Overview
A tale of ambition, love, and the harsh realities of the Old West unfolds in a snowy mining town.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- melancholic
- bleak
- intimate
- arthouse film night
- rainy evening
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Robert Altman's unconventional western as a richly atmospheric, formally masterful, and deeply affecting revisionist classic, despite some early complaints about its slow and diffuse narrative.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The mining settlement is depicted as filthy, cold, drunken, and governed by commercial opportunism rather than heroic freedom.
Snow, smoke, mud, dim interiors, and softened colors give the Pacific Northwest settlement a tactile, faded look.
The film follows the brothel's growth and changing relationships through suggestion and accumulated detail rather than exposition-heavy storytelling.
A major corporation targets McCabe's business after mining deposits make the remote town commercially valuable.
Films like McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and why
The Wild Bunch
revisionist western atmosphere, corporate encroachment, and morally compromised frontier communities
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
antiheroic western form, bleak social realism, and critique of capitalist expansion
The Great Silence
unconventional western storytelling, intimate character dynamics, and elegiac historical atmosphere
The Last Picture Show
new hollywood revisionism, outsider protagonists, and melancholy institutional conflict
Movie Details
- Director
- Robert Altman
- Release Date
- 1971-07-08
- Runtime
- 120 min
- Rating
- 7.2 / 10 (472)
Cast
- Warren Beatty
- Julie Christie
- René Auberjonois
- William Devane
- John Schuck
- Corey Fischer
- Bert Remsen
- Shelley Duvall
- Keith Carradine
- Michael Murphy
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is McCabe & Mrs. Miller about?
- A shabby frontier entrepreneur and a formidable madam build a thriving brothel, only to face the ruthless machinery of corporate expansion.
- What is McCabe & Mrs. Miller like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of McCabe & Mrs. Miller as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is McCabe & Mrs. Miller violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in McCabe & Mrs. Miller as moderate.
- What did critics think of McCabe & Mrs. Miller?
- Critics broadly regard Robert Altman's unconventional western as a richly atmospheric, formally masterful, and deeply affecting revisionist classic, despite some early complaints about its slow and diffuse narrative.
- Which films are like McCabe & Mrs. Miller?
- Films with a similar feel include The Wild Bunch, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Great Silence, and The Last Picture Show.
- How long is McCabe & Mrs. Miller?
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller runs 120 minutes.
- Where can I watch McCabe & Mrs. Miller?
- In United States, McCabe & Mrs. Miller is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
