California Split

The morning after the night they met at an LA poker club then got mugged, Charlie (Elliott Gould) and Bill (George Segal) get bailed out by Barbara (Ann Prentiss, Paula’s younger sister) and meet her roommate (Gwen Welles), ad-libbing, misdirection and some exposition from director Robert Altman, early in California Split, 1974.

Opening at an LA poker club, Robert Altman directing, roughly from a screenplay by actor and real-life gambler Joseph Walsh, we meet George Segal as Bill, Elliott Gould as Charlie, and non-actor Edward Walsh, brother of the screenwriter, as player “Lou,” in California Split, 1974, famous as the first feature shot with 8-track stereo sound.

The afternoon following their night in jail, writer Bill (George Segal) joins gambler Charlie (Elliott Gould) at LA’s Santa Anita race track, where their horse comes in with a photo finish, then a lady Charlie steered away from the horse (Barbara London) comes after them, Robert Altman directing on location, in California Split, 1974.

Confirming what seemed likely after the opening scene at an LA poker club, director Robert Altman moves to a strip bar and makes clear Charlie (Elliott Gould) and Bill (George Segal), who took the same side in a brawl, had never met before, Alyce Passman and Joanne Strauss the half-naked stripper and mother, early in California Split, 1974.

TCM welcomes acclaimed actor Bill Paxton as our Guest Programmer for January, 2013, joining Robert Osborne on Thursday, January 17th, starting at 8pm ET.