Brewster McCloud

 

Director Robert Altman's outrageous 1970 gem Brewster McCloud introduced cinephiles to Altman's muse, wackadoodle Shelley Duvall (Nashville, Three Women, Popeye), and to title star Bud Cort's signature pre-pubescent understatedness, which would be on full display the following year in the alt-cinema classic Harold and Maude.

The picture is the biting tale of a manchild living in the basement of the Houston Astrodome, where he is building a set of mechanical wings so that he might one day take flight.

It's not clear from Doran William Cannon's screenplay why Brewster is doing this or what sort of being is his mentor and protector Louise (Sally Kellerman), who from the markings on her shoulderblades may be a fallen angel, but it all seems to relate to the general crappiness of humankind and the need to escape from hatefulness and greed.

A companion plot involves the investigation of the murder-by-strangulation of some of Houston's most prominent misanthropes, with each victim being defiled by bird poop.

In the movie's especially rich title opening, aging socialite Daphne Heap (Margaret Hamilton of Wizard of Oz fame) is shown dressed in red, white and blue and bedecked with bunting while rehearsing the Star Spangled Banner in the Astrodome backed by an all-black marching band.

Heap, who appears to be tone deaf, scolds the band harshly for playing in the wrong key. In retaliation, they launch into Lift Every Voice and Sing, often referred to as the Black National Anthem, as the opening credits roll.

Altman, famous for his sardonic wit, understood the tension created by the juxtapositioning of these two works -- tension that has not abated in the 50-plus years since McCloud took flight.

I think it is important to note that in the movie's final reel police chase after Brewster-on-the-wing around the stadium. Though he has created a marvelous flying contraption, he is still trapped inside a cage. A fitting metaphor, I think, for those of us tired of putting up with the world's shit but realize this is the only world we've got.