Magic

Plot synopsis:
A magician named Corky (Anthony Hopkins) does poorly on stage. When he reports back to his teacher, Merlin (E.J. André), he is told he needs some kind of hook or gimmick to connect with the audience. When he adds ventriloquism to his act, using a dummy named Fats, his career takes off.Over time, he plays bigger theaters and appears on talk shows, and then his manager Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) brings him an offer for the big time, on television. The only problem: a medical examination is required. Corky absolutely refuses, stating it's a matter of principle... but as the conversation continues, he becomes almost hysterical at the prospect.He packs up and returns to his old hometown to rethink his career. He gets a cabin at a lakeside resort run by his high school crush Peg (Ann-Margret). It's obvious she returns his feelings, but she is married to an overbearing but dedicated husband Duke (Ed Lauter) who is a bit jealous and possessive.As Corky is trying to rekindle their relationship, his private conversations with his alter ego dummy, known as "Fats," take on a sinister and self-abusive quality. Fats goes from an amusing character played through his mannequin, into a schizoid-like personality split, in which Corky no longer can discern that Fats is a feature of his subconscious self.His manager Ben comes out to the resort to find Corky. He sees that Corky is losing it, and challenges Corky to, "...make Fats shut up for five minutes..." which is played out in real time. It's frightening, because Corky is clearly insane, and he admits this, twitching and shifting uncomfortably in his seat, when he says, "I'm not going to make it..."Fats determines that Ben has to die in order to preserve their secret, so Corky kills him and drops the body in the lake. Peg's husband returns, and after the suspicious Duke finds Ben's car and body, he must be killed as well. At the end of the movie, Peg agrees to run away with Corky, but wants to wait until Duke returns to tell him face to face rather than just leaving. Corky, who has pledged to pack up Fats for good when he leaves with Peg, becomes desperate since he knows Duke is never coming back.Fats tells Corky he has to kill Peg as well, and a tormented Corky goes to the main house to do his bidding. When he returns to the cabin, Fats starts to feel unwell, and Corky reveals that he has stabbed himself rather than hurt the only person he loves. Corky crawls over to Fats, and they lie down together to die. Peg walks down to the cabin, calling to Corky that she has changed her mind and is ready to leave, but there is no answer.

Tags: comedy, murder, flashback

Review:
Anthony Hopkins gives a stunning performance as the complex, shy and lonely Corky who finally finds love and his manipulative dummy Fats.
This somehow has become a forgotten movie which seems odd that after the subsequent success and recognition of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs that more people didn't look back at his 1978 performance in this psychological/horror gem.
Anthony Hopkins's performance is nothing short of remarkable (he's a great Lechter, but really, his first Oscar nod SHOULD have been for this film); his scenes with Fats - and the voice he provides for the character - still make my flesh crawl.
There was an obvious reason for this: to make all scenes between the 'two characters' as dramatically smooth as they ultimately proved to be.As IMDb reviewer Wilbur-10 mentioned, there is, perhaps, an overall ratio of too much melodrama to real horror, but most scenes involving Hopkins and 'Fats' the dummy are resonant enough to stay with you for years.
Anthony Hopkins gives one of his best ever performances and the curvy Ann Margaret gave this teenage boy sleepless nights back in the 70's by appearing topless (blink and you miss it - I didn't blink) and Burgess Meredith gives a wonderful performance as "The Postman" But it is Fats, the dummy that steals the show.
His descent into madness provides the strongest horror elements of the film - scenes where Fats the dummy is in human-mode tend to be less plausible, although he does remain a sinister force throughout.With Hopkins as the star and Richard Attenborough directing, 'Magic' has gained in reputation following their subsequent elevation to 'A' status.
Certainly these two heavyweights bring enough touches of quality to raise the film above the mediocre, without ever giving it touches of real brilliance, despite one or two genuinely scary moments.Film follows the theme seen in 'The Great Gabbo' (1929) and 'Devil Doll' (1964) - though most famously a ventriloquist's dummy featured in the classic British horror anthology 'Dead of Night' (1945)..
Anthony Hopkins gives an agonizing actors' performance playing a magician/ventriloquist who revels in a sort of naughty burlesque style; however, at this stage in his career, Hopkins seemingly had no good humor in him (nasty or otherwise), nor did glum director Richard Attenborough, who has seen too many movies and replicates old suspense.
