Considered to be the most prolific, if not the most influential film maker of the New Hollywood Cinema of the early 1970s, writer/producer/director Robert Altman made 13 films throughout the decade, including the Oscar-nominated hits M*A*S*H in 1970 and Nashville in 1975. His challenging and often idiosyncratic work dealt with genre, women's issues, male bonding, and institutions, and his movies always met with mixed critical and popular response. As critic Michael Wilmington observed, "In the opinion of some, Altman is one of America's greatest moviemakers, a fountain of creativity and iconoclasm. For others, he is a troublemaker and a guy who won't get with the program: defiant, rebellious and unpleasantly unpredictable."

This reputation—which has often alienated studios and irritated the public—is largely the result of Altman's unusual style, which he refers to as "controlled chaos." The epitome of a maverick...