The Magic Christian

Name: The Magic Christian
Genre: Comedy
Released: February 11, 1970
Duration: 92 min
Rating: 42
Cast: Caroline Blakiston, Christopher Lee, Isabel Jeans, Laurence Harvey, Leonard Frey

1970

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Mixed or average reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

Commonwealth United Entertainment | Release Date: February 11, 1970 | M/PG

Starring: Caroline Blakiston, Christopher Lee, Isabel Jeans, Laurence Harvey, Leonard Frey, Peter Sellers, Richard Attenborough, Ringo Starr, Spike Milligan, Wilfrid Hyde-White

Summary: Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers), the richest man in the world, adopts a homeless boy, Youngman (Sir Ringo Starr). Together, they set out to prove that anyone, and anything, can be bought with money.

Director: Joseph McGrath

Genre(s): Comedy

Rating: M/PG

Runtime: 92 min

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Critic Reviews

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

A brazen, irreverent, and wild satire that hits more often than it misses, THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN seeks to prove that people will do anything, absolutely anything, for money--if there's enough of it. Read full review

Roger Greenspun

A superb realization of the book. Read full review

Pauline Kael

There are funny moments, but they don't add up to enough.

Staff (Not Credited)

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

Molly Haskell

For Southern to be funny at all, jokes must be carried too far and decorum exploded at every turn. Even if McGrath were inclined to handle the material this way, mush of it has dated, and the screenplay by Southern, McGrath, and Peter Sellers does not so much update it as displace it. [26 Feb 1970, p.60]

Staff (Not Credited)

The Magic Christian is all too clearly representative of the impasse independent mainstream film-making found itself in when given its head by the industry in the '60s. The result is a variety concert of a film in which most of the acts/jokes fall flat. Read full review

Dave Kehr

A curdled, unfunny satire made more painful by McGrath’s inappropriately jubilant style. Read full review

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