California Split

California Split (1974)

  • 92% of critics liked it
    (13 reviews)

  • 80% of users liked it
    (2,738 ratings)

The most narratively loose of Robert Altman's '70s films, California Split details the haphazard lives of two compulsive gamblers searching for that ever-elusive big score. Newly single and soon-to-be-unemployed Bill (George Segal) joins live-wire pal Charlie (Elliott Gould), as the pair… More

R,
Directed By
Written By
Joseph Walsh
Genres
Drama, Classics, Comedy
In Theaters
Aug 7, 1974 Limited
Columbia Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • Michael Atkinson, Village Voice

    Sold as a comedy, the film scans more like American-century Dostoyevsky, with comp cocktails.

  • Don Druker, Chicago Reader

    Robert Altman's masterful 1974 study of the psychology of the compulsive gambler.

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    The film is technically and physically handsome, all the more so for being mostly location work, but lacks a cohesive and reinforced sense of story direction.

  • Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out

    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.

  • Vincent Canby, 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.

Read all 13 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Bob S


    Ultimate Altman?

  • Graham J


    Altman's hilarious look at compulsive gambling is perhaps his most underrated film.

  • Pierluigi P


    An amusing and completely uncategorizable film that captures the mood of its period, an atmosphere long gone by now where the low life and unstable compulsive gamblers round up looking for little green papers to pass through the week or more hopefully to heal their wounds. As some… More

  • Stella D


    a stellar tragicomic buddy film about compulsive gamblers. extremely natural, even by altman standards. elliott gould at his manic peak

  • Ken S


    Near perfect Altman, Segal and Gould are on fire in this small time gambler character comedy.

Read all 10 featured audience ratings

Currently unavailable on Flixster

Also available on

UltraViolet Retailers

Other Retailers

Subscription Services

Not Available
Not Available
Not Available

Cast

See more (26)