Editing Nashville (film) (section)

===Critical response===
''Nashville'' received significant attention from critics, with Patrick McGilligan of ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' writing that it was "perhaps the most talked about American movie since [[Orson Welles]]' ''[[Citizen Kane]]''.<ref name="bg">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34918206/the_boston_globe/|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|location=Boston, Massachusetts|page=A9|title=Altman, 'Nashville', and beyond|date=June 29, 1975|via=Newspapers.com|last=McGilligan|first=Patrick}}</ref> [[Pauline Kael]], film critic for [[The New Yorker]], described it as "the funniest epic vision of America ever to reach the screen".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kael |first1=Pauline |editor1-last=Schwartz |editor1-first=Sanford |title=The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael |chapter=Coming: Nashville |publisher=Library of America |year=2011 |isbn=9781598531718 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkShTL84MrcC&pg=PT829}} Reprinting of Kael's review that originally appeared as {{cite magazine |title=Coming: Nashville |magazine=The New Yorker |date=March 3, 1975 |page=79}}</ref> Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert, and Leonard Maltin gave the film four-star reviews and called it the best film of 1975. In his original review, Ebert wrote "after I saw it I felt more alive, I felt I understood more about people, I felt somehow wiser. It's that good a movie."<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/nashville-1975 |title=Ebert's 1975 review |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date= January 1, 1975|access-date=August 15, 2019}}</ref> On August 6, 2000, Ebert included it in his [[The Great Movies]] compilation.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-nashville-1975 |title=Nashville - Great Movies |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=August 6, 2000 |access-date=August 15, 2019}}</ref>

[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' praised the film's music as "funny, moving and almost nonstop" as well as its "well‐defined structure, [in which] individual sequences often burst with the kind of life that seems impossible to plan."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/12/archives/nashville-lively-film-of-many-parts.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|title='Nashville,' Lively Film of Many Parts|last=Canby|first=Vincent|author-link=Vincent Canby|date=June 12, 1975|page=32|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190815053303/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/12/archives/nashville-lively-film-of-many-parts.html|archive-date=August 15, 2019|access-date=August 15, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Writing for the ''[[New York Daily News]]'', Harry Haun praised the film's attention to detail and characterization, noting: "I have seen ''Nashville'' 4½ times, and I'm still discovering dimensions that had eluded me."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[New York Daily News]]|location=New York City|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34918377/daily_news/|title=In 'Nashville,' elbows count|date=July 18, 1975|page=68|via=Newspapers.com|last=Haun|first=Harry}}</ref> Charles Champlin of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' praised the humor, which he noted as ranging "from [[slapstick film|slapstick]] to satire", and commended the film as "the most original and provocative American movie in a very long time."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=Los Angeles, California|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34918427/the_los_angeles_times/|title=Altman's Mural of Country and Western Music|via=Newspapers.com|date=June 29, 1975|page=1|last=Champlin|first=Charlie}}</ref>

According to film critic Ruth McCormick, however, after an initial wave of praise, a critical backlash ensued. "Robert Mazzocco in ''The New York Review of Books'', Greil Marcus in ''The Village Voice'' and John Malone in ''The New York Times'' wrote articles that ranged from debunking the hype and calling ''Nashville'' superficial and overrated, to absolutely hating the film for its aesthetic shortcomings or its purported pessimism, cynicism and sexism."<ref>{{cite journal |last=McCormick |first=Ruth |title=In Defense of Nashville |journal=Cinéaste |volume=7 |year=1975 |issue=1 |pages=22–25, 51}}</ref>

{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|89|8.80|130|Robert Altman captures the bravado and cynicism of the American dream in ''Nashville'', a sprawling epic bursting with vivid performances and an unforgettable soundtrack.|ref=yes}} {{Metacritic film prose|1=96|2=24|ref=yes}}