California Split
Encyclopedia
California Split is a 1974 film directed by Robert Altman
and starring Elliott Gould
and George Segal
as a pair of gamblers. It was the first non-Cinerama
movie to use eight-track stereo sound.
As the film progresses and the two men hang out more, Bill starts to become more addicted to the gambling lifestyle. He goes into debt to his bookie, Sparkie (Joseph Walsh). Eventually, Bill hocks some of his possessions to fund a trip to Reno
, where Bill and Charlie pool their money to stake Bill in a poker game (where one of the players is former world champion "Amarillo Slim
", portraying himself). Bill wins $18,000, but doesn't quit; he is convinced he is on a hot streak. He plays blackjack
, then roulette
and finally craps
, winning more and more money, eventually cashing out $82,000.
But something happens at the craps table. When he finally stops, he is drained, almost apathetic. After they split their winnings, he tells Charlie he's quitting and going home. Charlie doesn't understand it, but sees that his friend means what he says, and they go their separate ways.
and they worked on the script for nine months. The director was fascinated by the characters and would react to Walsh’s script, offering suggestions. At the time the screenplay was called Slide and the two men had a deal to make it at MGM with Walsh as producer and Steve McQueen
in the starring role. However, the studio began making unrealistic demands, like having the script be an exact number of pages and wanting the whole story to be set at the Circus Circus
casino in Las Vegas because MGM owned it.
A month away from filming, the studio experienced a shake-up at the executive level and with it came a new set of changes. MGM wanted the story to be a mafia-related “sting” concept with Dean Martin
as one of the two main characters. Walsh would no longer be the producer. He and Spielberg left MGM and took the script to Universal Pictures
where they had an agreement with Darryl Zanuck and David Brown. Spielberg decided to work on another project, leaving Walsh and his film stranded.
The writer’s agent, Guy McElwaine, contacted Altman’s agent George Lito, and the director was given the script, read it and loved it. The new studio chief of Columbia Pictures
was a former agent who knew Walsh’s agent and green-lighted the screenplay to be made into a movie on the writer’s terms. Walsh was a novice and unaware of Altman’s reputation for taking liberties with the screenplays for his movies. Walsh was very protective of his script and argued with Altman numerous times about certain aspects. Walsh remembers, “You know, he actually stormed out of the room many times on me during the picture, during these conversations, but he would always come back and listen as I got to know him more...”
George Segal was cast early on and Walsh considered long-time friend Elliott Gould, but saw other actors, such as Peter Falk
and Robert De Niro
. He kept coming back to Gould and finally the actor called him up and convinced him that he was right for the role. Walsh recalls, “because Elliott lived his gambling, he came out of the box just like in a horse race when a great horse comes out of the box. The first day of shooting, he was there as that character...After seven days, George Segal came to me and said, ‘This guy’s [Gould] unbelievable. He’s an octopus. He is absolutely strangling me to death. I don’t even know what to do.’ The man was pleading for his life.” Walsh told Segal not to try to keep up with Gould because he had actually lived the life of his character in the film and to continue acting the way he had been doing so far.
California Split was the first film to use the experimental eight-track sound system that allowed eight separate audio channels to be recorded and helped develop Altman’s trademark of overlapping dialogue. To this end, he gave the supporting actors and extras significant emphasis on the soundtrack. A number of the extras were members of Synanon
, an organization for ex-addicts. Altman also used champion poker player, Amarillo Slim in the movie “to add drama to the poker game for the actors and crew. He elevated the game to a very high professional level.”
He had originally considered Haskell Wexler
to be the director of photography on the film, but went with newcomer Paul Lohmann instead. Walsh remembers that Altman defended the choice by saying, “They could create a look together, and he might get into conflict with Haskell or other people about making it a little prettier than it should be.” He ended up making the film in Los Angeles and Reno with the latter location being very effective in keeping everyone in the spirit of the movie. Altman said in an interview, “Everybody was involved in that atmosphere, and there was a sense of reality because one minute you were downstairs in the Mapes casino losing money and winning money, and then a minute later you were upstairs on the set filming a crap game.”
in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times
wrote, "At the end of California Split we realize that Altman has made a lot more than a comedy about gambling; he's taken us into an American nightmare, and all the people we met along the way felt genuine and looked real," and praised it as "a great movie and it's a great experience, too." Vincent Canby
in the New York Times praised the film for being "dense with fine, idiosyncratic detail, a lot of which is supplied by Mr. Gould and Mr. Segal as well as by members of the excellent supporting cast."
