The Magic Christian [Blu-ray]

Overview

This zany British comedy finds a homeless hobo (Ringo Starr) being adopted by the world's richest man, Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers). Setting sail on the luxury liner The Magic Christian, Sir Grand tests the limit of human avarice. With money to motivate the greedy, Laurence Harvey combines his Hamlet soliloquy with a striptease. A vile cesspool of excrement is seeded with cash and the money-hungry dive right in. Wilfred Hyde White is the drunken captain, Yul Brynner is uncredited in his performance as a chanteuse transvestite, and John Cleese is the director of Sotheby's auction house. Roman Polanski, Richard Attenborough and Raquel Welch also appear in this offbeat comedy. Paul McCartney wrote and produced "Come and Get It," the first international hit from the power-pop group Badfinger. John "Speedy" Keene wrote "Something In The Air" and performed the track with his group Thunderclap Newman. Sellers, Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Southern co-authored the screenplay taken from Southern's novel.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/28/2013
UPC:	0887090066600
Original Release:	1969
Rating:	PG
Source:	Olive
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:32:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Peter Sellers	Sir Guy Grand
Ringo Starr	Youngman Grand
Raquel Welch	Priestess of the Whip
Laurence Harvey	Hamlet
Isabel Jeans	Agnes
Caroline Blakiston	Esther
Wilfrid Hyde-White	Ship's Captain
Terence Alexander	Mad Major,Mad Major
Peter Bayliss	Pompous Toff
Joan Benham	Socialite in Sotheby's
Patrick Cargill	Auctioneer
Graham Chapman	Oxford Stroke
John Cleese	Director in Sotheby's
Clive Dunn	Sommelier
Freddie Earlle	Sol
Fred Emney	Fitzgibbon
Kenneth Fortescue	Irate Snob in Sotheby's
Patrick Holt	Duke in Sotheby's
David Hutcheson	Lord Barry
Hattie Jacques	Ginger Horton
John Le Mesurier	Sir John
Jeremy Lloyd	Lord Hampton
David Lodge	Ship's Guide
Ferdy Mayne	Edouard,Edouard
Guy Middleton	Duke of Mantisbriar
Peter Myers	Lord Kilgallon
Dennis Price	Winthrop
Robert Raglan	Maltravers
Graham Stark	Waiter
Leon Thau	Engine Room Toff
Frank Thornton	Police Inspector
Edward Underdown	Prince Henry
Michael Trubshawe	Sir Lionel
Michael Aspel	TV Commentator
Michael Barrat	TV Commentator
Harry Carpenter	TV Commentator
W. Barrington Dalby	TV Commentator
John Snagge	TV Commentator
Alan Whicker	TV Commentator
Richard Attenborough	Oxford Coach
Leonard Frey	Ship's Psychiatrist
Christopher Lee	Dracula
Spike Milligan	Traffic Warden
Roman Polanski	Man Watching Cabaret
Tom Boyle	My Man Jeff
Victor Maddern	Hot Dog Vendor
Yul Brynner	Lady Singer
Caroline Brakiston	Hon. Esther Grand
John Lennon	Himself (Getting on Boat)
Sean Barry-Weske	John Lennon lookalike
Kimberly Chung	Yoko Ono lookalike
Peter Graves	Actor
Ken Thorne	Composer
Paul McCartney	Composer

Technical Credits

Joseph McGrath

Terry Southern

Peter Sellers

Graham Chapman

John Cleese

Joseph McGrath	Director,Screenwriter
Denis O'Dell	Producer
Anthony B. Unger	Executive Producer,Producer
Wally Veevers	Special Effects
Henry T. Weinstein	Executive Producer,Producer
Terry Southern	Screenwriter
Peter Sellers	Screenwriter
Graham Chapman	Screenwriter
John Cleese	Screenwriter
Brian Holland	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

This hilarious 1969 British social satire belongs in the pantheon of cult favorites alongside the likes of Head, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Spinal Tap. Peter Sellers stars as zillionaire Sir Guy Grand, while the Beatles' Ringo Starr portrays the happy-go-lucky drifter Grand spontaneously adopts as son, heir, and apprentice in a lifelong mission -- to expose the blind greed of the moneyed class. Comic havoc ensues as the two knock about London’s high society, using Sir Guy’s ever-present briefcase full of money to stage bizarre stunts. These include inducing master thespian Sir Lawrence Harvey to perform Hamlet’s "To be or not to be" soliloquy as a raunchy, Vegas-style striptease and getting a crowd of passersby to bob for "free money" in a vat of blood, urine, and manure. Their capers increase in scale and audacity until they pull off their pièce de résistance: subjecting the most uppity of the upper crust to a full-scale freak-out aboard The Magic Christian, a very exclusive luxury liner. Co-written by ‘60s satirist Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove, Easy Rider) and based on his 1959 novel of the same name, the movie boasts cameos galore -- pre-Python John Cleese and Graham Chapman, director Roman Polanski, Yul Brynner in drag, and a whip-wielding Raquel Welch, among others -- as well as an irresistible soundtrack featuring the Badfinger hit "Come and Get It." The Magic Christian is more than a time capsule of late-‘60s counterculture sensibility and absurdist humor; it stands as a timelessly funny take on the depths of human greed. --Paul Leo

Barnes & Noble

A cult film and very much a product of its time, The Magic Christian is an oddity indeed. Those who "get it" relish every moment, taking special pleasure in the cynical world-view promoted herein and enjoying the sight of dozens of drab-suited British businessmen throwing themselves into a vat of blood and excrement in order to retrieve the money that is floating in the swill. They appreciate the oddball logic, the at times free-form feel of the proceedings, and bizarre sights, such as Laurence Harvey stripping while spouting Shakespeare or Raquel Welch wielding a whip. Others may miss the appeal of all this, or may find that it doesn't make up for the heavy-handed and overly obvious manner in which all this is presented; indeed, it's hard to argue with those who feel that Magic Christian makes its point within the first few minutes and simply keeps reiterating it without ever expanding or building upon it. Both camps, however, will likely agree that Peter Sellers helps to keep things lively and certainly knows just how to approach material of this sort, and that Ringo Starr is agreeably (and appropriately) vacuous. In 1969, Magic Christian certainly scored points for its irreverence, but most modern audiences will probably find it more valuable as a curiosity than as a movie.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler