I noticed that "Dr. T & The Women", Robert Altman's latest film is set in Dallas. Altman made another film set in Texas years ago called Brewster McCloud. It's one that you probably haven't seen, unless you're a big Altman fan - which I happen to be. But it's worth catching sometime, especially if you're in an anti-establishment mood.

"Brewster McCloud" (1970) is set in Houston, specifically in and around the Houston Astrodome. The tone of the movie is set early on, even before the credits have rolled, as Daphne Heap (Margaret Hamilton from "The Wizard of Oz") practices singing (badly) the national anthem - which she sings at all the ball games. An all-black band accompanies her.

She's not happy because the band's in the wrong key (as if that really matters) and shouts - like a relative of her Wicked Witch character - to start again. So the band starts over (and Altman, too, obliges by repeating part of the opening credits). There's no improvement, but she completes the song and quickly demands another go at it. This time, however, the band revolts and starts playing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (which is the black national anthem). And right away we smile a little because we know where Altman's going with this.

But that's only the beginning and "Brewster McCloud" offers a lot more to smile about. Brewster (played by "Harold and Maude" star Bud Cort) lives alone in a bomb shelter within the Astrodome. He spends his time constructing wings and training for the time when he will "fly away". The desire to be truly free (to fly) is Brewster's goal. And he has a couple women helping him. First there's Hope (Jennifer Salt) who is attracted to Brewster and who gives him health food that she steals from the store where she works. Then there's Louise (Sally Kellerman), a strange sort of guardian angel with wing scars on her back. She protects Brewster, bathes him, and warns him away from sex. She, too, steals for him and perhaps even kills for him (there are a number of killings in the movie, although the killer is never specifically identified).

Kellerman (who has played a number of offbeat roles, including Hot Lips in Altman's "M*A*S*H" and a memorably ditzy one in "Slither") stands out in the large cast. She's always around when trouble surfaces.

Early on, Brewster has a job chauffeuring a greedy, wheelchair-bound nursing home owner (played by Stacy Keach). When Keach tells Brewster "you are nothing but a f@g" and threatens him with a gun, Louise is there as we watch him in his wheelchair rolling down the street. He's been strangled and discarded like so much garbage and Louise can be seen on the sidelines, at a pay phone ("Do you have the number for the local Audubon society?").

When a mean, wife beating off duty cop (Bert Remsen) tries to plant dope on Brewster, she's there too when he turns up strangled.

And she causes hotshot, super cool detective Frank Shaft (Michael Murphy) - who has been sent to investigate the killings - to drive off into a ditch, which crushes both his legs. Shaft had been chasing Brewster and his hilariously stoic suicide follows.

Also prominent in the cast is Shelly Duvall, who plays an Astrodome tour guide. Duvall would go on to play in a number of Altman films, including "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", "Thieves Like Us", "Nashville", "3 Women", and "Popeye". Here she distracts the virginal Brewster away from his goal by sleeping with him. When Brewster tells her everything about himself and she is only interested in patents and money and houses and cars (all the things earth-bound people chase) we know she's bad news.

Earlier, Louise had warned Brewster not to allow Hope to fall in love with him. "People like Hope accept what's been told to them. They don't think they can be free…sex is the closest thing they have to flying", she tells him.

"Brewster McCloud" contains numerous references to birds. The license plate on Shelly Duvall's car reads DUV 222. And the car that Louise drives has a license plate that reads BRD SHT. Actually, bird sh*t is a central image in the film that allows Altman to get in some jabs at people like Spiro Agnew.

I don't think "Brewster McCloud" is entirely successful. It's a jagged-edged comedy, loose in the way "M*A*S*H" is, although it's not as good a film.

Flying is the ultimate metaphor for freedom. And the Houston Astrodome is the ultimate cage. The two will come crashing together by the film's end. It's a nice payoff. You won't be disappointed.




Recommended: Yes