Robert Altman, the director of A Wedding, was one of the top names in American cinema in the 1970s. He directed M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye and McCabe & Mrs Miller, which I would offer up as his best films. Not all of his were great of course: he was also the director responsible for the interminable Quintet and the truly awful A Perfect Couple. But at his best, there was no other film-maker like him. He was a master of the big ensemble film, much of which appeared to be improvised or scripted by the actors. His most complex extravaganzas were the brilliant Nashville and A Wedding.