman’s unsettling mix of offbeat comedy with violence, murder, and death; these elements not only contributed to the naturalism and ironic outlook of his work but also provided a mythic, otherworldly undertone to many of his films. This, combined with masterful technique, formed the ‘Altmanesque’ style that unites films from M*A*S*H to The Player to Gosford Park.

Robert Altman: In the American Grain maps the innovations that made Altman a master filmmaker, giving an in-depth yet expansive perspective on the work of this distinctive and ground-breaking American auteur.