01
Hard Eight
Why this pick
A patient, nocturnal gambling-world character study, built around wary alliances, offhand humor, and the sense that every favor carries an unspoken risk.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1974 1h 48m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
California Split
ComedyDrama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved California Split, try these.
01
02
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Why this pick
Another 1970s portrait of a charismatic man spiraling through gambling debt, with restless nightlife, darkly comic encounters, and an intimate, unvarnished texture.
03
The Gambler
Why this pick
Released the same year, it shares the era’s unsentimental fascination with gambling as self-destruction, though its compulsive protagonist makes for a sharper, more anxious descent.
04
Bob le Flambeur
Why this pick
Its cool, wandering gambler and half-improvised underworld social world offer an earlier, stylish cousin to California Split’s affection for hustlers, rituals, and bad bets.
05
Fat City
Why this pick
Not about cards, but its bruised working-class milieu, unforced male rapport, and refusal to turn losers into easy moral lessons should suit Altman’s bittersweet humanism.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
A friendship develops between Bill Denny (George Segal) and Charlie Waters (Elliott Gould) over their mutual love of gambling. Charlie is a wisecracking joker and experienced gambler constantly looking for the next score. Initially, Bill is not as committed a gambler (he works at a magazine during the day), but he is well on his way. The two bond when they are wrongfully accused of colluding at a casino's poker table by an irate fellow player.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Ann Prentiss
Barbara Miller
Gwen Welles
Susan Peters
Edward Walsh
Lew
Barbara London
Lady on the Bus
Jay Fletcher
Robber
Barbara Colby
Receptionist
Vincent Palmieri
First Bartender
Joanne Strauss
Mother