He goes and finds his high school sweetheart, and the two start to get on well; but it's not long before his fame comes looking for him, and the dummy shows its murderous side.Anthony Hopkins is clearly one of the acting greats; and while this film came earlier than his more memorable performances in movies such as The Silence of the Lambs and The Elephant Man, it's still obvious that Hopkins is a master of his trade.
Most of the horror comes from the dummy; Anthony Hopkins does Fats' voice and it's not far from being the most piercing and haunting horror vocal of all time, which is the film's main credit.
Anthony Hopkins' Corky is an outstanding study in nervous collapse, the strength of his performance almost making Fats the dummy a separate and individual member of the cast.
"Magic" is a creepy little thriller starring Anthony Hopkins (sadly overlooked for an Oscar nomination) as a ventriloquist whose dummy, Fats, has a life all its own.
I am somewhat puzzled by the IMDb classing it in the horror/thriller bracket because it's not really , it's more of a black comedy centered around stand up magician Corky whose life is taken over more and more by a ventriliquist dummy called Fats There are some good aspects to William Goldman's script .
Richard Attenborough manages to get good performances out of his cast , Anthony Hopkins accent might flit back and forth but he manages to give some indication he's well on the way to becoming one of Britain's greatest living character actors but the inequality of Attenborough's directing of MAGIC can be best summed up with the scene in the boat house with Corky and his agent who tells Corky not to use Fats for 5 minutes .
Young Anthony Hopkins shows a preview of what he'll do years later in Silence of the Lambs in this relatively unknown but first-rate horror film written by William Goldman and directed by Richard Attenborough.
Hopkins plays Corky, a stand-up comic going nowhere fast, until he introduces a partner into his act, a ventriloquist's dummy named Fats.
He suggests that Corky needs to get away and relax so he rents a cabin on a lake which happens to be owned by Corky's former love interest Ann Margaret and her husband.Burgess Meredith is terrific but it's Hopkins' movie and he endows Corky with an unforgettable mix of innocence and insanity.
Corky ( Anthony Hopkins) is a failed magician who still can do tricks and finds the secret of success at a city nightclub as a ventriloquist with a dummy named Fats, his agent ( Burgess Merideth) wants him to be on TV as Corky must be required a medical exam before he can be on TV.
Corky has become obsessed with Fats especially having chats with him, he's scared to take the exam as he flees the city so he can stay a while at a lake resort in the Catskills owned by the former love of his life Peg ( Ann Marget) whom he falls for again, but Fats starts to become evil and wants to take control of Corky so he can kill people and go to the brink of insanity.Highly underrated, unique and startling horror thriller shocker written by William Goldman ("Misery", "The Princess Bride") and directed by Richard Attenbough, the film was a minor hit and has gained a cult following, it blends horror with a blend of some humor, a superb score by Jerry Goldsmith and great acting by the cast.
I now appreciate the film now and is one of my favorite horror flicks ever, this is one of the best killer doll and psycho flicks around that i highly recommend.Also recommended: "Child's Play", "Trilogy of Terror", "Perfect Blue", "Dolls", " Psycho ( 1960)", "Friday The 13th", " Sleepaway Camp", " May", " Deep Red", " Dolly Dearest", "Cat's Eye", "Dead Silence", "Puppet Master", "Pinocchio's Revenge", " Misery", " Pin", " Making Contact ( a.k.a. Joey)", " Tourist Trap", " Halloween", "The Pit", " Devil Doll ( 1964)", "Scream", " Dead of Night", " Tenebre", "Great Gabbo", " The Shining", "Saw", "Poltergeist", " American Psycho", " The Dark Half", "Secret Window", "Dummy" and "The Sentinel"..
"Corky" Withers (Anthony Hopkins) plays a very successful ventriloquist with a particularly foul-mouthed little dummy called Fats.
Only Burgess Meredith gives a good performance as Ben Greene.It's not a total washout--Hopkins did learn to become a ventriloquist for the role (that's really his voice for Fats) and pulls it off.
