California Split

Rating:
Summary: Why did it take so long?
Review: It's finally here, the crown jewel of the TRIFECTA of gambling movies (Tricheurs, and The Gambler - James Caan not Kenny Rogers, being the other two, IMHO) in all it's widescreen glory! Like the other reviewers I've had to settle for the Cinemax(?) pan and scan version for years, and a commercial tv version before that. This film is a lost masterpiece on male bonding, and degenerate gambling, and to be quite honest...I want to be these guys! My folks took me to see this as a teenager, and it's always been etched on my brain, and now I can finally see it as Altman meant it to be seen. I agree with Ebert that it's better than MASH, if only because I could watch this film every day! It's almost like watching a documentary, and the director, writer and cast commentary add credence to what is obvious while watching the film...that a good time was had by all in it's making! How come no featurette, or even trailer for CS, though? There are trailers included, but for other Columbia films....I want to see anything related to this film and it's making....Actually, I'm just glad to have it looking this pristine...I would like to know the story, though, about why it's taken so long to come to home video...No VHS, or Laserdisc...Is there a tale? Has it been finally released because of the new interest in Poker? At any rate this film should be considered essential to any film enthusiasts collection...definately one of the best films of the 70's!

Rating:
Summary: Beer and Fruit Loops
Review: Also taped this from television years ago, as I could never find it on tape. I saw it as a kid years ago when living in Europe, and I always thought this is what America is like.
Beer and Fruit Loops. Naming the dwarfs in a bar with a drunken buddy, and an utter carefree lifestyle.
Somehow you feel like these are real people, that are still at it. Rarely do I get that sense in movies.

Rating:
Summary: A Minor Gem From Altman
Review: California Split is Robert Altman's take on the classic buddy movie. It tells the story of two hard-core gamblers, Bill Denny, played by George Segal, and Charlie Waters, played by Elliott Gould, who, after a chance meeting, take off on a long and unexpectedly successful spree binge that takes them from their native Los Angeles to a high-stakes poker game in Reno.

I love this picture, even though, as I explain below, Altman is something of an acquired taste. The first point is that because Altman cares about actors, he gets great performances from them. California Split is worth watching simply to see the extraordinary by-play between George Segal and Elliot Gould. They obviously liked working with each other, and they portray realistically idiotic and lovable louts, incapable of maintaining serious lives, relationships or jobs because the gambling gets in the way. Maybe the best-known scene in the movie is one in which these two addled and somewhat drunken dopes try to recall the names of Disney's seven dwarves. It's a very short scene, but it is poignant and funny at the same time, which is the tone of the best part of this picture.

The other remarkable thing is how brilliantly Altman captured the world of small-time gamblers. This movie was made in 1974, long before the World Series of Poker became a staple of ESPN, when hard-core gambling was restricted to tiny corners of the nation. The verisimilitude of the casino and bar scenes is so terrific its as if he used no actors at all, just went into the casinos and started shooting. Altman got it all, the smoke, the crazy characters, the sleaze, and oh yes, the insane excitement of winning.

The rap on Altman is that he couldn't tell a story, and there's some merit to the charge. In truth, Altman, who grew up in the television business, was completely capable of telling a story, it just wasn't his primary interest. Altman is more interested in his characters, and how they interact with each other, than with producing classic Hollywood story-arc movies. To some extent, all of his movies contained an at-best loosely connected series of vignettes, rather than traditional tight plotting. In his most commercially successful movies, like Nashville and M*A*S*H, there was just enough story line to carry audiences; in other movies, and California Split falls into this category, the story line is either so weak or so implausible that audiences didn't like the movies he made, because they seemed shapeless. But the point is, you don't watch his movies for the plot lines; there's always Bruckheimer and Simpson for that. You watch Altman movies because he gets these fabulous performances out of actors, and because he takes you places other people can't or won't. If you like movies, you won't regret watching California Split.

Rating:
Summary: BET ON THIS WINNER OF A DVD
Review: In Robert Altman's wonderful CALIFORNIA SPLIT (Columbia Tristar), there's something endearing and frightening about the shared compulsion to gamble by new best buddies George Segal and Elliot Gould. Some of Altman's lesser known films ("Images" and "Secret Honor") are getting a lot of deserved if belated attention in their new digital editions and this is one his very best. (On the DVD box, a blurb by Robert Ebert claims it is "better than MASH" and I agree. I just wonder who Robert Ebert is. Could it be a brother of Roger or is it a typo?)

Essentially a buddy road trip turned inside out, Gould and Segal are two losers who share their disease as they willingly risk it all for the thrill of, well, risk itself. For them, it's not about winning big to buy a new life but rather losing big as proof of life. But make no mistake, while "California Split" may be an accurate picture of compulsive gambling, it is also wildly funny and weirdly upbeat. A terrific extra is the revealing commentary with Altman, Gould, Segal and writer Joseph Walsh.


Rating:
Summary: Character & Behaviour Over Plot & Story
Review: In the 1970s, Elliott Gould and Robert Altman were an unbeatable team. They first worked together on M*A*S*H, a savage satire of the military, then again on a radical, contemporary reworking of Raymond Chandler's novel, The Long Goodbye, and finally completed the hat trick with California Split, an ode to obsessive gamblers. For years, this film has been relegated to obscurity, showing up occasionally on TV and tied up in legal issues over the music which delayed its release on DVD. Finally, all of these entanglements have been resolved and the movie is presented the way it was meant to be seen.

