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20 out of 21 people found the following review useful: Peak Altman, 23 June 1999 Author: matthew wilder (picqueur@aol.com) from los angeles
Altman at the absolute top of his form--which is to say among the freest, loosest and sensorily densest great movies ever made in America. Visually and sonically thick as a brick, it also represents some of the highest-flying improvisatory acting you've ever seen. Put the Godard of the early sixties in a polyester shirt, lay him down among the rummies and compulsive cases of the American gambling subculture, and fill him with equal parts beer and caffeine, and you have some idea of this thoroughly amazing, free-and-easy comedy, which has a scary undertow: the scene where George Segal tries to persuade co-addict Elliott Gould of the hollowness of the big win might be the most scarily desolate in any Altman picture.
13 out of 13 people found the following review useful: The compulsive gambler seen through Altman's dark glass, 1 October 2001 Author: bmacv from Western New York
Why California Split remains among the most obscure of Robert Altman's extraordinary 1970s oeuvre is a mystery. Its stars -- Elliot Gould and George Segal -- were at the top of their form, free and comfortable working in Altman's off-the-cuff, low-key style. Its supporting cast -- Ann Prentiss, Gwen Welles and especially Bert Remsen, as the cross-dressing old jane "Helen Brown," -- is memorable. And its full gallery of extras (many drawn from the therapeutic community Synanon) populate a surreal gambling netherworld in California and Nevada. Altman is working in highest gear with the layered, semi-improvised and alluringly murky style he pioneered. As in Altman's best work, the story just sort of happens, without much distinction between foreground and backdrop, principal characters and walk-ons. Lacking the rigid and didactic "dramaturgy" of its competitors, California Split endures as one of the most probing examinations of the soul and psyche of the abnormal gambler ever filmed.
12 out of 12 people found the following review useful: some true things about gambling, 26 April 2005 Author: Iwould from Italy
Now I really thinks that this is an amazing good movie. Amazing both for the story and for the actors: they produce a common effort in saying some real true things about gambling. Great directing, too, and great places to shoot the story (how clever to choose the depressing Reno instead of Las Vegas! Atlantic City would have been a good choice, too). Gambling is what people do when they have anything else left to do. Gambling is all about losing, feeling sad, and loneliness. And it's the same if you win or if you lose, no difference. Other films usually show winners, when they solves their common life problems through gambling, or losers, when they ruin their own common life trough gambling. What is shown by California Split id that, if you are a gambler, there is not space for anything else, say it's life, love, or hope. And that's both for winners and for losers.
13 out of 14 people found the following review useful: Sly under-rated early Altman!, 12 December 2004 Author: shepardjessica-1 from United States
I worked on the set of this one and it was a wonderful experience. This gambling tale is light and sad with ensemble acting all around. George Segal (always good) and Elliott Gould (sometimes good) make a great team of "losers" who just can't resist their addiction. Bert Remsen has a great supporting role, along with Ann Prentiss and Gwen Welles - ditzy hookers.An 8 out of 10. Best performance = Mr. Segal. I don't think this made a dime unfortunately. A must for all Robert Altman fans. I'm sure this is available now on DVD, so seek it out for an American tale that never quite spins out of control. You won't regret it.
13 out of 14 people found the following review useful: In the details, 28 December 2002 Author: mockturtle from New York
As usual, the greatness in Altman comes in the unexpected nuances: the perfect Las Vegas lounge act, with Elliott Gould putting in his repartee like joining a musical theatre number onstage. George Segal "getting down to the oldies" may date the film, along with his sweaters, but this is an enjoyable and surprising movie that exposes the hollowness and joylessness of compulsion without getting all holy about it. The younger working girl's search for feeling with her endless succession of tricks is a more easily noticeable parallel to what emerges as the film's core: George Segal's character finding his capacity for change. The shenanigan with Gould, Segal and the cross dresser strays dangerously close to outtakes from MASH. The film's greatest moment, aside from the surprisingly shattering denouement coming two minutes later, is when Segal has run from $2000 to $82,000. He's rolling everything right at the craps table when this little pea brained moron comes up and puts $1 on the seven. Elliott Gould offers to throw a hundred dollar chip at her to make her go away (if you don't know, the seven ends the streak and betting on it in the middle of a streak should be punishable by water torture). Sure enough, Segal rolls a seven and the streak ends. Everyone looks at the little moron and she says, "I don't care, it's my birthday and I won!" and picks up her $2. That is classic. Looking at Segal's performance you can see shades of what Ben Gazzarra would do decades later in Todd Solondz's "Happiness" as another man who doesn't feel anything.
