“A man he thought was a friend has betrayed him without any hint of remorse and Marlowe is forced to adapt to a time that had previously felt foreign.  The beginning and ending snippets of “Hooray for Hollywood” take on opposite effects, hopeful nostalgia deteriorates into cynical frustration.  The Long Goodbye is given new meaning, a metaphorical descent from a better place perhaps.” (The Long Goodbye - Revisited)

“California Split is, ultimately, about gambling as compulsion and addiction.  Gould’s Charlie cannot pass up an opportunity to bet on most anything, even a brawl that breaks out in the audience of a boxing match on which he also has numerous bets.  When the men are robbed for a second time, by a man with a gun pointed at him, part of Charlie’s rationale in offering the thief only half of the winnings seems to be a gamble on whether the man will actually take it or shoot him and grab it all.” (California Split)