Weekend Classics: Altman at 100

He’s been called a maverick, trailblazer, legend, visionary. But the moniker most often ascribed to Robert Altman (1925-2006) is “the father of independent cinema.” This highly prolific filmmaker whose roving cameras, overlapping dialogue, and pioneering use of multitrack recording earned the commonly used term “Altmanesque” had already made some 60+ industrial films and documentaries before his very first feature in the 1950s. His career was catapulted and spurned into high gear in the early ‘70s, continuing at a dazzling pace until his passing in 2006.