Review: 'Fool For Love' Remains a Robert Altman Gem

The great Robert Altman ("M*A*S*H," "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," "Nashville"), known for his screenplay-as-blueprint-only style of moviemaking, went through a period in the 1980s where he filmed a number of stage plays with great reverence to the material and with little desire to "open them up." These included, "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" (which Altman directed on Broadway), "Streamers," and the Sam Shepard Pulitzer Prize finalist, "Fool for Love."

For "Fool," Altman's one request was that the author also star in the work. Shepard was coming off an Oscar nomination for "The Right Stuff." For the lead female, Altman chose Kim Basinger, who had just received a Golden Globe nomination for "The Natural" but had yet to splash, career-wise. The combination would prove combustible, in the best sense.

The film isn't as much plot-driven as it is character-focused. May (Basinger) is holed up in a seedy Mojave Desert motel. Eddie (Shepard), a person from her past, travels thousands of miles to find her. The two have quite a volatile relationship, and when a suitor (Randy Quaid) arrives, things get truly explosive. (To say more would be to spoil the reveals).

The original stage production of "Fool for Love," in 1983, starred Ed Harris and Kathy Baker. Altman's insistence that Shepard play Eddie was a stroke of genius, as he is both sexy and combustible. Basinger would win an Oscar for "L.A. Confidential" over a decade later, but "Fool" remains her best performance. Both actors embody these two doomed souls so fully it hurts to watch. Add the mysterious Harry Dean Stanton character, a top-notch production design (by Stephen Altman), and a terrific country score by Jim Gaines and Sandy Rogers, and the results are a disturbing, beguiling cinematic adaptation.

Altman's evocative and unique manner of shooting truly does the story justice, and he adds layers of intrigue that turns the work into something poetic.

Kino Lorber's visual transfer on the Blu-ray is stunning and the sound is crisp and clear and perfectly mixed.

The lone extra, besides the trailer, is a 20-minute feature, "Robert Altman: Art and Soul," where the auteur waxes about his interest in theatre and how he added slight touches to the script. It's always a treat to hear about his process.

Shepard wrote about doomed and ill-begotten folks surviving in the unforgiving west. Many of his characters were trying to escape who they were and what they felt. Altman captures this messy and real "forever-connected disconnect" with grace and empathy.

"Fool for Love" is one of Altman's hidden gems; it deserves to be rediscovered.

Blu-ray Extras Include: