Synopsis
Carefree single guy Charlie Waters rooms with two lovely prostitutes, Barbara Miller and Susan Peters, and lives to gamble. Along with his glum betting buddy, Bill Denny, 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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Cast
- George SegalBill Denny
- Elliott GouldCharlie Waters
- Ann PrentissBarbara Miller
- Gwen WellesSusan Peters
- Edward WalshLew
- Joseph WalshSparkie
- Bert RemsenHelen Brown
- Barbara LondonLady on the Bus
- Barbara RuickReno Marmaid
- Jay FletcherRobber
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
Because Joseph Walsh's screenplay is funny and Segal and Gould are naturally engaging, we have a good time. - 100
Austin Chronicle
To extend the boxing analogy, poker’s Raging Bull is the 1974 Robert Altman masterpiece, California Split. - 90
The A.V. Club
Robert Altman’s most overlooked gem. - 88
Chicago Reader
As in all Altman films, winning is losing; and the more Altman reveals, in his oblique, seemingly casual yet brilliantly controlled way, the more we realize that to love characters the way Altman loves his, you have to see them turned completely inside out. - 80
The New York Times
A fascinating, vivid movie, not quite comparable to any other movie that I can immediately think of. Nor is it easily categorized. - 80
Time Out
Like Hawks, Altman feels rather than thinks his way into a subject, with a special interest in how people relate to one another in moments of crisis. In the process he shows more of what's happening in America than most newsreels, coaxes jazzy and inventive performances out of his actors (Prentiss and Welles are particular treats), and asks for a comparable amount of creative improvisation from his audience while busily hopping from one distraction to the next. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
A film such as this, which is essentially a series of comic vignettes without a plot, depends upon its performances, and both Gould and Segal are in top form, providing an example of impov at its best. - 75
Slant Magazine
Altman’s disgruntled comedy California Split, aside from its typically busy soundtrack (it was the first movie Altman used eight-channel audio to capture all the dialogue), seems a relatively straightforward buddy film...it’s also an anti-buddy parable in which George Segal and Elliott Gould’s homosocial behavior is equated unflatteringly against their obsessive gambling addictions.
