MovieChat Forums > McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) Discussion > Fake Snow - Disappointed??

Fake Snow - Disappointed??

posted 15 years ago by BestPlayEverMan
48 replies | jump to latest

This movie is amazing from start to finish. The shootout scene at the end is one of the best 10 minutes of any western. But I could not help but feel a little disappointed when they used an optical effect to create fake snow falling. I guess what bothered me was that the rest of the movie was so authentic and then the fake snow started coming. It actually bothered me the most when I saw it the first time, but I watched a few more times and it does not bother me as much, because everything else about the scene is great. Does the fake snow bother anyone else?, Do you think most people notice that it is fake?

[–] gnolti 15 years ago

I noticed it was fake after a few viewings, but nah, it didn't bother me. By that point in the film, Altman had already established such authenticity of atmosphere that my disbelief was not just suspended, it was deactivated.

There, daddy, do I get a gold star?

[–] Eric-1226 15 years ago

I noticed the fake snow falling, but was not influenced one way or the other by the inclusion of it. My only wish is that if they were gonna' artificially depict snow falling, they should have made the snow more typical of the snow that falls in mountain areas of the Pacific Northwest: bigger, fatter, more moisture-laden snowflakes.

"It's going to get worse before it gets better." - The White House

[–] franzkabuki 15 years ago

What the hell was it that made this snow glow in such an obviously phoney manner anyway?

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] ValoIsGod 15 years ago

My guess is that the dreamy, diffused presentation of the snow was through a combination of flashing the film first (which actually was done) and then possibly double exposing for the snow much like the opening shot of Melville's Army of Shadows. Though, at the point of 1970, there are a few other options available and they might have been used. Two exposures plus flashing might not have allowed the film to hold up as well as it did. Not 100% though.

[–] Ex_Offender 15 years ago

So weird. I watched this with a mate of mine a few months ago, and we were both commenting on how crappy and fake the snow looked. But Wikipedia says it was all real, and the only fake snow was fake 'drifts' on the ground - it says all the falling snow was real, or at least that's what it seem to say. But it looks totally fake...

That's a judgment call, but it also happens to be true, which gives it that extra oomph.-Bill Hicks

[–] kgbatmi6 15 years ago

I didn't notice it was fake at all.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] monsieurzy 15 years ago

in certain scenes it's obviously optically printed in to create the illusion that snow is coming down ..yes it does look fake ..it does bother me but I love the whole shootout sequence so I can live with it (reminds me of the scene in Fargo where the weather has obviously gotten warmer but the deputy gets out of his car all bundled up like it's still freezing out and talks to the man shovelling "wet slush".

[–] uncleernie1973 15 years ago

Have not posted on this board yet, but I watched the film for the umpteanth time last night, and it is still in my mind. There is real snow mixed in with the optical snow, but having watched on video tape when I first saw it in the early 90s and it was panned and scaned it looked like noise on my television. Seeing it in widescreen and now on a 16x9 42 inch screen, is alot better and the optical snow is not bothersome. This film needs to be seen in the theater.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] doughazelrigg 15 years ago

Interesting trivia fact: Quentin Tarrantino owns a 35mm print of McCabe and screens it in his home theater

[–] slaphappy5000 8 years ago

yes, it's pretty obvious the snow looks "weird" (fake)

yes, it bothered me a little

[–] doucette_kelly 14 years ago

it was weird because I noticed it when it wasn't collecting on Warren Beatty's jacket...

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] PsychoDingo 10 years ago

if it was real snow falling then it was filmed separately and added via composite (superimposed over the scene by combining two or more film images), and it was poorly done, because it looks really bad when the camera zooms and pans without affecting the snow images

I'll do business with a red, but I don't have to believe one.

[–] Mattsby 14 years ago

It can certainly be percieved as unauthentic, but also can be disregarded, as I did. But there is one scene, or a few, that it seems it was really snowing, and it looked real. So maybe they had to fill in for the rest of the time, but it wasn't terrible, especially back in 71.

[–] practicemakesperfect 14 years ago

It's a shame. I thought it was very distracting. I was absorbed into the story until the fake snow started falling. IMO, falling snow wasn't a necessary part of the plot. I haven't read the book, but the dramatic impact of the last few scenes would have been fine without snow or rain. Overall, it is still a fantastic film with a great ending, but that damn snow.....

[–] kaskait 13 years ago

The weather was unreliable during filming, as weather often is.

It snowed through most of the shoot then stopped. The filmmakers added in the snow so that it wouldn't look wacky when in one shot there was snowfall and in the next there wasn't.

Anyway, with the tech we have today, that could easily be fixed now. I'm hoping they clean up the print, fix the old tech and put it on Bluray.

[–] gambitvoleur 12 years ago

Well, as far as I understand from the cheesy, short, making-of documentary on the DVD, it was not all fake. It started snowing when they had the final scenes to shoot, but they weren't prepared to film long into winter. And i guess they added snow in some places on the ground to even it out.

Anyway I grew up in Wisconsin around a lot of snow and it didn't bother me. The heightened sound of the wind, leonard cohen, the cruel tragedy of the circumstances, and the icy treelimb shots all added up to the right sense of winter bleakness in my mind.

Then again, the whole film is kinda grainy, so maybe I just accepted it.

[–] sradivoy-1 12 years ago

I thought the "fake" snow was beautiful and had a dreamlike quality. The fake rain in most movies doesn't bother me either.

[–] oscarunger 12 years ago

Do you think most people notice that it is fake?

NOW i will!

[–] sradivoy-1 12 years ago

Only with those who are bored with the film.I was too mesmerized with the scene to notice such a minor detail. I think it adds to the scene if anything.

In Herzog's Fitzcaraldo a fake model boat was used going down the rapids which was a bit deflating for me, but when you think about it that feeling of "disappointment" works within the context of that film.

[–] Eponymous-too 11 years ago

I noticed it was fake, but it didn't bug me. It did bother me a little that the scene started with almost no snow on the ground and in less than an hour it was almost up to people's waists.

"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."

[–] Noboru_Wataya 11 years ago

my recollection is that it's only fake in a few shots. I saw a fresh print in a movie theater and it had a bluish sparkle about it. the scenes at the end were very tense for me when i saw the movie. i was a lot younger and really hoping mccabe would win it.

[–] pjack22 11 years ago

If you stream the movie in HD the fake snow is not an issue like it is on the crappy dvd.

[–] Loomis79 9 years ago

Just saw it in HD on Turner Classic Movies and the snow looks fake.