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Magic

Year:

1978

Duration:

107 min

Genres:

Horror

IMDB rate:

6.8

Director:

Richard Attenborough

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 1978-11-08

Filming Locations: Blue Lakes, California, USA

Earnings

Gross: ESP 26,291,475 (Spain) Admissions 214,457 (Spain)

Cast

Actor

Character

Ann-Margret

Magic

Anthony Hopkins

Corky Withers

Burgess Meredith

Ben Greene

Ed Lauter

Duke

E.J. André

Merlin

Jerry Houser

Cab Ddriver

David Ogden Stiers

Todson

Lillian Randolph

Sadie

Joe Lowry

Club M.C.

Robert Hackman

Father (as Bob Hackman)

Mary Munday

Mother

Brad Beesley

Young Corky

Scott Garrett

Corky's Brother

Beverly Sanders

Laughing Lady

I.W. Klein

Maitre d'hotel

Patrick McCullough

Doorman

Stephen P. Hart

Captain

Michael J. Harte

Minister (as Michael Harte)

Did you know?

Trivia

The name of the dummy was "Fats".

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The film has often been likened to the earlier British portmanteau horror movie Dead of Night (1945) which featured a tale with a ventriloquist and his dummy. Magic (1978) was actually released just around a year after that movie's television remake, Dead of Night (1977), but the tele-movie anthology didn't feature a segment with a dummy and ventriloquist.

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The two things that show-business agent Ben Green (Burgess Meredith) said he had survived which meant he didn't scare easily, were Tallulah Bankhead and the "Death of Vaudeville".

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Goofs

Members of the crew are reflected in the cabin window when Corky gets his jacket before going out in the boat with Duke.

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Quotes

Fats: Hey, Corky? I'm feeling light-headed.

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Fats: They'll put you somewhere dark and mooo-dy...

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Corky: I'd like to say that goin' to bed with you is maybe the best three things that ever happened to me. And I'd love some coffee. And I adore you. And I take it with cream and sugar. And your breasts belong in the Louvre, which is a museum in Paris that I plan on visiting with you once you get wise and decide to leave the old ear-blower.

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Faq

List: Ventriloquists who have disturbing relationships with their dummies

See: this FAQ entry

How come in the final scene Peggy speaks in Fats' voice, is she possessed?

No, she's speaks like Fats in order to please Corky, showing she loves him despite everything. She doesn't know that he's dead yet....

Is Fats alive, like Chucky?

No. As in the novel, Fats is not an supernaturally animate doll, but the inanimate dummy of a seriously disturbed ventriloquist who believes Fats is alive. Fats is actually an outlet for Corky's insanity, his alter-ego who says the things he cannot.Then again, there are moments in the movie that make you wonder, various borderline moments designed to keep the possibility in the audience's mind. But the ending resolves the issue once and for all.

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