Gambling, especially back when it was still a niche pastime, is a subculture particularly well-suited to Robert Altman’s flux ensembles and roundabout dialogue; unsurprisingly, California Split is the riffiest entry in his astounding early 70s run. Coasting from track to table, with running mate George Segal prodding him on, Elliot Gould’s performance is pure scat, moored less to an arc about Segal’s debts than to a succession of trailed-off barstool anecdotes-in-the-making. A laid-back hangout session with two anomic thrill-chasers, it’s one of cinema’s most unfortunate middle children: as it stands, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable semi-masterpiece, and it may play even better than that, if you can banish from your head all thoughts of Thieves Like Us (released six months prior), and Nashville (released ten months later) — but why would you want to go and do a fool thing like that?
Opens October 13
Opens October 13
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