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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

All Movie Guide

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. Dan Pavlides

Product Details

• UPC: 017153136043
• Source: REPUBLIC PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Presentation: Pan & Scan
• Sound: Dolby Surround
• Language: English
• Time: 1:41:00
• Sales Rank: 18,043

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