The Player opening scene

[guzmanbatista67]

The best movement camera i have seen in my life on movie. Better than TOUCH EVIL openning.

[guzmanbatista67]

ALTMAN, THE MASTER!

[Econniff]

I love how self aware this shot is, filled with Hitchcock references, Welles references, at least four different characters talking about long tracking shots. So awesome

[laprop]

Thx for this upload. I'm going to be quizzed on this in Film 200.

[PleaseExcuseUs]

@laprop we must be in the same film 200 class at BRCC.... are we????

[laprop]

@PleaseExcuseUs Small world! we actually are in the same class, I had to check your page to confirm it. I'll see you 2morrow for the quiz! haha.

[myrtlebox]

God what a downer. I was just getting ready to make popcorn ;-(

Love this movie

[PlainTruthEnt]

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[pyrobryan]

I haven't seen it, but there's a movie called Russian Ark that is one continuous 96 minute shot.

[rishi851]

This is great but you have to see Andrei Tarkovsky truly understand tracking shots.

[DiscoGlacier]

I just now realized that the note at 3:41 that reads "YOUR DEAD" is, in fact, grammatically correct: it's not supposed to be "YOU'RE DEAD" as in a direct threat to Mill, but rather that the audience on the postcard is "his dead." The audience is being killed by bad movies.

[r4ltman]

it's fucking Touch of Evil, idiots, shut up Antonioni

[BabiioFloraa31]

hëy_Ï_feÉl_so_lõñËlY_tÖdàY

[mrjcfromcalifornia]

I saw this when I was 15 and decided then and there to write movies.

[BrightProductions]

They need to make the graduate 2 like they described!

[TheDEATHSTARIII]

im the one who wrote the postcards

[ravivide]

How much time continuously a film can run? I think I read somewhere that it can only shoot continuously for 4 minutes. 

[HogsandHeffers]

Grr! It won't play! I love this shot. Amazing!

[clivetemple]

Not sure if this is true but I think I read that this was the only take.

[djmactone]

@clivetemple

this is actually the 10th take of scene 1; like it says at the start.

[hawrnball]

It's amusing how the opening shot from Touch of Evil is referenced here... while it's less than half the length of this sequence, it's twice as good. My problem with Altman's eight-minute shot is that the camera stays in kind of a hub; it never leaves the parking lot. The camera doesn't follow the action, Altman makes the action come to the camera.

[THEtompullin]

@hawrnball you did see the end of this movie didn't you? i mean, that's the joke. right? get it?

[AMPFEAST]

reminds me of Profession: Reporter. i love such long shots...

[EclecticGlue]

@bewlaybrutha

"Classic example of a tracking shot that didn't need to be one"........ If the film is about the machinations of cinema and directly references it's influences, what other shot could it have been? A series of jump cuts?

[bewlaybrutha]

@EclecticGlue

I understand, it's just so poorly done and unnecessary and awkward compared to the touch of evil shot it refers to.

[carlsiouxfalls]

They showed this in one of my college classes. I was amazed.

[alexalex3131]

Atman's last great film. Ending even better than this. My guess is screenwriter suggested this incredible no-cut opening scene and while any other director would have just patted him on head, Altman's eyes lit up and he made it even longer and more elaborate than the one written.

[saammuel1]

i saw this movie one evening. and my jaw dropped

[calciumkid85]

One of the best from altman! Always been my favourite...

Number 15 on the TOP 100 GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME LIST!

[tommyt1971]

Just wish the opening music had been different, it's way too 80s & this was '92!!

[herautdeDieu]

still awesome isn it?! :)

[thorneer]

Love how it's peppered with little comments and encounters that set up the entire plot - the pushy screenwriter who somehow got past security, the upcoming pressure on Griffin to perform in a time of "rolling heads", mistaken identity, interchangeability of personalities (replacing Julia Roberts with Goldie Hawn in the same breath), and finally the notion that in political thrillers someone always dies - and what else is a Hollywood studio but a huge political pinball machine? Brilliant.

[MrJaraldoSven]

Possible cut at 3:42

[jameala]

...with a heart, all in the same place!

[kiely]

the TrUtH is at 3:02 "who let Adam Simon on the lot?" .... Go Adam, Go !!!

[Superplatanoman]

Love this movie. RIP Robert Altman

[vidiot9000]

And don't you think I Am Cuba deserves kudos, too?

[vidiot9000]

Russian Ark puts all those films mentioned below to shame.

[johnyzero2000]

I think they should make a horror film set in a hollywood studio and the nasty film execs are killed in grusome and inhumane ways by disgruntled employees.

[thewebbiest]

I think that was part of the idea of Swimming with Sharks (1994), although that's not a horror film exactly.

[ONKlub]

Do you have any clips with shots of the Pasadena police station? It was a historic old building that's since been torn down. I can find zero pics on the net.

[foofighter190]

they already did the Graduate part 2. ITS CALLED "Rumour Has It..." . DAMN YOU ROB REINER!!

