California Split

I had bet that this Altman film would be full of dialogue and long sequences of character development that don't further the plot all that much and I rolled a seven.

This film is a perfect showcase for everything that makes Robert Altman who he is: it prefers to study characters rather than focus on plots, it's loaded with overlapping dialogue and it feels alive. I had a huge damn smile on my face through the whole thing watching Gould (who used to be the best) and Segal. I felt like I knew these guys forever and like I was just hanging out with them for 105 minutes. For Altman fans, for New Hollywood fans, it doesn't get much better than this.

Such a perfect last scene. Gives it a sense of finality and reveals the structure all along. I’m not sure how it accomplishes this so slyly and subtly - will need to watch again and investigate.

I understand gambling. I really do. I get a rush when I imagine the untold riches I could possibly win. However, I have to balance this with my imagination of the untold riches I could possibly lose. I will never be Elliott Gould for this reason. Altman's greatest strength is how the film feels like it ambles from scene to scene, but you don't notice the tension building.

A realistic and often hilarious study of compulsive gamblers. Altman's style shines brightly. By adding chaotic realism, dialogue over dialogue does for movies what 'stream of consciousness' did for the novel half a century earlier. Gould is terrific and has great chemistry with Segal.

Altman's greatest masterpiece and the greatest film about gambling. Every moment is superb. IMPORTANT NOTE: the 2004 DVD is a butchered version, due to copyright problems. The current unavailability of the original version of this movie is a cinematic crime of the highest order.

Noisy, lively, volatile, maniac: a moving picture of the world of gambling, and one can tell Altman truly loved that energy-charged world and his energy-charged characters, on their frenzied high or at their desperate low, and even when the lonely and nihilist truth of all that roller coaster of numbers hit them right between the eyes: we know we've all been there, in one way or another.

Both George Segal and Elliot Gould give good performances in this film. The script is good with some surprises. Overall I woudl recommend this film.

Go in expecting little to no plot, and you should be fine. I liked Gould's performance, and it's a relatively fun watch, albeit underwhelming compared to Altman's greats.

You don't realise how intense this is until it's over

"Goddamnit, lady, you don't throw oranges on an escalator!"

Gould and Altman just work so well together, and Altman doing a dive into gambling is perfect. The multi-layered tracks sets up the he kinetic and chaotic energy of a casino floor which gives a level of unease right from the opening minutes of the film. Segal is cool and damaged while motor-mouthed Gould just keeps talking. Everything clicks in probably the quintessential gambling film.

Some kind of buddy movie, not exactly captivating, not irritating. You feel it, but it just goes.

doesnt mean a fucking thing does it. skådespelet är grymt och händelseförloppet ganska intresserande, ändå är det ingenting som egentligen berör. och kanske är det inte heller meningen.

This film is oddly charming, but it isn't Altman at his best. Sure his trademarks are definitely there, but the story is kind of lacking. I kept waiting for something more substantial to happen and it never really did. Gould and Segal are good, but this could have been better with a better narrative.

I watched it because I wanted something with Goldblum... In the end I didn't get to see a lot of him, but boy, what a movie I saw. I will come back to this one many, many times.

Altman's entry in the gambling movie canon boasts his typical style of dramaturgy - the text is loosely delivered and achieves a naturalistic if somewhat bumbling effect. Despite the stylistic looseness, or more probably because of it, it eventually gets tautly uneasy. The mere fact that inside the Casino, lady luck shines on the very foolhardy protagonists, who are losers outside of it, seems wrong and fills the viewer with a fatalistic dread of pending karmic backlash.

"Adding emphasis on the homo-ness of their lucrative bond are the repeated instances where the interference of women breaks both their concentration and their hot streaks." - Eric Henderson

If there's one thing Altman does better than any director it's creating a living breathing community onscreen. In this case, it's the gambling community in 70s California and Nevada. Elliot Gould and George Segal benefit from Altman's loose jazzy style, and the movie is engrossing and puts you in a gambler's shoes. If there's any criticism of the film, it's that it's ultimately insubstantial --but from moment to moment, it's a knockout.

As a plot-first guy, I have to have respect for a plotless film that really sucks me in. And although half the movie felt like it was improvised on the spot (watch the girls giggle during the police scene), there's something that just oozes cool about these two guys playing for big stakes. There might even be a moral in that vague ending.

Long in-movie explanation of poker at the start followed by a little over then none until the final scenes, none of which really revolve around cards anyone has.

Functions well as both a fun early morning in bed why-am-I-still-sick-jesus-fucking-christ watch while also having a deeper sadder undercurrent. Seagal and Gould are a fantastic duo and Altman is a GOAT. My throat hurts :(

Probably the most honest film about gambling ever made. The part where Elliot Gould hustles a bunch of teenagers at basketball is one of the most hilarious and sad scenes of the '70s (in a movie chock full of them).

