The Long Goodbye / California Split
This program is presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series Robert Altman’s America: A Centennial Review.
The Long Goodbye (1973)
In the opening shot of Robert Altman and screenwriter Leigh Brackett’s adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s 1953 hardboiled novel, Elliott Gould awakens as Philip Marlowe in 1970s Los Angeles like a gumshoe Rip Van Winkle. And he just rolls with it. Social mobility comes standard issue for the classic private eye and working an old school case of infidelity, theft and murder, Gould’s Marlowe moves confidently from dive bar to Malibu beach house. To this, the filmmakers add an easygoing adaptability to cultural change. This Marlowe’s Los Angeles abounds with nude yoga, political protest and other signs of an ascendent counterculture to which his nonchalant motto is “It’s okay with me.”
35mm, color, 112 min. Director: Robert Altman. Screenwriter: Leigh Brackett. With: Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden.
California Split (1974)
Elliott Gould and George Segal’s gamblers meet cute in a poker game, fall in with each other and seduce us into a subcultural world of heavy bettors that feels, in Robert Altman’s loose and open form, like a documentary that a couple of stars happened to have wandered into. When they’re on a roll, they spend their winnings with a pair of sex workers who provide a poignant note to the men’s highflying hustles. It’s almost disappointing when the vaguest story arc creeps in after Segal’s punter hits a cold streak but its (anti)climactic final scene is one of the unsung triumphs of the New Hollywood.
DCP, color, 108 min. Director: Robert Altman. Screenwriter: Joseph Walsh. With: George Segal, Elliott Gould, Ann Prentiss.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
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