Corky Withers (Anthony Hopkins) is a magician and a ventriloquist. His dummy’s name is Fats. After his mentor Merlin (E. J. Andre) dies, Corky gets up the nerve to perform in front of people. After preparing for a year, he begins to draw audiences. He is seen by a representative of the William Morris Talent Agency, Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith). Ben agrees to represent the young talent and has Todson (David Ogden Stiers) see Corky’s act. Todson represents ABC Television. The network wants to sign Corky to his own television special and perhaps, depending on how it goes, to his own show.
When Corky finds out that he needs to have medical examination in order to do the television special, he is afraid that his mental issues will come to light. Somewhere along the line Corky’s and Fats’ personalities have combined. Fats’ personality is the dominant one in the relationship.
In a panic Corky takes off and returns to his hometown. He takes a cabin belonging to his high school crush, Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret). Peggy’s family once owned and rented cabins to tourists. Peggy now runs the business with her sometimes absent husband Duke (Ed Lauter). Corky and Peggy have an affair.
Ben tracks Corky down only to find that he has gone over the deep end believing that Fats is sentient. He arrives while Corky and the dummy are having an argument. Corky tries to cover and tells Ben that he is working on a new act. Ben knows he is lying and realizes that Corky needs professional help. When Corky can’t go five minutes without his alter ego coming out, Ben tells Corky that he is going to makes some calls to doctors to see if he can get Corky help.
Now fully under the control of Fats, Corky takes his final steps away from reality. Fats convinces Corky that he is the brains of the partnership, and that Corky can’t function without him. When Fats tells Corky to kill, Corky complies.
“Magic” was released in 1978 and was directed by Richard Attenborough. It is an American horror and psychological thriller. The movie is based on the screenplay and novel by William Goldman.
This movie is the reason why dolls are creepy. The isolation of the cabin on a lake during the off season and the strident music score add a lot of atmosphere to the film. You can almost feel the chillness in the air.
It is a slow burn of a film. Corky is not right from the beginning, but it takes a long time before you get to see all of his mental disturbances. By the time he is fully overtaken by Fats, the movie has shifted into high gear and the insane moments are coming fast and furious. Director Attenborough adds some Hitchcockian vibes that leave you on the edge of your seat.
The acting was also a plus. Some felt that Hopkins wasn’t very strong, and was, pardon the pun, rather wooden. I disagree on that note. His insanity was mostly on the inside until the end, so he appeared to me to just be a dork with a severe case of inferiority complex. People like that aren’t all that noticeable or interesting. It was his alter ego, Fats, that the audiences came to see. Right from the start Fats was the star and Corky was the dummy. I think Hopkins and Attenborough illustrated that quite well.
Hopkins also does the voice of Fats.