What themes about corporate capitalism appear in McCabe and Mrs. Miller?

In the revisionist "anti-western" McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), director Robert Altman utilizes the setting of a turn-of-the-20th-century boomtown in the Pacific Northwest to provide a symbolic critique of corporate capitalism.1

The film explores these themes through the story of John McCabe, a small-time gambler whose personal ambitions are ultimately overwhelmed by the encroaching forces of larger, more powerful interests. By contrasting McCabe’s individualistic, small-scale enterprise with the impersonal and destructive nature of corporate expansion, Altman highlights the tension between the individual and the systemic pressures of capitalistic development. This critique is woven into the film's atmospheric naturalism, which is achieved through Altman's signature use of overlapping dialogue, patient pacing, and a lingering camera, all complemented by a score from Leonard Cohen.1