A B-24 combat pilot who later did PR for a dog-tattooing machine, got fired from hit network shows for refusing to follow instructions, and once punched an executive into a swimming pool over a six-minute edit. Robert Altman’s resume reads like a script too unrealistic to greenlight, yet he rewired how movies look, sound, and feel.

We trace the spectacular rises and catastrophic falls of cinema’s ultimate anti-establishment auteur. From bombing missions to industrial films to the chaos of MASH, this is the story of a man who treated directing like hosting a party and built a legacy almost impossible to replicate in today’s algorithm-driven Hollywood.

• How 50 combat missions permanently erased his tolerance for studio executives telling him how to frame a shot
• The technical revolution of wiring actors with individual mics for overlapping, multi-track, real-life dialogue
• Why MASH succeeded despite his own stars trying to get him fired mid-production
• The drug-fueled Malta disaster of Popeye that banished him to a decade-long wilderness period
• His improbable comeback with The Player and the honorary Oscar speech where he revealed a secret heart transplant