Two alcoholic gamblers – one who doesn't give a shit (Gould), the other
secretly needy and neurotic (Segal) - stumble from one poker game to
another, to Tijuana and Reno, in search of nothing but the next drink and
the next win. Altman doesn't appear interested, at first, in their
inner lives – but the point hits you with jolting force in the last ten
minutes, as Segal finally spells out that all the chips on the table are
never going to be enough. Of all Altman's 1970s classics, this one – with
its rhythmic banter and flip, roving visuals – is the most attuned to
what seems really contemporary: a desperately arbitrary design for
life.
