California Split

California Split (1974)

  • 91% of critics liked it
    (11 reviews)

  • 80% of users liked it
    (2,663 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 moves from… More

R, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By
Robert Altman
Written By
Joseph Walsh
Genres
Drama, Classics, Comedy
In Theaters
Aug 7, 1974 Limited
On DVD
Nov 2, 2004
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.

  • 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.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    What Altman comes up with is sometimes almost a documentary feel; at the end of California Split we know something about organized gambling in this country we didn't know before.

Read all 11 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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

Cast

See full cast

facebook_logo

Now you can share movies with your friends on Facebook!

  • Discover movies your friends are watching
  • Keep track of what you want to see
  • Add your reviews to your Timeline