258 Tanner '88

[jorencain]

Tanner '88



In 1988, renegade filmmaker Robert Altman and Pulitzer Prize–winning Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau created a presidential candidate, ran him alongside the other hopefuls during the primary season, and presented their media campaign as a cross between a soap opera and TV news. The result was the groundbreaking Tanner '88, a piercing satire of media-age American politics, in which actors Michael Murphy (as contender Jack Tanner) and Cynthia Nixon (as his daughter) rub elbows on the campaign trail with real-life political players Jesse Jackson, Gary Hart, Bob Dole, Ralph Nader, Kitty Dukakis, and Gloria Steinem, among many others. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the complete eleven-episode television series—more relevant today than ever.

Special Features

DIRECTOR-APPROVED DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:

• Episode introductions featuring original cast members created for Sundance Channel's 2004 broadcast of Tanner '88
• New video conversation between series creators Robert Altman and Garry Trudeau
• English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
• PLUS: Essays by film critic Michael Wilmington and culture critic Gary Kornblau

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

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I loved it (and the follow-up "Tanner on Tanner). I really think this is some of the best Altman that I've seen. It's got his signature overlapping dialogue and visual style, and his use of political material is great; I never felt like it's really forcing anything down our throats. I also love that it is filmed on video because the whole thing is about the political and social climate of the 1988, and nothing can look more authentically 80's than filming on video. I also think all of the actors do a wonderful job, and the mix of actors and real political figures is handled very smoothly. The 2nd-to-last episode is a great nail-biter, and Harry Anderson amazed me with the intensity of his character.

Anyway, of the 6 hours of this, there was only one episode I could have done without (I forget which one-episode 4 or 5). The rest I really enjoyed. Just watch an episode a day, and hopefully you'll get sucked in. And there's probably not a better deal for a Criterion disc - you can't go wrong with the price.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

I would also like to chime in and recommend this movie -- especially to Altman fans. One thing that really struck me about Tanner '88 was how Altman and Trudeau have so much fun lampooning the media. At one point, Tanner’s daughter, Alex, pops her head in to tell her father that USA Today is on the phone asking: if he was a fruit or vegetable, which one would he be? It is these kinds of moments of levity that I enjoy so much about this mini-series.

[hammock]

Sorry to disagree, but I was bored to death and find this the least attractive title in the Criterion Collection. Sure there is humor represented and "politics" but it did not do the job for me. Secret Honor was a pleasure for me to watch and 3 Women as well - I'm not anti-Altman. Maybe it is because I'm not living in the US, could be fun to hear other non US citizens opinion on this babe...

[analoguezombie]

Tanner '88 is so deeply rooted in US politics and the day to day life of the candidate that I'm not surprised a non-American would find it not so great. The American media during a presidentital election is the most absurd, and nit-picky entity on Earth.

[lord_clyde]

Maybe it's better that foreign audiences are unfamiliar with our electorial system, they already hate our leaders enough (a very broad generalization I admit).

[analoguezombie]

Anyone, in any country, who makes it to the upper levels of politics is neccesarily corrupt. It's a given.

[Magic Hate Ball]

I'm at the beginning of the second episode on disc two, and I'm absolutely thrilled. I know he fails, but I can't wait to find out how. Plus, the dialogue is fantastic.

"You're saying you really wouldn't mind if your daughter used heroin."
"Oh, FUCK YOU, Jesse, that's the-..."
"Jesus christ."

I know a show is good if I can go back through each scene and watch each character and be just as entertained as the first time through. The 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is one of the first films that I noticed to have this quality; you can watch each of the individual characters all through the movie and it's a different film every time. Tanner '88 is the same way.

Plus, it's a great mix of genuinely interesting political fiction (one of my favorite genres), media frenzy, and comedy.

"Jennifer?"
"It's a family name. I was named after my father."

[CSM126]

I see no thread for it elsewhere, so I'll toss it in here. I'm watching the sequel, Tanner on Tanner, and...my God is it wretched. Everything right about Tanner 88 (and I loved 88) is tossed out and replaced with all kinds of garbage. Gone is the gritty, on the fly filming style; gone is the insightful political humor. All we're left with is endless scenes that serve no purpose other than to facilitate celebrity guest shots; lots of clean, crisp photography (totally inappropriate for this kind of program if you ask me); and the height of contemporary comedy: racism and homophobia.

It's hard to believe this was written and directed by the same people that produced 88. Tanner on Tanner is like what would happen if the idiots behind Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans tried their hand at political satire.

[pianocrash]

Tanner on Tanner was only watchable to see the old characters return nearly twenty years later, but everything else was laid to waste. Even Scorsese & Steve Buscemi are seen in the same boring, pale light that Robert Redford appears and disappears out of, and you keep waiting and waiting for something, anything to happen, and you just keep getting shoveled heaps of awful, uninteresting scenes without any purpose or goal.

This is exactly the type of description an Altman-hater could use for any of his other actually-watchable films, I realize, but this time, the conjecture actually sticks. Geez! At least the cover of the DVD is perfectly appropriate for the contents therein (ding ding ding!).

[movielocke]

FilmStruck is perfect for watching this. After the insanity of 2016, I knew this had to go into my queue, and once I started the second episode, I wasn't able to stop watching. The first episode is pretty rough, doesn't have the same crisp pacing and dialed in tone as the rest of the series, but it's still really good and probably worth twelve minutes of the worst campaign bio video ever made. But he rest of the series really sings.

How bizarre is it that in 2017, this feels neither satiric, outrageous or even all that comic. Rather it feels authentic and realistic which is a disturbing level of cynical prescience.

The extras are really good, and I'm glad FilmStruck makes them available. I binged through all the intros after finishing the series, but I'd recommend watching them after finishing each episode, they don't spoil anything, but they're more fun after the fact I think.

I only wish there was a feature with the editors and shooters (Wally Pfister in second unit!), as this would be a really great way to talk about the historic significance of the rapid tech changes in 80s non linear editing schema (17 VHS decks coordinated together!), and how using those types of systems allowed them such crazy tight turnaround even without computers. I'd love to hear how their finishing process worked to create grades and mixed air masters.

[office_icarus]

I only wish there was a feature with the editors and shooters (Wally Pfister in second unit!), as this would be a really great way to talk about the historic significance of the rapid tech changes in 80s non linear editing schema (17 VHS decks coordinated together!), and how using those types of systems allowed them such crazy tight turnaround even without computers. I'd love to hear how their finishing process worked to create grades and mixed air masters.

Was Tanner 88 edited to tape (via synchronized decks)?
Recently read quote by Bridget Potter, HBO VP Original Programming, that indicates as much; Unfortunately this tread was all I could turn up (regarding T88 post-production).

re:

Altman was famous for biting the hand that fed him. “I cannot tell you how frightening the whole thing was,” Potter says. “Altman was a pig, he was just horrible to me. He was learning computer editing, using Tanner as an experiment. If it flopped, he was still going to be ‘Bob Altman,’ but I was going to be out of a job.” -Bridget Potter, in discussion with the author, Biskind. Dec. 9, 2010.

Excerpt From:
Pandora's Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV by Peter Biskind