Possible Clues:

• By chance, a maverick on the staff
• Unplanned
• Subsidiary indication to modify tone slightly
• Could be flat in error
• Western drops lead character for a chance
• Dial out with foreign accent -- that's unexpected
• *Liberal arts college on the West Coast
• An oversight, perhaps, Altman’s first western not getting Oscar
• A Western deprived of Oscar is possibly flat
• Not planned, flat, for example