12 out of 13 people found the following review useful: Obscure Drama Is One Of Robert Altman's Most Effective Films, 23 February 2005 Author: Hal-900 from WA, USA
"California Split" is another neglected Altman gem in much need of reevaluation. It was just released on DVD, so I'm hoping now it will get the exposure the movie deserves. The plot is simple (two friends and their obsession with gambling), but director Altman makes something special out of the ordinary scenario. The filmmaker is less interested in judging his characters, and more preoccupied with exploring the empty lives of these sad creatures. Another director would have turned the movie either into a morality tale or a cynical view of people suffering from an addiction. In Altman's hands the story simply unfolds, and what we get is a really interesting exploration of two guys consumed by their desire to keep playing and playing. Elliot Gould and George Segal (two of the best actors from the 1970s) do some of the best work of their respective careers. Ann Prentiss and Gwen Wells are also great, in two key supporting roles. Very interesting, but still one of Altman's less known films.
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Marvelous: funny, touching, unpredictable, 1 January 2005 Author: lloyd-schwartz from United States
After seeing some of the so-called "best" films of 2004, what a treat to watch this touching, funny, completely unpredictable film. One of Altman's very best--certainly one of Gould's and Segal's very best performances. It's also the last screen appearance of the enchanting Barbara Ruick (whose best known performance was as Carrie in the movie version of Carousel--she sings the song about "Mr. Snow"--she was married to film composer John Williams)--she plays the delightful barmaid in the Reno gambling joint, and Altman dedicates the film to her. The characters--even the ones who appear very briefly--are so fleshed out, they are completely believable. Altman takes the genre of the gambling movie, in which there usually can be only a happy ending or a sad one, and completely explodes it. I wish Clint Eastwood had watched it before he tried to do a boxing movie, which has the same generic problem.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: The best film ever about gambling, 13 June 2002 Author: marty2000 from UK
Of all Robert Altman's films, this one is the best, in my mind. Meaning it stood out the most for me and it still feels so fresh after all this time, like most of Altman's films anyway.Even if you don't care for this director's films, watch it just for the marvelous chemistry between George Segal and Elliott Gould, two outstanding actors, and for those who want to see how real improvisation is done, watch closely how Elliott Gould does it in this movie, I guarantee you've never seen anything like it before or since. I was shaking my head in amazement at such talent, wow!An enjoyable film, funny as hell, but pitiful, too.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Split takes the whole pot, 21 October 2000 Author: bostonred
An amazing sleeper, one that you will appreciate more with each viewing (if you can find it). George Segal and the amazing Elliot Gould perfectly portray the ups and downs, the manic lifestyle that masks the unhappiness of the degenerate gambler. The energy pours off the screen in a series of seemingly free-lanced scenes. You will always remember the poker games, the basketball con, the racetrack and casinos. But most memorable are all the wonderful minor characters; the girlfriends, the bookmaker and even a thief. Most unforgettable to me are Barbara Ruick as the Reno poker game barmaid and Phyllis Shotwell as the quintessential Vegas lounge act. A movie with nonstop action filled with humor and sadness, affection and apathy, all the way to its unrelenting end!
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: I was lucky, 19 February 2002 Author: kevin Rowan (krowan@aibs.org) from Washington, DC
I was fortunate enough to see California Split this past weekend on the big screen. The American Film Institute (AFI) Theater in the Kennedy Center is currently (February '02) having a retrospective of Altman's 70s films, and, while I had never heard of the film, I was mysteriously drawn to it. I'm glad I went. The chemistry between Gould and Segal is amazing. It's is if they've been friends their whole lives. They seemed very relaxed and care-free. The story is sad yet exciting, the dialog witty and almost innocent, and the direction is, of course, great. Plus, there is a brief scene with a very young Jeff Goldblum, who plays Segal's boss.If you happen upon this film on TV one late night, or it's shown in a theater near you for some reason, please see it. It's a lost treasure.
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