☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
California Split (1974) -- R. Altman
Exceptionally seedy
tale of two guys who let gambling overtake their lives. That sounds depressing but the film is
something of a comedy, especially because it stars Elliott Gould, in rare form
as a free-spirited hustler, and George Segal, as a rather more straight-laced
magazine editor down on his luck but open to possibilities. Altman uses 8-track
sound (i.e. 8 microphones) to ratchet up the ambience -- lots of overheard and
overlapping improvisation going on -- and there are a lot of "authentic"
extras here, gambling their lives away.
As I mentioned, the people are seedy, the gambling rooms (apart from
Reno) and the track are seedy. There's
fighting, part-time prostitution, beer and froot loops, and the dream and
desperation of winning big. However, is
that's really what these guys want? Not
as great as McCabe and Mrs. Miller or The Long Goodbye -- with less of a plot
and possibly more character development -- this is sticking with me the next
day.
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