Robert Altman‘s McCabe and Mrs. Miller (’71) was among the 25 films added today by the The National Film Registry to its list of “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” films. My favorite scene is when Julie Christie explains the whore business to Warren Beatty. Closing line: “Now I haven’t got a lot of time to sit around and talk to a man who’s too dumb to see a good proposition when it’s put to him. Do we make a deal or don’t we?”

Also named were Alan Pakula‘s All The President’s Men, John Badham‘s Saturday Night Fever, William Friedkin‘s The Exorcist, Blake Edwards‘ The Pink Panther, the Zucker brothers’ Airplane! and John Huston‘s Let There Be Light.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller “was originally called The Presbyterian Church Wager,” says the Wiki page, “after a bet placed among the church’s few attendees about whether McCabe would survive his refusal of the offer to sell his property. Altman reported that an official in the Presbyterian Church called Warner Brothers to complain about having their church mentioned in context of a film about brothels and gambling. The complaint prompted a name change to John McCabe, but it was further changed and released as McCabe & Mrs Miller.”