I saw "Magic" when it was theatrically released in 1978,and I thought "average stuff" .I saw it today and I thought: "I was wrong;this is well above average" .The fantasy and horror movie was a dominant genre in the seventies and Attenborough's sober style passed for lifelessness and his movie met mixed critical and commercial reception.It has worn remarkably well,and the many reviews it has received on the site show that the movie was underrated .Not that the subject was new: some may remember "dead of night" (1945)and its tremendous segment about the ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) and his dummy ,the highlight of an extraordinary film made of sketches."Corky" is not a cardboard character:he has a background;his life has been a tragic one;as he says himself :"all I have is houses near decay and graves " ;he is a washout professionally and a sexually repressed man.He could never make his the girl he loved when he was in high school.She had to content herself with a crude less-than-handsome "Duke" .Anthony Hopkins' performance compares favorably with those of "Hannibal" and the Ivory works.From the very start ,we feel how irrational how disturbed this man is.All he does not dare to say,his dummy does ;it's some kind of doppelganger ,like in Poe's "William Wilson" (which Louis Malle filmed in "Histoires Extraordinaires" (1968)).In a lesser degree ,Peg shows ambivalence too: staying with Duke and living on a bourgeois quiet life or following Corky into the unknown,the magic and childhood memories.When she makes up her mind,it will be too late.The movie is full of suspenseful moments: the scene of the cards,the "five minute test ", Duke's fishing rod and the omnipresence of the dummy,"watching " through the window as Corky is taking a dead body to the lake,or jealous "peeping tom" when his "master" and Peg make love.Humor is present too :" that's what you call: to kill two birds with one stone" .There is a lot of things to say about "Magic" :towards the end,Hopkins and the dummy are wearing the same clothes ,and the last lines are almost the same as Edgar Poe's "William Wilson" ("Us,it's you").
hear Attenborough takes imaginary people and puts them in terrifying circumstances which evolve into frightening situations, magic stars Anthony Hopkins as Corky a failed magician who spruces up his act with a touch of ventriloquism, his sidekick fats who bears frightening resemblance to Hopkins, eventually Corky hits the big time thanks to his manager played by Burgess Meredith, who catapults Corky in to fame, this is something that corky is scared of as he is due to undergo a medical before an all important appearance on television.
Corky and 'fats' flees to the Catskills mountains where he stays at an near deserted resort which is run by his former high school sweetheart played by Ann Margret, the rest of the film concentrates on a love affair between the pair, to complicate matters Meredith shows up with the intention of returning with his new found star but tragic unforeseen circumstances prevent him from returning, to further complicate matters Margret's husband played by very the underrated actor Ed Lauter shows up, Hopkin's and his sidekick plan a few surprises for the couple resulting in some of the finest acting in celluloid.
There is nowhere near enough suspense which the subject demanded and although the pay off scenes are unnervingly creepy and very good you may have drifted off before they come, which will be a shame.However the upside is if you're still with it for the final scenes then the lead character will make you squirm with horror film satisfaction as it turns out he may have spent a little too long with his dummy as his only companion.
Struggling magician Corky Withers (Anthony Hopkins) develops a ventriloquist act involving a foulmouthed dummy called Fats (who looks like an even creepier version of Hopkins), after which his career finally starts to takes off.
Unfortunately, Corky's fragile mind cannot handle the strain of two personalities, and begins to crack, turning him into a dangerous psychopath who believes that his dummy is alive.Scary dolls are a staple of the horror genre, but are rarely enough to carry a whole film.
Anthony Hopkins (another future Academy Award winner) is thoroughly convincing the mentally unstable conjurer Corky, the star mastering the art of throwing his voice and card tricks for the part, and he is given able support by the brilliant Burgess Meredith as concerned agent Ben, and from the beautiful Ann Margaret as love interest Peg.The film isn't so much scary as it is unsettling, and might disappoint some horror fans looking for jump scares or gory spectacle, but as a study in madness, it does very well indeed.
But when Corky successfully woos Peggy, he becomes liberated from his fear-of-failure complex, forcing Fats to lash out on his own- like when he attacks and kills Duke, Peggy's husband.You start to think that Corky and Fats are definitely two separate entities (with Fats having his own soul or what not), but the ending blurs this distinction, and makes you re-evaluate what you thought you knew.I don't know if Hopkins was really doing the ventriloquism, or whether he was just acting it...but his performance is downright incredible either way.
Because of Hopkins' emotional performance, we actually believe Fats (the wooden imp with the big head) is controlling Corky's every move - good and bad.Ann-Margret is warm, tender, and touching as Corky's high school sweetheart Peggy Ann Snow.
Magic is a film about a man who had a psychological problem, he had double personality disorder, and he lived out his second persona through a ventriloquist's dummy named Fats.
