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Price: $19.99 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780780609822
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 0780609824
Label: New Line Home Video
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: New Line Home Video
Release Date: March 26, 1996
Running Time: 187 minutes
Studio: New Line Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: October 03, 1993
Sales Rank: 6530
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
If aliens came down to earth to see if humanity was worth saving, showing them Short Cuts, Robert Altman's bluesy riff on life in L.A. in the '90s, would not be a good idea. Based on the stories of Raymond Carver (adapted by Altman and Frank Barhydt), this ambitious film is a devilish valentine to living in L.A., where happiness comes at a premium. There are at least eight separate stories that crisscross, most about people who choose not to relate to the lives they are living. Seemingly by design, none of the stories (nor the performances for that matter) have more impact than the others--this is a true mosaic film. The most representative plot deals with a group of friends (Buck Henry, Fred Ward, and Huey Lewis) who decide to keep fishing even after discovering a body in the river. The story works as a morose comedy and a flag holder for the movie: the inability to take the correct action. Others would rather talk about seeing Alex Trebek than discuss their faltering relationships. A huge and talented cast twists in the wind, bumping into moments of truth, sex, and passion. Some even come out all right in the end. The accidental nature of life--a common theme in many Altman films--has never been so maddeningly persistent, or absorbing. The score by Mark Isham with songs sung by Annie Ross (also a cast member) fuels the moodiness, as does the opening number in which Medfly helicopters spray the town to the tune "Prisoner of Life." Delivering the film a year after his biggest hit in two decades, The Player, Altman proved his artistic tenacity as an aged artist with the heart of a new filmmaker: he's not afraid of risking it all. --Doug Thomas
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This is the same edition that came out in 2004; it does not contain any new features. I looked on Criterion's website, and apparently the only thing "new" about this edition is the lower retail price. Still a great movie, so if you don't own it yet, now you can get it for less money. Very cool feature-length making-of documentary included.
Rating:  -
Short Cuts, the three plus hour long film written and directed by Robert Altman (with co-writer Frank Barhydt), based upon a series of short stories by Raymond Carver, is an odd film. It's not a bad film, nor is it even remotely a great film- the only two sorts of films that the hit (Nashville) and miss (Vincent And Theo) Altman has plenty of experience with. The nine stories and one poem of Carver's, from the same titled anthology book, have been transplanted from the Pacific Northwest to Los Angeles, ... Read More
Rating: -
It took me several days to finish watching this 3-hour adaptation of the increasingly forgotten Raymond Carver's short stories. It's too long by a third. Nothing much happens that ties anything together. There are individual moments of acting brilliance, especially the Jack Lemon confession scene, and the stilted but entertaining interplay by Tom Waits and whats her name from Saturday Night Live. There's some full frontal nudity, rare for a Hollywood creation. The soundtrack is great, with original tunes ... Read More
Rating: -
One of the greatest compliments you can give to any film done by Robert Altman is that they perfectly represent real life. Nothing about his films are glossed up as is the fashion of almost anything in Hollywood. Every frame and every character has this rich sense of humanity and raw realness that drips from their every move. Even when the situations are less than normal the human reactions to them are so natural that one can't help but relate. `Short Cuts' has been lauded as Altman's finest work, and ... Read More
Rating: -
The late Robert Altman was a very frustrating filmmaker. Sometimes he hit it out of the park and sometimes he dribbled to left field. (The man who gave us MASH and McCabe and Mrs. Miller also gave us Quintet and Popeye.) Here I think he mostly dribbled to left field. First he breaks no new ground. This is the same approach he took in Nashville, even to the point that many of the scenarios and characters are duplicates. Altman has a penchant for vapid wealthy people, low-lifes in bars, moderately-talented ... Read More
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