California Split

Infobox Film
name = California Split


image_size =
caption = Promotional poster
director = Robert Altman
producer = Joseph Walsh
Robert Altman
writer = Joseph Walsh
narrator =
starring = George Segal
Elliott Gould
Ann Prentiss
Gwen Welles
music = Phyllis Shotwell
cinematography = Paul Lohmann
editing = O. Nicholas Brown
Lou Lombardo
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = August 7, 1974
runtime = 108 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:86433
imdb_id = 0071269

"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.

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 and Charlie end up in Reno, where Bill hocks some of his possessions; they 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. He tells Charlie he's quitting gambling because the thrill is no longer there. Charlie doesn't understand it, but sees that his friend means what he says. They split their winnings and go their separate ways.

Cast

*George Segal as Bill Denny
*Elliott Gould as Charlie Waters
*Ann Prentiss as Barbara Miller
*Gwen Welles as Susan Peters
*Edward Walsh as Lew
*Joseph Walsh as Sparkie
*Bert Remsen as Helen Brown
*Jeff Goldblum 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 Spielberg 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.cite news
last = Fear
first = David
coauthors =
title = Ace in the hole
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Time Out New York
date = Oct 12–18, 2006
url = http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/film/4086/ace-in-the-hole
accessdate = 2008-03-17 ] 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...”cite news
last = McGilligan
first = Patrick
coauthors =
title = Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff
work =
pages = 376
language =
publisher = St. Martin's Press
date = 1989
url =
accessdate = ]

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 and 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.”cite news
last = Reid
first = Max
coauthors =
title = The Making of "California Split": An Interview with Robert Altman
work =
pages = 26
language =
publisher = Filmmakers Newsletter
date = October 1974
url =
accessdate = ]

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 Maples’ casino losing money and winning money, and then a minute later you were upstairs on the set filming a crap game.”

Reaction

Roger Ebert 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." [cite news
last = Ebert
first = Roger
coauthors =
title = "California Split"
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Chicago Sun-Times
date = 1974-01-01
url = http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19740101/REVIEWS/401010310/1023
accessdate = 2007-03-08 ] 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." [cite news
last = Canby
first = Vincent
coauthors =
title = "California Split" Deals Winning Hand
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = New York Times
date = 1974-08-08
url = http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=1&title1=&title2=California%20Split%20%28Movie%29&reviewer=VINCENT%20CANBY&pdate=19740808&oref=slogin
accessdate = 2007-03-08 ]

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.”

The DVD

The film was released on DVD in 2004, but music rights problems forced Sony/Columbia to exclude almost three minutes of footage and make several soundtrack changes. The DVD is already out of print, leading to speculation that a re-release is imminent with the missing footage restored.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0071269|title=California Split
*amg movie|id=1:86433|title=California Split
*rotten-tomatoes|id=california_split|title=California Split
* [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/03/26/california_split.html "Senses of Cinema" review]