California Split is one of Altman's trademark character-driven films. It is less concerned with plot than behaviour as we watch the friendship between Bill and Charlie develop over a mutual love of gambling. As the film progresses and the two men hang out more, Bill starts to become more addicted to the gambling lifestyle. He blows off work early to meet Charlie at the track and sells his possessions for money. Bill and Charlie are gambling addicts who ride the high arcs and the low valleys, never passing up a bet. At a boxing match they put money on the outcome of the fight with a fellow spectator.

Those who know Elliott Gould and George Segal only from their contemporary sitcom appearances (Friends and Just Shoot Me, respectively), should see California Split if only to see these guys in their prime and working with a master filmmaker at the top of his game. Gould and Segal have never been better and play well of each other. There is good chemistry between them as Gould plays the more experienced gambler in contrast to Segal's more naïve one.

Altman fans will enjoy the audio commentary included on this DVD. It features the director, the film's screenwriter Joseph Walsh, Gould and Segal. They point out that all the extras in the opening sequence were ex-drug addicts. Altman and Walsh talk in detail about the filmmaking process with the latter pointing out the authenticity of the gambling lifestyle as depicted in the movie. Everyone recounts amusing anecdotes on this relaxed, informative track.

California Split is not afraid to show the ugly side of gambling. Bill sells his car and his possessions for a big poker game in Reno. Charlie exacts a rough, bloody revenge on the guy who mugged him at the beginning of the movie. These are not always likeable guys and to Altman's credit he doesn't try to romanticize or judge them, leaving that up to the audience. California Split is arguably Altman's loosest film in terms of plot and one of the richest in terms of character and observing their behaviour.

Rating:
Summary: Lesser Altman
Review: Nashville and The Long Goodbye are two of my favorite films of all time. Both are masterpieces of cinema that I can pretty much watch any time. This is unfortunately very weak Altman in my book with a terrible performance by George Segal. The film starts great and has a nice realistic feel to most of the proceedings and then spirals downhill for the rest of the film without any real sense of direction or purpose. The cinematography and Elliot Gould's performance keep you watching for the most part but this film grated on me after I awhile. If you want a really good gambling movie about loveable loser's who've lost their way then check out PTA's Hard Eight(Sydney)...Probably the best film about the dark and seedy world of gambling ever made. The fact is "Split" doesn't even work as a comedy...The only real humor in the film (which is funny mind you-don't get me wrong) comes from minstrel tunes and Gould's trying to figure out all the names of the seven dwarfs. Otherwise this is a serious disspointment from one of America's most innovative filmmakers.

Rating:
Summary: Egyptian Femme! Egyptian Femme!
Review: OK...if you had told me ten years ago this film would be on DVD i would've been shocked...first I would've said 'what's a dvd'? then i would have said 'i can't believe anyone remembers this film besides myself' (i've been trumpeting it for years...if that's a word) It might not look like it, but this film is a true masterpiece, one of Mr. Altmans best films (up there with Nashville, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, etc...) The story is a little ramshackle...but that's part of the charm. You follow two gamblers as they roam around California looking for action, they win...sometimes...and lose...more...get beat up a couple times...and eventually travel to Reno for the grand finale. The acting is perfect, Elliot Gould has never been better and George Segal gives a great haggard performance. The sound is Altman at his most layered. The whole film is rich in detail and heavy on atmosphere and most viewers will need to watch a couple times to really enjoy. If you think 'Rounders' is a great poker film...see this one. And for once he commentary on this DVD is great (too often commentary is boring 'oh yeah, that actor was wonderful, that actress was amazing, etc.. without explaining how the film got made, etc) They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Also: when will Altmans "A Wedding" come out on DVD, a true lost classic (similar to Gosford Park and Nashville in style). It's been out of print for years and needs to be seen!


Rating:
Summary: At Last - But......
Review: Okay, so it should have been a 30th anniversary celebration edition, with all the extras that implies. But at least it can now be seen in its proper format. It's a great movie and certainly the best ever made about gambling. What we internet scribblers should now be doing is campaigning for the DVD release of "Thieves Like Us".

Rating:
Summary: "Now Let's See...There's Goofy, Sleepy, Grumpy.."
Review: Robert Altman: Iconoclast, maverick, annoyance. You either love him or hate him. When I ponder Robert Altman, I think of M.A.S.H., Nashville, and The Long Goodbye. California Split is a mixed bag, with some excellent scenes and dialogue (including the famous "Seven Dwarves" sequence), but overall, I consider this one of his lesser works. There are too many long, drawn-out scenes which seem to go nowhere. The female leads are terrible, and the ending is unsatisfying.


The gambling scenes are first rate, especially in depicting George Segal as a hopeless degenerative gambler who can't stop to save his bacon. Elliott Gould plays a loveable goof as only Elliott Gould can. The scene in the restaurant between Segal and his shylock is priceless. The robbery scene in the parking lot is hysterical. In the end, these great scenes cannot sustain the whole movie, and as a result there are long moments that are soporific and boring.


I love parts of this movie, and I would recommend at least one viewing. For me it was hit and miss, but then again, I'm not an absolute Robert Altman fan, so maybe I don't "get it."

Rating:
Summary: At last
Review: Though this movie deserves better treatment and more fanfare, the important thing is that it's coming out; it was never even released on cassette, to my knowledge. I got my bootlegged copy on ebay. Everyone talks about Three Women being Robert Altman's forgotten's masterpiece, but this tops my list. The greatest movie about gambling ever made, and certainly one of the great buddy films of all time. Thanks to Roger Ebert's new site, you can read his 1974 review of the fim, where he said it was superior to MASH. Hopefully this release will bring it all the attention it deserves.