[miriampurpose]

This scene is poking fun at cinephiles such as those who have commented here. Altman even spells it out via the Larry leavy conversation re great tracking shots etc. His lines could have been taken straight from this you tube comment page!

Great shot though!

[jpsartreny]

The camera movement is pedestrian when compared the last scene in Antonioni's the passenger.

[EclecticGlue]

I agree that the the last scene of The Pasenger is incredible but to describe the movement in this scene as "pedestrian" is a bit harsh.

[morgantown1]

@EclecticGlue Thank you for this. I love how Fred Ward keeps referencing Hitchcocks tracking shots. A truly great scene. I keep hearing about The Passenger shot but still have not seen the film. Other great long takes that immediately come to mind are the Goodfellas club scene and the Raging Bull fight entrance as well as the Boogie Nights club scene and the Magnolia studio entrance. Obviously, PT Anderson has seen a Scorsese movie or two...thanks again guy

[EclecticGlue]

@morgantown1 Yeah, the final shot of THE PASSENGER is great, as are the other scenes you've mentioned. The ultimate example has to be Russian Arc of course..... 90-odd minutes long......

[DonRMB]

@morgantown1 That one in Magnolia is one of my favorites. Fucking Camera went from outside the studio through the halls to the green room through the halls again then gets into an elevator and then finally gets to Jimmy Gator´s office.. And thats not even the best one in the whole movie, the best one is when they Introduce the contestants for the game show! PT Anderson is the man..

[pilamin]

@jpsartreny Altman's greatest strength and interest as a director was in organic staging. He wasn't interested in flashy camera movements, or graceful Olphuls-esque choreography. Such techniques would upstage the spatial geography of his shots, which, like his sound design, is created with the intent of conveying a believable ecosystem within the story.

In other news, I think cupcakes are pedestrian when compared to wedding cakes.

[sexyber64]

@jpsartreny they are complete different things......... different concept, everything, dont be a dick...

[mhlhoop]

gets more amazing every time i watch it

[kingcaesar5]

this is porn for cinephiles.

[Modem64k]

@kingcaesar5 yeah. this is real porn. the movie teach us to be like main character: slippery, barefaced, evil. ok ull ask me "it is real live" ill ask u "i wanna watch movie to relax, to feel smth positive" this movie is absolute negative. its everywhere. this is the most negative movie ive ever seen.

[lauwwzer]

I saw the movie but I lost my patience after a few minutes. it is also hard to understand because there ar a few storylines in the beginning.

[ghost00110]

very impressive shot but i lost interest around 2 mins

[Abulafia1111]

that's a cut in 3:42....

wow is so obvious

it's a movie about the power of hollywood and the HOLLYWOOD make us believe that there are no cuts...

Amazing power....

[bandedcat10]

A slight jiggle of the camera is an obvious cut? Wow....good job failing.

[kiely]

Abulafia ... ah, so you don't pay attention.

[EclecticGlue]

It's not a cut. The camera wobbles slightly but the shadows of the people assising the fallen person move without jarring. That proves there's no cut.

[atarist123]

That's NOT a cut at 3:42, it's just an accidental camera movement. There's only a handful of "living master" stedicam operators, but even they make the occasional mistake. This scene is legendary for being one cut. Who are you going to believe, the entire movie industry or a guy on Youtube?

[toddpinkstonisgod]

That's Jeremy Piven (Ari Gold) that's talking around 4:10, lol.

[UFOSPACE1999]

ONE TAKE. ONLY ONE TAKE, no cuts

[stbtome]

i guess it could be either way

[Desmo5150]

NO, its one take. My uncle was the first AC and a grip bumped into the camera on the close up.

They only shot this scene 3 times.

They felt the bump was no big deal due to the pain in the ass the blocking was. I was the best take.

[Tedleo875]

Don't mean to spoil your fun, but it's two shots. I promise.

[applecrisper]

oh really? where's the cut?

[Tedleo875]

Keep it on the DL. Watch very carefully when Jimmy falls off the bike and they tighten up on the postcard. It's not at all obvious, but it's definitely there.

[JoeHaus]

Hitchcock?jk

T_

[shanqueezshan]

Yes! I have read it had something to do with Hitchcock camera movement. Although it should be something fantastic, I lost my attention after one minute ...

[kiely]

Orson Welles ... "Touch of Evil' . hell, they tell ya during the shot.

[SweetChildODie]

Isn't the camera movement inspired from "Citizen Kane" instead of "Touch of evil"? I've seen both movies but some time ago so I might be mistaken.

[kiely]

they tell ya the reference point during the shot. check the dialogue at 1:30 into the clip "Cut, Cut Cut ...the opening shot of Welles's TOUCH OF EVIL was 6:30 long ..."

[bsharpinLondon]

that's what he says but the truth was it was 3:20

[kiely]

i like the opening of John Woo's "Hard Boiled" ... that is some choreography!

[bsharpinLondon]

Orson Welles was Orson Welles. His style carried through all of his movies. The tribute here is to Touch of Evil and its opening one shot.

[bsharpinLondon]

two times!