The film reportedly grossed over five million dollars at the box office despite the studio pulling it early from theaters. It also made the New York Times’ annual ten best list of that year. Altman said of the reaction to his movies, “I just have to hope that the film I do falls in with the mass audience and they will go see it. But one reason I have problems is that they don’t advertise the films I make because they don’t know where to put them...They don’t quite know where it is, so consequently they try to advertise it as a different film. And it still doesn’t succeed.”
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
and starring Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...
and George Segal
George Segal
George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...
as a pair of gamblers. It was the first non-Cinerama
Cinerama
Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...
movie to use eight-track stereo sound.
Plot
The film is less concerned with plot than behavior as a friendship develops between Bill Denny (George Segal) and Charlie Waters (Elliott Gould) over their mutual love of gambling. Charlie is a wisecracking joker and experienced gambler constantly looking for the next score. Initially, Bill isn’t as committed a gambler (he works at a magazine during the day) but he’s well on his way.As the film progresses and the two men hang out more, Bill starts to become more addicted to the gambling lifestyle. He goes into debt to his bookie, Sparkie (Joseph Walsh). Eventually, Bill hocks some of his possessions to fund a trip to Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, where Bill and Charlie pool their money to stake Bill in a poker game (where one of the players is former world champion "Amarillo Slim
Amarillo Slim
Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. , known as Amarillo Slim, is an American professional gambler known for his poker skills and proposition bets...
", portraying himself). Bill wins $18,000, but doesn't quit; he is convinced he is on a hot streak. He plays blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
, then roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
and finally craps
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which players place wagers on the outcome of the roll, or a series of rolls, of a pair of dice. Players may wager money against each other or a bank...
, winning more and more money, eventually cashing out $82,000.
But something happens at the craps table. When he finally stops, he is drained, almost apathetic. After they split their winnings, he tells Charlie he's quitting and going home. Charlie doesn't understand it, but sees that his friend means what he says, and they go their separate ways.
Cast
- George SegalGeorge SegalGeorge Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...
as Bill Denny - Elliott GouldElliott GouldElliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...
as Charlie Waters - Ann PrentissAnn PrentissAnn Prentiss was an American actress.Prentiss was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her father was of Sicilian descent. Her younger sister was actress Paula Prentiss. Prentiss had many bit parts in movies and television series in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s...
as Barbara Miller - Gwen WellesGwen WellesGwen Welles was an American actress.-Biography:She was born in 1951 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as Gwen Goldberg, the daughter of Rebecca Weis Welles , also an actress. Welles appeared nude in Playboy magazine in 1975.Welles was married to actor Harris Yulin...
as Susan Peters - Edward Walsh as Lew
- Joseph WalshJoseph WalshJoseph Walsh , was a Representative from Massachusetts....
as Sparkie - Bert RemsenBert RemsenHerbert Birchell "Bert" Remsen was an American actor.-Life and career:Remsen was born in Glen Cove, New York, on Long Island, the son of Helen and Winfred Herbert Remsen. He played character roles in numerous films directed by Robert Altman, including: Brewster McCloud , McCabe & Mrs...
as Helen Brown - Jeff GoldblumJeff GoldblumJeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
as Lloyd Harris
Production
Fed up with the unrealistic dialogue he and other actors were forced to say on a regular basis, struggling actor Joseph Walsh wrote a screenplay about his own gambling addiction in 1971. He was friends with then up-and-coming filmmaker Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and they worked on the script for nine months. The director was fascinated by the characters and would react to Walsh’s script, offering suggestions. At the time the screenplay was called Slide and the two men had a deal to make it at MGM with Walsh as producer and Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
in the starring role. However, the studio began making unrealistic demands, like having the script be an exact number of pages and wanting the whole story to be set at the Circus Circus
Circus Circus Las Vegas
Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts International. Circus Circus features circus acts and carnival type games daily on the Midway...
casino in Las Vegas because MGM owned it.