The whole movie boils down to one character and that is Corky (Anthony Hopkins), it was important that he made his portrayal strong, because the whole movie is about him and him alone and how he was finding it hard to live his life without his Dummy Fats.The part in the movie that was really stood out for me was the scene where Corky and Ben sat face to face, and Ben asked Corky to sit 5 minutes and not let Fats speak a word at all, the whole 2 minutes it lasted was just intense, with you thinking, "Is he going to break?" "When is he going to break?"Magic is a clever movie one that we should all seewww.lagsreviews.com.
comments Ann-Margret, the friend of Anthony Hopkins, who along with his alter ego "Fats" ( a ventriloquists dummy) empathizes and desires to save her from mediocrity.
Usually, I don't think of Anthony Hopkins as a horror star, but in Richard Attenborough's "Magic" he gets almost as eerie as he did in "Silence of the Lambs" (of course his physiognomy helps).
For some reason I missed viewing this Horror film and enjoyed the very young looking Anthony Hopkins,(Charles "Corky") who is taught the magic business by an old pro and knows all the secrets of being a great magician.
Anthony Hopkins stars as a troubled and failed magician named Corky who hits upon the idea of using a dummy(named Fats) in his act, and becomes a big hit as a result.
The resemblance between Corky and Fats (The evil doll) is very convincing and as the movie move forward they are getting more and more alike, even dress the same.The reason I am giving this movie 6 stars is because I find Ann Margaret acting unconvincing and also the last 15 min of the film is a bit boring for me, I think that it should end before.
A young Anthony Hopkins plays a ventriloquist-cum-failed magician, who after initially bombing on his first performance uses 'Fats' a seemingly ordinary ventriloquists dummy in his act.
And when there is competition for Corky's affections...Michael Redgrave in Dead Of Night is the first time I recall seeing a film about a dummy running the ventriloquist rather than vice versa, and Magic is a rather superior take on the same idea.
There has been quite a few 'nice doll coming alive and killing people' films like Child's Play for instance but Magic is the best it has every thing, like I said about the deaths and the plot it all fits together into a great film.Oh yeah and I like the ending too, I mean when I first watched it I thought that Corky (Anthony Hopkins) actually killed Peggy but instead he killed himself its quite sad actually.Poor Corky.
Enter the movies: While psychological-horror is nothing-new to cinema, this 1978 film by Sir Richard Attenborough (A Bridge Too Far, Gandhi) is very-very special, and offers some interesting speculations.Originally a best-selling novel by William Goldman (who also wrote the screenplay), this is also the "big-break" of Anthony Hopkins.
Other than "The Bounty" (1984) this has to be his best film-performance, where he even had to learn to articulate a ventriloquist's-dummy and throw-his-voice.Hopkins plays Corky, an amateur magician who is too shy to charm an audience, and he bombs at his first-performance.
Hopkins receives good support from the lovely Ann-Margret as Peggy and Burgess Meredith as Greene.Attenborough's direction and Goldman's script are also first rate.
The score by Jerry Goldsmith is not up there with his absolute best but it's not far behind either.Anthony Hopkins gives wonderful performances as both the ventriloquist Corky Withers and his foul mouth, extremely creepy dummy Fats.
Magic is directed by Richard Attenborough, has a screenplay by William Goldman based on his novel and stars Anthony Hopkins, Burgess Meredith and Ann-Margaret.Anthony Hopkins gives one of the greatest performances of his career as the troubled ventriloquist who descends deeper and deeper into madness.
Hopkins actually learnt ventriloquism for this role and is very good at it.Corky(Anthony Hopkins)is a struggling magician who hits the big time when he creates an act with a dummy called Fats.
It's a chilling film and that dummy sure is freaky.Burgess Meredith is superb as Corky's agent Ben Greene.
Hopkins excels in that scene as it becomes more and more obvious that he most likely will not be able to last the five minutes.Ann- Margaret is very good as Peggy the love of Corky's life.
Fans of the TV series MASH will be delighted to see David Ogden Stiers appear as a man from a TV network who Greene asks to watch Corky's act.Magic is a great horror film from Richard Attenborough.
Hopkins plays Corky, a talented magician whose performance anxiety disappears when he teams up with Fats, a wooden dummy.
Hopkins not only learned magic tricks for the film, he also mastered ventriloquism well enough to voice "Fats." His chilling and sympathetic performance (along with those of Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith) is reason enough to add "Magic" to your must-watch list.
Anthony Hopkins did the voice of both Corky and Fats and was very good in both roles.
Magic starts as magician & ventriloquist Charles 'Corky' Withers (Anthony Hopkins) is about to hit the big time as his agent Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) has set up a pilot TV show for a potential series on NBC.