I just opened a new browser window and saw this very sad news - Robert Altman has died at the age of 81. Story Here.

Altman was an artist in the independent, sometimes quirky "Show Me" tradition of other such great Missourians as Mark Twain and Robert Heinlein. How sad that he is gone.

I just opened a new browser window and saw this very sad news - Robert Altman has died at the age of 81. Story Here.

Altman was an artist in the independent, sometimes quirky "Show Me" tradition of other such great Missourians as Mark Twain and Robert Heinlein. How sad that he is gone.

That's too bad. Although I wasn't a huge fan of his work, I admired his independent spirit. The movie world could use more people like him.

That's too bad. Although I wasn't a huge fan of his work, I admired his independent spirit. The movie world could use more people like him.

The last Altman film I endured was a Paul Newman vehicle called "Quintet." I was sitting in the moviehouse anticipating the start of the film through the credits, and when I saw "Film by Robert Altman," I just groaned aloud. Here comes another slow, heavy footed, dragging, production fraught with a lot of symbolism and little sense. Unfortunately, I was not mistaken.

Though I do agree Hollywood can use more independent minds, fewer sequels, and more originality. Directors who are willing to fight to go their own way, despite producers who want cookie-cut films that are sure to make money. Maybe for each money-maker a director finishes, he/she should be allowed to make something just for art's sake, forgetting the bottom line. It could be an improvement.

I saw the report on my MSN home page, prolific guy. May he rest in peace.

The only Robert Altman film I remember seeing was M*A*S*H, and that was a very good film.

I knew a doctor who was in a MASH unit in Korea, and he said that Robert Altman got it right.

His son wrote the song for that movie -- "Suicide Is Painless" -- and ultimately ended up making more money from it than his father did from making the movie.

Sad that he's gone.

Ken V.

My favorite Altman film is "Gosford Park." I also enjoyed "3 Women," "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," "Nashville," "Mash," and "the Long Goodbye." He's done terrific work over a very long career, but he did not always hit the mark, not by a long shot. "Prarie Home Companion" didn't work for me; it was, in fact, quite creepy in a way that I'm sure he never meant.

I understand that actors really loved working with him, that he paid them great respect and guided them well. I'm sure he will be missed.

In his movies, my favorites are "M*A*S*H" and "Cookie's Fortune".

R.I.P.

I understand that actors really loved working with him, that he paid them great respect and guided them well. I'm sure he will be missed.

During the filming of M*A*S*H, Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland thought he was out of his everlovin' mind. Gould later apologized, but Sutherland didn't, and Altman and Sutherland never spoke to one another again.

Ken V.

The only Altman movie I remember liking (off the top of my head) is M*A*S*H. I know he is supposed to be a genius, but it wasn't something that normally appealed to me.

I just opened a new browser window and saw this very sad news - Robert Altman has died at the age of 81. Story Here.

Altman was an artist in the independent, sometimes quirky "Show Me" tradition of other such great Missourians as Mark Twain and Robert Heinlein. How sad that he is gone.

I don't like to bad-talk the dead, but I find Altman very overrated. I suspect that a lot of his critical cachet comes from his undisguised loathing for the country and social system that made it possible for him to make his films. "Yeah, he's a rebel!" Sure. You hate America, you hate free enterprise, you're half-way to an Academy Award. RIP.