"California Split" Review

 

by Daniel White

The primary purpose of a filmmaker is to tell a story, and tell it well. Robert Altman is a master storyteller. California Split (1974) is brilliant, a boisterous, bittersweet, buddy flick that shoots the moon. It also plummets into melancholia and despair. It's a rollicking, rueful rollercoaster ride that explores the furtive, endless, at times violent, shadowy world of compulsive gambling. Supplied with a hepped-up, autobiographical screenplay by Joseph Walsh, Altman, playing the Pied Piper, compels the movie-goer to follow him on this feverish jag.

Like our two protagonists, we are sprinting, we are swimming, we are spit-balling through the air. We are crashing into mud puddles and we are always on the go. Self-reflection is discouraged. Better to keep somersaulting forward, existing only on adrenaline and discontent. Though technically not a road movie, California Split feels like one. An energized, chaotic trip into the upside down land of addiction.

Charlie (the jazzed-up Elliott Gould) meets Bill (George Segal) at a 24-hour poker fest in Los Angeles. Mistakenly believed to be in cahoots, they get beaten and robbed. It's one of those disastrous nights that many a male friendship is built on. The seasoned Charlie pairs up with the less experienced Bill. Literally (and figuratively), they are off to the races. Charlie has learned to ride the waves but Bill is soon drowning, caught in the riptide of addiction.

Hungry for the high gambling provides, their relationship escalates. They pal around with a pair of prostitutes but only have eyes for the next big score. Gould and Segal are riveting, riffing and ping-ponging off each other. Male bonding has never been so exhausting. Broke and desperate to end a losing streak, Bill pawns his valuables and leaves L A. With good time Charlie in tow, the two take off for Reno, where the final half hour unfolds. Once they arrive, the movie ratchets up the intensity. We're right there with them, sweating it out with this duo of dice-throwing, card-playing junkies. Altman, Walsh, Gould, and Segal suck us in, spin us around, and spit us out. Thank you, gents, for supplying a crazy, cinematic, hot rod ride to the edge.

Co-produced by Aaron Spelling, the film co-stars Ann Prentiss and the permanently-perplexed Gwen Welles. California Split is currently streaming on Tubi.