IMDb >
The Magic Christian (1969)
Watch It
Buy it at Amazon
Rent it at Blockbuster.com
Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
BETA
Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotesOverview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv scheduleAwards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage boardPlot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotesFun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQOther Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDeskPromotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo galleryExternal Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clipsThe Magic Christian (1969) More at IMDbPro »
| Photos (see all 14 | slideshow) |
         |
Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
12 December 1969 (UK)
more
Tagline:
The Magic Christian is: antiestablishmentarian, antibellum, antitrust, antiseptic, antibiotic, antisocial & antipasto.
Plot:
Sir Guy Grand, the richest man in the world, adopts a homeless boy, Youngman. Together, they set out to prove that anyone--and anything--can be bought with money. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Art Gallery
|
Satire
|
Drag
|
Beautiful Woman
|
Flamethrower
more
User Comments:
Still entertaining after all these years
more (71 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Peter Sellers | ... | Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE |
 | Ringo Starr | ... | Youngman Grand, Esq. |
 | Isabel Jeans | ... | Dame Agnes Grand |
| Caroline Blakiston | ... | Hon. Esther Grand |
| Wilfrid Hyde-White | ... | Capt. Reginald K. Klaus |
 | Richard Attenborough | ... | Oxford coach |
| Leonard Frey | ... | Laurence Faggot |
 | Laurence Harvey | ... | Hamlet |
 | Christopher Lee | ... | Ship's vampire |
| Spike Milligan | ... | Traffic warden #27 |
 | Roman Polanski | ... | Solitary drinker |
 | Raquel Welch | ... | Priestess of the Whip |
| Tom Boyle | ... | My Man Jeff |
| Victor Maddern | ... | Hot dog vendor |
| Terence Alexander | ... | Mad Major |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
92 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Final film of Isabel Jeans.
more
Quotes:
Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE:
[voiceover, as a £10 note appears onscreen] Ladies and gentlemen, this is what is commonly known as money. It comes in all sizes, colours, and denominations - like people. We'll be using quite a bit of it in the next two hours... luckily I have enough for ALL of us.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Unknown Peter Sellers (2000) (TV)
more
Soundtrack:
Come and Get It
more
FAQ
Who or what is the Magic Christian?What is antibellum?
What is antipasto?
more
more (71 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Magic Christian (1969) moreRecommendations
If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
Show more recommendations
|
|
|
|
|
| My Man Godfrey | Candy | The Graduate | Heathers | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb |
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| IMDb Comedy section | IMDb UK section | Add this title to MyMovies |
After more than 30 years, The Magic Christian still entertains. Its style is very much of the Sixties, but its profoundly cynical message---that anything can be bought, that everyone has his price---is, if anything, more relevant now than in 1969 when the film was released. The star, of course, is Peter Sellers as the obscenely wealthy Sir Guy Grand, who manages to seem almost childlike as he spreads his bounty of cynicism throughout London.
This is not a great film, or even necessarily a good one, but even second- or third-rate Peter Sellers may be preferable to a lot of first-rate work by others. The childless Sir Guy decides one morning to acquire an heir, so he goes to the park and picks up a homeless man played by Ringo Starr, and adopts him as his son, Youngman Grand. (Ringo actually doesn't have much to do in this film except react to Sellers.) Sir Guy then enlists Youngman in escapades that, in his hands, skewer the stuffed shirts of upper-class London society and turn the most solemn occasions into a carnival of absurdist nihilism. The most extreme comes at the end of the film, where he scatters money into a huge vat of blood, urine and excrement, and then watches as bowler-hatted City of London types wade into it for the money. This scene doesn't quite work. There is an extended sequence aboard a bogus cruise ship called The Magic Christian that tends to try one's patience because it degenerates into a very Sixties psychedelic montage. One moment from this sequence, however, is worth the whole thing: Raquel Welch as the Priestess of the Whip. Dressed as a dominatrix, she never looked more luscious or voluptuous. Film aficionados will appreciate the many old-line British actors who contributed supporting or cameo roles (Spike Milligan, Lawrence Harvey, Richard Attenborough, John Le Mesurier, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Christopher Lee, and others less well known outside the UK) as well as glimpses of younger now-famous faces, especially John Cleese in a hysterically funny scene at Sotheby's. Cleese plays the terminally smarmy, unctuous, patronizing curator Mr. Dougdale, whose supercilious mien is punctured beyond repair by Sir Guy in a scene involving the defacing of a priceless painting. There is a Monty Python skit that looks like it was directly inspired by this scene. This film was shot at about the time of the first season of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and what with the appearance in the film of at least two Pythons that I could identify, there are definitely echoes of Python in it. The other Python was (an uncredited) Graham Chapman as the leader of the Oxford team during the famous Oxford-Cambridge boat race. Watch also for an uncredited Yul Brynner playing a female impersonator who does a sexy torch song. Alert listeners---especially lovers of the Goon Show---will also notice that Sellers does almost all of the off-screen voices and several voices of characters seen only in long shot, reminiscent of the films of Orson Welles; so if you suddenly think you hear Henry Crun or Major Bloodnok offscreen, it's not your imagination.
All in all, a solid five or six stars out of ten.