California Split

R

Released Aug 7, 1974

1h 48m

Comedy

Drama

List

87%

30 Reviews

Tomatometer

83%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Carefree single guy Charlie Waters (Elliott Gould) rooms with two lovely prostitutes, Barbara Miller (Ann Prentiss) and Susan Peters (Gwen Welles), and lives to gamble. Along with his glum betting buddy, Bill Denny (George Segal), Charlie sets out on a gambling streak in search of the ever-elusive big payday. While Charlie and Bill have some lucky moments, they also have to contend with serious setbacks that threaten to derail their hedonistic betting binge.

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Critics Consensus

Aimless yet amiable, California Split is minor but rewarding Altman, elevated by the chemistry between leads Elliott Gould and George Segal.

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Joe S

Pure Altman, with masterful interior shots of crowds in a casino and a race track, A very "talkie" shooting script that, whatever moments of adroit ad-libbing the actors might have supplied, must have been 300 pages long Only a masterful director could have done this. At heart, it's a twisted, boozy buddy film. Elliott Gould and George Segal have never been better (and seem to have been made to act opposite one another). The cross-dresser in the girlfriend scene is misled that he is about to be arrested by these two, who are impersonating cops, but he is nevertheless accorded some dignity by the girlfriends and the "cops," and is never an object of cheap ridicule. However, the movie has a strange ending. It just ends and the credits roll, as if the director ran out of film -- or patience;

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One of Altman's "minor" films is really a masterpiece. Manages to be entertaining while giving a sobering look at gambling addiction. Great rapport between Segal and Gould. Loved it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Altman created a naturalistic canvas that Gould and Segal inhabited as naturally as any actor could have; this is a fully realized world with fully realized addicts struggling with their worst habits.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

anthony j

Just okay. Feels a little dated and breezes by amiably but lazily.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

kevin w

Few capture the zeitgeist of the times better than Altman, whose buddy movie could've been about any addictive behavior but just so happens to be about gambling. Elliot Gould and George Segal are great as two guys whose friendship can only be expressed through their common addiction - both want to be cool as if they are in control. Neither are in control. I can't say when I've seen the 70s better portrayed. And Altman's use of natural conversational rhythms is absolutely unparalleled.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

delysid d

elliot gould movies are not my faves

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/22/21

Full Review

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Robert Altman

Director

George Segal

Bill Denny

Elliott Gould

Charlie Waters

Ann Prentiss

Barbara Miller

Gwen Welles

Susan Peters

Ed Walsh

Lew

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87%

87%

The Last Detail

71%

77%

The Big Chill

TRAILER

for The Big Chill

60%

43%

Punchline

92%

94%

Stand by Me

TRAILER

for Stand by Me

27%

38%

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Charles Michener

Newsweek

It is enough to say that [Altman's] cards add up to a royal flush.

Nov 2, 2021

Full Review

Joe Pollack

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The conclusion falls a little bit flat, but getting there is much more than half the fun. The parts add up to much more than the whole, and it's enjoyable.

May 19, 2021

Full Review

John Huddy

Miami Herald

Altman shapes an entertaining film on a familiar theme: Wanting something very badly until you finally get it.

May 19, 2021

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

Throw these two together, soak them in alcohol and flop sweat and let them sing and kvetch their way from Santa Anita to Reno, with Segal playing the straight man to Charlie’s offhand, laid-back but non-stop "Altmanesque" patter.

Rated: 3.5/4

Dec 30, 2022

Full Review

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

It features Altman's trademark free-flowing, overlapping dialogue, liberal use of tracking shots and a sympathetic eye for those trapped in this seedy, dangerous side of life.

Rated: B

May 22, 2022

Full Review

Michael Henry Wilson

Positif

Altman is pursuing... the pure romanesque, but what it gives rise to is a picaresque universe in keeping with the new times. It therefore has none of the usual mythology or pathos that has for so long structured the rhetoric of films about gamblers.

May 3, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Carefree single guy Charlie Waters (Elliott Gould) rooms with two lovely prostitutes, Barbara Miller (Ann Prentiss) and Susan Peters (Gwen Welles), and lives to gamble. Along with his glum betting buddy, Bill Denny (George Segal), Charlie sets out on a gambling streak in search of the ever-elusive big payday. While Charlie and Bill have some lucky moments, they also have to contend with serious setbacks that threaten to derail their hedonistic betting binge.

Director: Robert Altman
Producer: Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling
Screenwriter: Joseph Walsh
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 7, 1974, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 31, 2012
Runtime: 1h 48m
Sound Mix: Mono

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