Streamers
(1983/Shout! Factory DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: B-
Film: B-
After Popeye (1980) failed to renew the
commercial success M*A*S*H (1970,
Blu-ray reviewed elsewhere on this site) that gave him his longtime artistic
freedom, Robert Altman retreated into independent, smaller productions for 12
years and Streamers (1983, based on
David Rabe’s stage play originally directed by no less than Mike Nichols; the
title references parachutes that fail to open) became his second and last film
to address the Vietnam situation. Now it
has finally arrived on DVD.
Rabe
wrote the screenplay that focuses on four young U.S. Army recruits and though
it can sometimes feel like a stage piece, Altman manages to give it more than
enough cinematic room and feel to be one of the more effective and underrated
films on the subject. The play deals
with each character and when one may turn out to be gay, it brings out the
worst in everyone.
As is
often the case with Altman films, the cast is either of star quality or stars
on the rise and this one is very much of the latter. Here, we get impressive performances by
Matthew Modine (four years before Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket), Mitchell Lichtenstein (The Lords Of Discipline), George Dzundza (Basic Instinct, Crimson Tide),
Michael Wright (HBO’s Oz), Guy Boyd
and the debut of David Alan Grier.
The
result is a film that makes a fine flipside to M*A*S*H, but was ignored as the Reagan Era kicked into high gear
leaving films of substance behind. Yet
there was still a Vietnam
cycle that could not be denied, but Altman’s film here is among the boldest and
though it is not The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now, Steamers is a quality second-tier work that deserves rediscovery.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is softer than expected with a lack of
definition that a filmed feature should not have. This was the second of six films in a row Altman
would have Pierre Mignot as his Director of Photography on and it looks like
one of their collaborations. They worked
a seventh and last time on Ready To Wear. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also a
generation down, but this is still watchable because it is so compelling. Extras include interviews with Hebert
Jefferson Jr. and Bruce Davidson (both form the stage version) and the making
of featurette Beautiful Streamers.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