Very fun to spend time with these characters. The high strung Seagal and carefree Gould balance each other so well. Great character study of both that is crystallized perfectly with the final scene

This is one of the best films I have seen about addiction. It's about gambling, but it really could be about anything. It captures the thrill of riding an irresponsible wave as far as you can go, and gives a pretty convincing picture of what the rest of one's life is like, and why that drives one into another wave. Altman seems particularly suited to depicting this lifestyle, since his loose, ramshackle style really captures what a drifting lifestyle is like.

Gould and Segal are superb. Luckily they take up the majority of the screen time, because the other two notable characters, the escorts, mostly fall flat. By extension a lot of the non gambling scenes come off a bit aimless and slow. However all the stuff in Reno, and of course the gambling in general completely works. The movie just has a great vibe, and the ending is very poignant. A little bit more exposition and plot structure would better fit my taste, but definitely still worth watching.

god dammit lady, you don't throw oranges onto an escalator!

No noticable flaws aside from this movie's ambition. It's a subdued, humble yarn, hyperrealistically set up to make a modest point about gambling and sexuality. There's not a whole lot to it, but with the great cast and excellent pacing, it's nevertheless done flawlessly. Feels a bit like the "Lite" version of The Croupier.

The most realistic film about gambling ever made, and Gould and Segal are great as losers chasing luck down a rabbit hole. Gould's compulsiveness is especially well drawn, and the humour both undercuts and magnifies the 'tragedy', if you will, of their lives and the desperation of their situation. What it lacks are truly standout scenes that would enable it to reach the heights of Altman's very best work.

Noisy, sloppy mess with no shape to the story, but to be fair, I gave up on it after 30 minutes.

dude they love each other dude

This one grew on me as I watched it. It has a very realistic feel and some fun moments.

elliott gould her şeyi biraz güzelleştiriyor mu?

Most gamblers think themselves the fun care free Gould type when they're more the neurotic bitter Seagal type.

Watched a few weeks ago but forgot to rank. Loved this

Some really cute scenes involving Gould's roommates (Ann and her TV guide) but nothing special as a whole. I found Gould's rambling endearing in The Long Goodbye, but it annoys me here

Seemingly aimless film, with some characters and moments as red herrings, and concludes (as gambling movies do) on a big note, though this one has an especially bizarre and elusive ending. What really makes it work is that most of the individual moments are a hoot, featuring such strong and colourful dialogue and performances, especially from Gould who plays another wonderfully '70s character.

Lacks a compelling identity of its own outside simply being the product of its participants' capable efforts.

A great ending but otherwise never feels like it's all that important or interesting. Maybe because this has a lot of the pronounced dialogue overlap and this was the first film used with a bespoke system to capture it, the film's much more of a mood piece, with a sound design to capture the sweaty intoxication of a busy casino. Elliot Gould is very watchable.

This character study about two gamblers wasn't really my cup of tea. The bad sound, which was probably done for effect, just ended up making me feel like I was always missing pieces of the story. George Seagal does a great job playing a down on his luck gambler. But, he is always brought back to spirits by Elliott Gould's character. Seeing an early appearance of Jeff Goldblum was nice! I didn't hate the movie. It just didn't appeal to me in the right way.

At the end of California Split we've seen something about organized gambling in this country we hadn't seen before. He draws his visual approach from a deeply conscientious soundtrack, employing ambient sound with painstaking delicacy so that our ears inform us we're moving through these people, rather than that they're taking turns talking to us. Indeed, this is the first film ever to use eight-track stereo sound that wasn't shot in Cinerama. It worked.??

I very much enjoyed it. Gould is just absolutely incredible, he's definitely one more film away from becoming one of my favorite actors. This movie worked well from top to bottom.

Not one of Altman's best but still very enjoyable. Segal and Gould have incredible chemisty together, some of the best I've ever seen. The poker scenes are pretty dated but the desperation and rush you get from gambling are depicted incredibly well. Great dialogue and nice Goldblum cameo.

Interesting Altman film about gambling.

983

Trademark Altman. It's funny, it's tense, occasionally disorienting but always engaging. Something felt off to me about Segal but Gould was gold and the dialogue was excellent. Superb ending too.

One of Altman's lesser-known films, about a pair of compulsive gamblers. Awash with his signature improvisational acting and people talking all over each other, it's also got kind of a Cassavetes fly-on-the-wall feel to it. But I didn't think it had much spark to it, only a few moments really stand out and the rest feels like treading water. However, the killer ending is unexpected and fulfulling. Elliot Gould exudes charisma as usual, George Segal is a bit stiff.

An honest depiction of the situation and some killer chemistry from Segal/Gould. Great early Altman.

968