The Magic Christian

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The Magic Christian

PG

1970

1h 33m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

61%

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18 Reviews

68%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Billionaire Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers) thinks nothing of throwing his endless stream of money away. He adopts a street person (Ringo Starr), christens him Youngman Grand and sets about trying to illustrate to his new heir how virtually everyone in the world can be bought. He pays a traffic cop to eat a ticket, pays the Oxford crew team to sabotage a race and finally fills a vat with feces and money, inviting one and all to keep the latter if they don't mind putting up with the former.

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Violet Lucca

Film Comment Magazine

Joseph McGrath's movie version remains an acerbic, late-Sixties dark comedy classic.

Jun 14, 2013

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Variety Staff

Variety

A spotty, uneven satire (from the novel by Terry Southern) with a number of good yocks, but insufficient sustained wit or related action.

Sep 10, 2007

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Derek Adams

Time Out

The result is a variety concert of a film in which most of the acts/jokes fall flat.

Jun 24, 2006

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D.M. Palmer

Vague Visages

The Magic Christian cries out to be re-visited. For all the cultural specificity of the novel and film, Grand remains a strikingly modern figure.

Nov 9, 2023

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Michael Ross

Los Angeles Free Press

Vital, devastating and immensely entertaining.

Jan 23, 2020

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Steve Crum

Video-Reviewmaster.com

Odd yet fun comedy-fantasy starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 23, 2008

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Audience Member

Perhaps the grandest prank Sir Guy Grand ever pulled was to fool audiences into thinking that this brazenly irreverent satire of capitalist exploitation contains any coherent message or narrative—though the Badfinger soundtrack is terrific, and it is intermittently funny, with the auction sequence (and John Cleese) alone earning an extra half-star.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

One of the best films on senseless greed and materialism

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

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delysid d

great movie that reminded me of bedazzled, every home should have one, magical mystery tour, casino royale, head, monty python

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/06/19

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Audience Member

The Magic Christian is a bizarre reflection of reality, and what we think of as normalcy in terms of our condition, then and now. It may seem outrageous and vulgar and surprising, and the film shocked many who saw it, and many walked out on it or thought it was just too absurd to be enjoyed for what it is: a social commentary on the social, political, and economic inequality of this world, and how money is truly the root of all evil, and that our morals and ethics are totally decayed by this artificial and intangible thing. It is at once bizarre and entertaining, full of cameos like Yul Brenner, Raquel Welch, Roman Polanski, John Cleese, Richard Attenborough, Graham Chapman, and Christopher Lee. Of course, Peter Sellers and Ringo Star are the stars of the film. It's a shame that this movie was not well received as what it is: a social commentary and critique of the modern world.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Audience Member

Saw this in a theater in 1970 in Saskatoon. I thought it was funny. I was 14 years old.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Audience Member

A bit dated, but still funny & at times surprising. The movie's namesake, a luxury liner on its maiden voyage is the "In" place to be for the rich & famous - only turning out to be an elaborate prank (among many others) set up by the world's richest man & his ward. Love the movie, love the music, love the cameos.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

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Joe McGrath

Director

Peter Sellers

Sir Guy Grand

Ringo Starr

Youngman Grand

Richard Attenborough

Oxford Coach

Isabel Jeans

Dame Agnes Grand

Caroline Blakiston

Hon. Esther Grand

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Synopsis

Billionaire Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers) thinks nothing of throwing his endless stream of money away. He adopts a street person (Ringo Starr), christens him Youngman Grand and sets about trying to illustrate to his new heir how virtually everyone in the world can be bought. He pays a traffic cop to eat a ticket, pays the Oxford crew team to sabotage a race and finally fills a vat with feces and money, inviting one and all to keep the latter if they don't mind putting up with the former.

Director: Joe McGrath
Producer: Denis O'Dell
Production Co: Columbia
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 9, 2019
Runtime: 1h 33m

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