"Let's play Quintet!"

December 28, 2008 9:22 PM

Robert Altman's final film of the 1970s was Quintet - about a board game where the players kill each other. Here are the rules.
posted by Joe Beese (21 comments total)

Jumanji and Zathura were board games with dangerous consequences, too.
posted by jwakawaka at 9:45 PM on December 28, 2008

Unwatchable movie.
posted by chronkite at 10:09 PM on December 28, 2008

Wow. Sounds like a disaster. So now I have to see it!
posted by bardic at 12:12 AM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ugh. My memory of Quintet is that it is cold, slow and stilted. Some of my all-time film faves are by Altman (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, anyone?) but this one is well nigh void of his greatness.
posted by stinkycheese at 1:15 AM on December 29, 2008

This is a challenge to watch, to put it nicely. It's very slow and ponderous, completely void of humor, even dark humor, and takes a very long time to figure out just what the world is, which should be the fun part of sci-fi, but given its pace, Quintet is just plain boring. Perhaps worst of all, for the entire movie (at least the first half or so I was able to sit through), Altman sort of frosts the corners of the camera lens with some sort of filter, so that the icy-cold world (think a morose Thunderdome in Antarctica) seems that much colder. We're talking about a good 20% of the screen, at the corners, is simply blurred out. Interesting effect, until you realize that it's not going away.

Someone fill me in on the last half--did I miss anything actually interesting?
posted by zardoz at 2:07 AM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

I don't actually remember the movie, but I remember this wonderfully snarky review of it, which concluded with sn "improved" version with the reviewed scenes overdubbed with the song "Walking in a Winter Wonderland.". It was hilarious.

Bear in mind though, that this was an SF movie and it was the 1970s; until Star Wars came along, ALL SF movies were grim, depressing, and generally sucked. Whatever crimes Mr. Lucas may have committed against cinema later on, at least we owe him for lifting us out of the 1970s SF malaise.
posted by happyroach at 2:13 AM on December 29, 2008

Sleeper? Flesh Gordon?

70s SF wasn't all doom and gloom. Though it mostly was.
posted by stinkycheese at 3:35 AM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

On reflection, I would think the overwhelmingly dystopian visions of 70s SF would be a pretty big factor in the resurgence and longevity of Star Trek; here finally was a positive vision of what the future could look like. I remember there being a lot of love for the original series in the 70s, and it offers a great counter-example to Soylent Runnings, etc.
posted by stinkycheese at 3:46 AM on December 29, 2008

Saw it on television years ago (I videotaped it - possibly on another occasion - but never felt the urge to rewatch it)

All I remember is snow, the game board with pebbles on it, and that the pacing was glacial. And I normally likes a bit of 70s gloom.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:12 AM on December 29, 2008

Although I can't disagree with everything said above, I must admit to being utterly transfixed by this movie when I watched it long ago. Perhaps it was something like watching a train-wreck in extremely slow-motion. I do sometimes toy with the idea of watching it again, but the Criterion edition of SOLARIS has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of months glaring at me, and I really ought to slog my way through that again first (which I also dimly remember as being strangely interesting with long stretches of absolutely nothing happening).

Also, yeah I'd probably say McCabe & Mrs. Miller is his best film, but my favorite will always be California Split.

Also, when it comes to early 70s science fiction, Silent Running for the win.
posted by the bricabrac man at 5:19 AM on December 29, 2008

Jumanji and Zathura were board games with dangerous consequences, too.

So did playing Monopoly with my older brother when he was in a punching mood.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:30 AM on December 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

So did playing Monopoly with my older brother when he was in a punching mood.

Funny you should mention Monopoly...
posted by Joe Beese at 5:34 AM on December 29, 2008

Some of my favorite books are 1970s dystopias (Stand on Zanzibar, for example). I had no idea anyone ever took the basic tropes (lack of plot, turgid pacing, muddy lives) and tried to film something like that.

Double feature, my house! The original Solaris and this thing!
posted by mwhybark at 6:40 AM on December 29, 2008

Gosh, IMDB has a Game of Death keyword. That's quite exciting. Anyone for a weekend of Quintet, Battle Royale, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone and Series 7: The Contenders, followed by hunting each other TO THE DEATH through London parks? Survivors get to finish up with Hard Target.
posted by severalbees at 7:53 AM on December 29, 2008

Bricabrac: Isn't Nashville his best?

My favorite Altman is Brewster McCloud. Bud Cort doing pull-ups in a loincloth FTMFW!
posted by pxe2000 at 8:00 AM on December 29, 2008

Whatever crimes Mr. Lucas may have committed against cinema later on, at least we owe him for lifting us out of the 1970s SF malaise.

Although you can't get much more 70's malaise than Lucas's own THX-1138.
posted by octothorpe at 8:08 AM on December 29, 2008

Unwatchable movie.

No kidding. I'm a huge Altman fan, and I walked out of this one. And I hardly ever walk out of movies.
posted by languagehat at 9:00 AM on December 29, 2008

This is a challenge to watch, to put it nicely
posted by zardoz at 5:07 AM on December 29

Eponysterical!
posted by schoolgirl report at 9:54 AM on December 29, 2008 [6 favorites]

Eponysterical!

Touche, sgr, touche. But give me Zardoz any day of the week over this thundering bore. At least Zardoz had some ideas buzzing around
posted by zardoz at 2:43 PM on December 29, 2008

I suck at Quintet.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:06 AM on December 30, 2008

Quintet was shot in the wintertime ruins of Expo 67 in Montreal, at a time when the remaining pavilions had been left to disintegrate in the elements for more than a decade. Soon after the movie was made almost all the remaining structures were demolished and taken away. So, if for no other reason, the shooting locations have their evanescent charm to recommend them.
posted by zadcat at 4:36 PM on December 31, 2008