California Split (1974)

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Directed by Robert Altman.

Starring Elliott Gould, Ann Prentiss, George Segal, Ed Walsh, Gwen Welles.

The most narratively loose of Robert Altman's '70s films, California Split details the haphazard lives of two compulsive gamblers searching for that ever-elusive big score. Newly single and soon-to-be-unemployed Bill (George Segal) joins live-wire pal Charlie (Elliott Gould), as the pair moves from Fruit Loops with Charlie's hooker roommates Sue (Gwen Welles) and Barbara (Ann Prentiss) to bets on horses, backroom card games, boxing, and basketball. They make it to Reno, but Bill comes to realize that even the big score may not be the answer to the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life. For Charlie, however, that's all there is. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

California Split (1974, USA, Ro ...
by CinemaRian in CinemaRian Blog

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"California Split is about two friends, one of whom is relativley normal and another who is insane. Both are immature and compulsive gamblers, allthough they would say they just gamble for fun. Actully most of their lives are about having fun, to the exclusion other interests, such as working or having meaningful retationships with other people. This sounds like the premise for a depressing social issue drama, but the film is directed by Robert Altman, so there's a lot of humor and interesting sidetrips. The director does, of course, show us the fundamentally empty lives its characters lead, but also shows us the appeal of never growing up and living in perpetual state of adolencse. And the ending is remarkable- I won't reveal what happens, but it's not what you'd expect. The relativley normal gambler is Bill (George Segal) who runs what is apparently a travel agency but often ducks out to chill with Charlie (Elliot Gould) or gamble. Charlie is apparently unemployed or possibly ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

Infusing his episodic narrative with an equally laid-back attitude towards events and emotions, Altman produces in California Split a "celebration of gambling" that is in itself something of game, filled with random incidents, trivial and serious, amusing and not, that emphasize the essential rootlessness of the gambler's life. Altman's signature mosaic of sound, produced for the first time through a multi-track stereo soundtrack, layers dialogue, gambling announcements, and Phyllis Shotwell songs to evoke the chaotic gaming atmosphere as authentically as possible. Gambling may seem more exciting than the depressive Bill's drab office job, but its pleasures are strictly temporary. Everything becomes transient, whether luck or marriage or even friendship between like-minded pals. California Split did not have much of an impact on the movie-going audience, but it marked Altman's move away from taking apart old movie genres (the war movie in MASH (1970), the Western in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), the detective movie in The Long Goodbye (1973), the gangster movie in Thieves Like Us (1974)) toward breaking down conventional storytelling in general, pointing the way toward the even more complex narrative experiments of his 1975 masterpiece Nashville. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Tags: addiction , casino , compulsion , friendship , gambling
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