A month away from filming, the studio experienced a shake-up at the executive level and with it came a new set of changes. MGM wanted the story to be a mafia-related “sting” concept with Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
as one of the two main characters. Walsh would no longer be the producer. He and Spielberg left MGM and took the script to Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
where they had an agreement with Darryl Zanuck and David Brown. Spielberg decided to work on another project, leaving Walsh and his film stranded.
The writer’s agent, Guy McElwaine, contacted Altman’s agent George Lito, and the director was given the script, read it and loved it. The new studio chief of Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
was a former agent who knew Walsh’s agent and green-lighted the screenplay to be made into a movie on the writer’s terms. Walsh was a novice and unaware of Altman’s reputation for taking liberties with the screenplays for his movies. Walsh was very protective of his script and argued with Altman numerous times about certain aspects. Walsh remembers, “You know, he actually stormed out of the room many times on me during the picture, during these conversations, but he would always come back and listen as I got to know him more...”
George Segal was cast early on and Walsh considered long-time friend Elliott Gould, but saw other actors, such as Peter Falk
Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...
and Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
. He kept coming back to Gould and finally the actor called him up and convinced him that he was right for the role. Walsh recalls, “because Elliott lived his gambling, he came out of the box just like in a horse race when a great horse comes out of the box. The first day of shooting, he was there as that character...After seven days, George Segal came to me and said, ‘This guy’s [Gould] unbelievable. He’s an octopus. He is absolutely strangling me to death. I don’t even know what to do.’ The man was pleading for his life.” Walsh told Segal not to try to keep up with Gould because he had actually lived the life of his character in the film and to continue acting the way he had been doing so far.
California Split was the first film to use the experimental eight-track sound system that allowed eight separate audio channels to be recorded and helped develop Altman’s trademark of overlapping dialogue. To this end, he gave the supporting actors and extras significant emphasis on the soundtrack. A number of the extras were members of Synanon
Synanon
The Synanon organization, initially a drug rehabilitation program, was founded by Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich, Sr., in 1958, in Santa Monica, California, United States...
, an organization for ex-addicts. Altman also used champion poker player, Amarillo Slim in the movie “to add drama to the poker game for the actors and crew. He elevated the game to a very high professional level.”
He had originally considered Haskell Wexler
Haskell Wexler
Haskell Wexler, A.S.C. is an American cinematographer, film producer, and director. Wexler was judged to be one of film history's ten most influential cinematographers in a survey of the members of the International Cinematographers Guild.-Early life and education:Wexler was born to a Jewish...
to be the director of photography on the film, but went with newcomer Paul Lohmann instead. Walsh remembers that Altman defended the choice by saying, “They could create a look together, and he might get into conflict with Haskell or other people about making it a little prettier than it should be.” He ended up making the film in Los Angeles and Reno with the latter location being very effective in keeping everyone in the spirit of the movie. Altman said in an interview, “Everybody was involved in that atmosphere, and there was a sense of reality because one minute you were downstairs in the Mapes casino losing money and winning money, and then a minute later you were upstairs on the set filming a crap game.”
Reaction
Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
wrote, "At the end of California Split we realize that Altman has made a lot more than a comedy about gambling; he's taken us into an American nightmare, and all the people we met along the way felt genuine and looked real," and praised it as "a great movie and it's a great experience, too." Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
in the New York Times praised the film for being "dense with fine, idiosyncratic detail, a lot of which is supplied by Mr. Gould and Mr. Segal as well as by members of the excellent supporting cast."
The film reportedly grossed over five million dollars at the box office despite the studio pulling it early from theaters. It also made the New York Times’ annual ten best list of that year. Altman said of the reaction to his movies, “I just have to hope that the film I do falls in with the mass audience and they will go see it. But one reason I have problems is that they don’t advertise the films I make because they don’t know where to put them...They don’t quite know where it is, so consequently they try to advertise it as a different film. And it still doesn’t succeed.”