California Split (1974) Review

California Split is one of Altman's best.  When this film was released in  1974, the subject of gambling addiction was not in the headlines. It was Watergate front and center and politics. Altman's 1975 breakthrough- Nashville was in production and California Split was released to theaters to critical acclaim but audience indifference.

Charlie Waters (Elliott Gould) is a semi-professional small-time gambling man who likes the seemingly care-free lifestyle of the gambler even though he exists on the brink of constant and nearly certain financial collapse. He doesn't really have very much to lose however. He lives in the apartment of two part-time escort -would-be-prostitutes Barbara ( Ann Prentiss) and Susan (Gwen Welles). They work just enough to pay the bills and are excited that a couple of Johns want to take them to Hawaii on a trip. It's clear all these people are living temporary lives that don't involve any kind of realistic career ambitions.

And then there is Bill Denny (George Segal) who is the editor of a successful magazine and is destroying his upper middle class lifestyle because of his gambling addiction. He is separated from his wife, he is in debt to his bookie and he's becoming more irresponsible towards the duties of his job. We watch him become so obsessed with gambling after meeting Charlie that he tries to sell everything he has--camera, real estate and car to get the stake he needs to play in the big poker tournament being held in Reno, Nevada.

We spend a lot of time with Charlie and Bill as they go on a gambling spree to poker parlors, race-tracks, casinos and bar-rooms. Most of the places are smoky and run-down seedy, either lit with garishly bright cheap fluorescent lights or poorly lit dingy hole-in-the-walls. These places buzz with the activities of drunks, losers, gamblers, thrill-seekers, hangers on, bored housewives and senior citizens, with background music supplied by the jazz-blues ballads of Phyllis Shotwell piano bar style.

Although the film has plenty of humorous moments, it depicts a bleak world inhabited by desperate people, who dress at their best like used-car salesman (from the 70s). There is an anarchy at work with their lifestyles where schedules and times are built around an after-hour world of gambling and long poker games.  Everyone lives for the next deal, the next pot, the next roll of the dice, the promise of tomorrow. The gambling fever is insatiable inside Charlie and Bill who create side bets based on naming all seven dwarfs. Their friendship is intense but based only on their gambling exploits and pushing themselves to do more gambling.

This leads to the big stakes poker game in Reno. It is peopled by the kind of traveling professional gambling character types we've seen on television poker shows. However, we aren't sure whether we want Charlie and Bill to win. We know losing will be devastating, but they might be able to recover from it--You aren't quite sure what would happen if they win !!!

The film is full of small details. Elliot Gould and George Segal play well off each other seeming to ad-lib quite naturally all of their dialogue (much of it was actually written by Joseph Walsh). There's a road-trip breeziness to much of the film but at times it conflicts with some of the almost brutal doses of reality that are doled out to the characters at various times. We realize these characters will suffer through nearly any indignity provided that just pass the `hurdle of hurt' is another game, another bet, another hope of a win.

The film does have a truly terrible strained scene, that seems dropped into the film from some other universe. It involves the sudden introduction of a pair of transvestite `dates' of the girls Charlie lives with(for one 5 minute too long scene). Actor Bert Remsen humiliates himself with full commitment playing an old nervous transvestite (he does a great job). It's a mis-fired comedic bit that calls too much attention to itself. It feels completely artificial in a movie that had seemed utterly real previously. Thankfully the scene is not very long and the movie goes right back to being as honest and authentic as it had been before.

What distinguished this film from any other about addiction is that we are not given a morale lecture or morality lesson. There's no heavy message. We can see for ourselves how sometimes the life-style is `fun', how often it is desperate, and how it is not something to aspire to. Win or lose, there's good and bad for these characters. Who can forget Charlie recklessly trying to finagle a few bucks for himself when he is being robbed at gun-point or the look on Bill's face when he realizes he may at least temporarily be on a good luck streak?.

And ignoring the transvestite scene, there's not a Hollywood type of manufactured moment in the entire film. As we get close to a movie moment, something authentic and realistic keeps it from going into the manufactured realm.

Interesting Trivia

It turns out this is one of Altman's most personal films.  He had a gambling addiction, he identified completely with these characters which is why he wrestled the project away from up and coming Steven Speilberg (who had t.v.'s Duel and the feature Sugarland Express under his belt at this point). That left Speilberg free to do JAWS!!!

Oh and look fast for Jeff Goldblum.

DVD STUFF

California Split is presented in an anamorphic transfer with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The film has been digitally restored but film stock imperfections and lens limitations can not be fixed.. One of the important advances Altman played with during production was the 8 track recording of sound on the set. The full 3.0 Dolby Digital soundtrack provides a vast improvement over previous video incarnations. There's a lot of over-lapping background chatter going on and you may have to train yourself to hear it (the subtitle feature does cover some of this ).

The best extra is the feature-length commentary track recorded by Robert Altman, Elliot Gould, George Segal, and writer Joseph Walsh (who we see in the film playing Segal's bookie Sparky). It's not a great commentary session but it is fun listening to the group clearly enjoying watching the film and talking about it together.

Also included are some trailers.

If you are already an Altman fan and somehow are not familiar with this film, buy it and add it to your collection.