youngmurray Reviews

California Split (1974)

A Couple of Drinks and Let's Hit The Tables

[9 August 2004]

California Split is a movie for those people who enjoy an afternoon of drinking. You know the kind of day, where you say to yourself, "Ah, I'll have a couple and then go to dinner." You have a beer at 2:00pm and before you know it, the clock says 4:00am. But that's okay because you've made eight new friends and you're the life of the bar. This movie is always hailed for its' honest depiction of gambling addiction. What no one ever mentions is how honest it is in showing what it's like to get drunk and just hang out with a friend. Elliot Gould and George Segal are at their finest as Charlie Waters and Bill Denny. They exemplify mid-'70's cool hitting bars and casinos with sarcastic wit and a ready for anything attitude. Director Robert Altman doesn't force these performances out of his actors. He leaves the pace of the movie on a laid back scale open for an improvisation. California Split does have a message about how empty this life style can be but it doesn't shake a finger at its' protagonists. Instead the movie takes us on a joyride with them, letting the viewer sit next to them at poker table, crack open a beer and try to call their bluff.

Sadly this movie is not available on DVD at this time.

If.... (1968)

As if the Speed of the Nail would matter...

[1 August 2004]

Lindsay Anderson's 1968 film If... is a beautiful film with a simple message, yet the director's touch and the performances take it to entirely different level.

If... takes place in all boys boarding school and stars Malcolm McDowell as

"Mick" (McDowell in his first screen role). Mick and his two friends feel

somewhat distant from their peers, school, and society. Their general attitude towards such things as sex, war, and authority could be call revolutionary. With surrealistic touches such as unexplained occurrences and changing between

color and black and white. Lindsay Anderson paints a vivid picture of "teenage alienation" before there was a term for such a thing. McDowell would later reprise his role of "Mick" in two other Anderson pictures O' Lucky Man and Britannia Hospital. A must see for fans of McDowell. Just a great film with a message that sparks positive, pro-active thinking. An important film that makes you remember to question authority instead complying to it rules. Sadly If... is not available on DVD at this time.