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California Split (1974)

California Split (1974)
Member Rating:  
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, Rovi

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Starring:
George Segal, Elliott Gould, (more)
Director(s):
Robert Altman
Theatrical MPAA Rating:
R
Format(s):
DVD
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Synopsis of California Split

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, Rovi

Theatrical Feature Running Time:
105 mins

Complete Cast of California Split


Director(s):
Robert Altman
Writer(s):
Joseph Walsh
Producer(s):
Aaron Spelling, Leonard J. Goldberg, Robert Altman
Theatrical MPAA Rating:
R(Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Questionable for Children)
Warning:  This product is intended for mature audiences only. It may contain violence, sexual content, drug abuse and/or strong language. You must be 17 or older to purchase it. By ordering this item you are certifying that you are at least 17 years of age.

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    Rodney W.

    Robert Altman isn't all that interested in telling you how to feel. In this film he gives a pair of losers with gambling addictions; one of them, George (Elliot Gould) lives with a pair of hookers and gets by entirely on his wits, the other Bill (George Segal) has an actual job and mounting debt. Sad? Pathetic? Depressing? Sure -- but you'd never know it from these two. They're only interested in the next score; it's what gives their lives excitement, meaning and purpose, and Altman lets us see things from their point of view while keeping judgement at bay. It's only gradually that we realize that Bill is in denial, and George ... well, George is in whatever game is going for as long as it will last. Gould is at his absolute loosest and Segal is the perfect straight man; the chemistry between the two is perfect.

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    Keith G.

    Terribly overlooked, and now long out of print, this is a special film, well worth seeing. A tremendously sad comedy about two very different compulsive gamblers, who form a compulsive friendship almost homoerotic in quality and intensity. Not a lot happens, but I was left very moved and a bit shaken by the ending, even if there are a couple of Altmanesque overly cute, or self-referential moments along the way. One of the more interesting examinations of the American concept of winning and losing I've ever seen.

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    Steven W.

    This movie is very good from the 70's back in LA...I enjoyed it.

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